Since 1883, our goal has been simple—help people lead more comfortable lives. We pioneered sleep technology when we introduced the bedspring 140 years ago. Now, we’re so much more.
Comprised of 15 business units, approximately 20,000 employees, and 135 facilities in 18 countries, we conceive, design, and produce a diverse array of products that can be found in most homes, offices, and vehicles.
As a global company, we are focused on building a diverse and innovative organization that reflects the customers we serve and the communities in which we operate, as well as honors the voices of our employees around the world.
During the next few weeks, we look forward to sharing more about our global mindset.
As August rolls around, so does the start of a new school year for many students. In order to give back to the communities where we live and work, L&P recently made a contribution to Bright Futures Carthage’s back-to-school program.
Bright Futures is a non-profit organization that brings together community resources to meet children’s basic needs so they can succeed in school and beyond. Our donation helped purchase backpacks for nearly 1,700 students!
In addition, corporate team members organized a school supply drive, collecting donations in one of our L&P trucks, which made its way to our Carthage, Missouri, facilities and our corporate office. A team sorted through nearly 2,000 contributions, many of which were packaged items like crayons and markers, and divided the supplies which were donated to five area schools: Diamond, Neosho, Carterville, Carthage, and East Newton.
Thank you to our teams for working together to put people first!
Our tenth summer of the Doors Internship Program just wrapped up! Through virtual workshops, our interns worked on goal-setting, networking, personal branding, and communication within their fields.
We invited our interns to share their experiences this summer. Meet Sohaib Syed from Houston, Texas. Sohaib is beginning his Master of Science in Supply Chain Management at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Florida.
What did your internship with Leggett entail?
During my internship, I learned how procurement processes fit into the company’s supply chain. I better understood how raw materials and component sources are managed and distributed to support production. I worked closely with suppliers and learned how to manage relationships with them. In addition, I gained familiarity with procurement software tools such as Microsoft Dynamics D365. This software helps streamline the procurement process and manage inventory.
What was the most valuable thing you learned during your time at Leggett?
The most valuable things I learned during my internship were project and time management. I learned how to handle and manage multiple projects simultaneously, setting priorities and meeting deadlines along with school.
What were your goals through your internship?
One of my main goals in my internship was to excel in procurement, sourcing, Concur, or any projects. I wanted to gain hands-on experience, combine it with my theoretical knowledge, and produce results. Another goal of mine was to perform better every single day and become a resource for the company.
What was your favorite part of your internship at Leggett?
I had two favorites throughout my internship. First was my exposure to supply chain processes when I visited the Carthage branches and saw all the work. Second was the network-building opportunities. Through the Doors program, I got a chance to meet many new interns, some of whom became my friends. I have also built my network with experienced professionals in my field.
How will you apply your experience?
I will apply all the knowledge and hands-on experience I’ve gained to help the company with procurement projects. In addition, I plan to take on some supply chain management certifications to help the company continue to achieve its objectives.
Our teams at the California locations of Elite Comfort Solutions (ECS) promote and celebrate safety with an Elite Safety Employee of the Month program.
Employees can nominate their peers who they recognize as safety leaders and who are making a difference at their branches. The managers from the facilities vote for a nominee, and the employee with the highest vote is named the Elite Safety Employee of the Month.
Angel Lagunas, Machine Operator at ECS Commerce, in Commerce, CA, is named Safety Employee of the Month.
“This program is helping employees across the ECS California network to understand the significance of a positive safety culture,” says Hugo Alvarez, Senior EHS Manager. “Recognizing the safety actions of the workforce promotes an autonomous safety culture and sets the example of what safety leaders look like.”
Each Safety Employee of the Month is recognized at a celebration luncheon at their branch, where the employee is given a certificate, a token of appreciation, and the entire branch is presented with a trophy that includes the names of past and present Safety Employees of the Month.
For the first time, the ECS California network plans to have a year-end celebration where they will invite the 2023 winners and name a Safety Employee of the Year.
