Chris King to Withdraw from B-Corp Recertification
Chris King Precision Components (CKPC) has today announced their intention to withdraw from the B-Corp recertification process. King was the first US-based bicycle component manufacturer to achieve the certification after establishing itself as the most sustainability-focused manufacturer in the industry.
B Corp Certification is a designation that a business meets high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials.
“We were hoping to work with B-Corp on a set of manufacturing standards, to move beyond the basics of transparency and domestic materials sourcing, but after a lot of back and forth with B-Corp and the B-Lab, it seems they don’t have the bandwidth to establish manufacturing standards that reflect the depth of what we’re doing at King,” explained CKPC GM Kirby Bedsaul. “In the end, we were going to need to employ someone whose sole job was to work on creating standards and then verifying certification of them with B-Corp, and that’s just not tenable for us. We’re more inclined to put that money into our new environmental initiatives.”
A key challenge for King in establishing improvement of processes was the lack of a “before state,” i.e., measurements of emissions or other waste products, in their factory, since the company’s namesake founder had set up all processes for minimum waste to begin with. As a result, King has been unable to demonstrate significant improvement, which is a key factor