Congratulations to ECS California and their commitment to prioritizing the safety and care of each other. You are living out our value of putting people first!
For the second year, Leggett & Platt has partnered with Destination Imagination (DI), a global community of 28 countries on six continents, whose focus is to inspire and equip today’s youth to find their creative self-expression by providing challenges rooted in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM).
Through DI, youth from schools worldwide compete in regional STEAM challenges and tournaments with the hopes of advancing to the Global Finals, the culminating challenge experience.
Thanks to the support of L&P, DI sent multiple teams from around the world, including two teams from Ukraine, to compete at the Global Finals held in May in Kansas City, Missouri.
“Your support of the Ukraine and Ukrainian children not only helped them to participate in the Global Finals, but it helps to develop their creativity and curiosity as well as advance DI in Ukraine,” said Vasyl Dunets, Ukraine Team Leader.
The Ukraine teams receive their L&P pins at Global Finals.
A popular activity at Global Finals is pin trading. Teams can make pins or bring pins from their affiliates and trade them with teams worldwide. Leggett presented the Ukrainian teams with L&P pins.
“The children enjoyed sharing pins during the Global Finals, and after returning home, we also sent the pins to teams who could not visit the U.S.,” said Vasyl. “Thank you to our friends at Leggett & Platt, who supported our Ukrainian teams.”
The Pullmaflex Automotive team in Ammanford, UK, takes a behavioral approach to safety. They understand that risk is a part of everyday life, and while they cannot eliminate risk, they can work to mitigate the impact of those risks.
“Most safety-related incidents occur when an individual is looking for the most direct, time efficient, or effective way to perform a task,” says Clare Rees, HR Business Partner at Pullmaflex. “By observing those routine tasks and understanding the natural path of an activity, we can find solutions that reduce risk by appealing to natural instincts.”
The team drives change in behavior by understanding the actions that cause the safety risks and simplifying those actions to make them more aligned with natural impulses.
“By understanding the true root cause of an action, we can manage the risk of reoccurrence by driving change in the behavior.”
The team drives this change by following guidelines like these:
Collaborate, communicate, listen, and understand
Celebrate safe behaviors
Identify risk and support change with positive reinforcement
Always ask why and avoid blame
Support managers to reassess their environments with fresh eyes
Thank you to the Ammanford team for upholding our value of putting people first!
Recently, Leggett & Platt partnered with Kansas Legal Services and co-hosted an expungement clinic in Pittsburg, Kansas. The expungement clinic helped residents who were arrested or convicted of some types of past crimes get a second chance by getting their records expunged.
Expungement is the legal process of removing or sealing a criminal record from a person’s public record. Criminal convictions and other offenses can stay on a person’s record for years and become a barrier to obtaining employment, housing, and education. When a person’s record is expunged, no information related to the arrest or the conviction can be disclosed to the public, offering individuals a second chance.
Volunteers from Kansas Legal Services and L&P help residents during the expungement clinic.
Having a criminal record, even just an arrest, can stop a person from qualifying for many types of jobs and benefits. During the free clinic, residents with eligible cases met with volunteers from L&P and Kansas Legal Services, who reviewed their cases and helped draft the necessary paperwork.
“It was rewarding to be a part of such a worthy cause. Each person we helped was so thankful and appreciative,” said Alex Aguilera, Assistant General Counsel – Litigation & Compliance, who volunteered and helped coordinate the event. “You could tell that they were excited to move on with their lives and put their prior mistakes behind them.”
Leggett volunteers and community members from local businesses and schools recently participated in the Carthage Annual Day of Caring, supported by the Carthage Area United Way. The Carthage Annual Day of Caring assists ten local non-profit agencies with various projects, including painting, cleaning and upkeep, landscaping, and minor repairs.
Our Leggett team assisted Jasper County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and Community Clinic of Southwest Missouri. At CASA, our L&P team cleaned the outside patio and playground equipment, provided general housekeeping, and sanitized all toys and equipment.
In addition, L&P recently held a donation drive for hygiene products. Through those donations, the team donated 200 hygiene kits containing soap, shampoo, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and other essential items to those in need at CASA.
“Our diverse group of employee volunteers learned a lot about what CASA does and who they serve, and even raised their hands for future events with CASA to show continued support,” said Sarah Peterson, Fraud/Due Diligence Supervisor at L&P. “It was really great to see everyone get their hands dirty and break a sweat for the good of others.”
At Leggett & Platt, we are committed to being good stewards of the environment. One of the ways we are working toward that goal is by reducing our carbon footprint and energy use. In 2018, we partnered with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Better Plants program. The program is a national initiative to improve energy efficiency across U.S. industries, including manufacturing.
Since joining the program, three of our facilities have identified energy-saving projects through on-site trainings. We talked with Tamara Cook, Sustainability Director, about our partnership goals with the DOE Better Plants Program and the energy-saving projects across L&P.
Team Members participating in the energy Treasure Hunt at Carthage Spring.
What is our goal in partnering with the DOE Better Plants Program?
We voluntarily committed to this program in 2018 and set a goal to reduce our energy usage in our U.S. facilities by 25% in 10 years. As part of the program, the DOE provides free technical assistance to analyze energy usage in our U.S. facilities. Among other trainings, they offer Energy Treasure Hunts to help train a manufacturing facility to identify and quantify energy-saving opportunities.
What kind of energy savings did you find at the Carthage Spring Treasure Hunt?
In May, we conducted an Energy Treasure Hunt at Branch One (Carthage Spring) in Carthage, Missouri. Carthage Spring has an annual energy cost of about $1.2 million for electricity and natural gas. Through the training, four teams of employees from Branch One and other U.S. Spring locations identified multiple energy-saving projects, resulting in savings of approximately 10% of the overall energy bill—over $100,000! All projects would have a payback period of less than a year and could be implemented by employees at Carthage Spring.
In addition, Branch One is considering installing solar panels on one of its buildings. Solar panels would result in additional electricity cost savings and generate zero-emissions on-site electricity, reducing the Branch’s energy use and carbon footprint if implemented.
What are the next steps for Carthage Spring?
The next steps will include taking action and implementing the identified project opportunities. The Branch may need to modify policies, update preventative maintenance plans, and install or optimize equipment to sustain the projects and eventually see year-over-year savings at the branch.
Additional energy-saving projects and equipment optimization opportunities may still be identified through additional information gathered from data loggers installed on equipment. The DOE will provide a final report that summarizes all potential options for Carthage Spring in the coming weeks.
Are there plans to have Energy Treasure Hunts at other L&P locations?
Teams from several U.S. Spring branches participated in the Branch One Treasure Hunt. By participating, they learned how to conduct an energy treasure hunt. These teams can now return to their locations and share their knowledge and best practices to implement trainings and find their own energy-saving projects.
The DOE has regular application processes for the free Energy Treasure Hunts. Branches can also conduct a hunt independently, and the DOE’s website provides instructions on hosting an Energy Treasure Hunt. If your U.S. or international branch is interested in learning how to conduct a Treasure Hunt, please contact the Sustainability team, and we can provide you with these online resources and assist in coordinating an event.
Congratulations to the Carthage Spring Team and Branch Manager, Kile Lesmeister, for doing their part to be good stewards of the environment and working together to better our culture of sustainability!
We are proud to announce that, for the fourth year in a row, our Leggett & Platt Brazil location has received the Great Place to Work Certification from the Great Place To Work Institute!
To celebrate, L&P Brazil employees came together to enjoy food, music, and some fun. Check out some of the photos from the celebration!
We are proud of all of our employees who embody our values of Put People First, Do Great Work Together, Do the Right Thing, and Take Ownership and Raise the Bar. Their commitment to these shared values is what makes L&P a great place to work.
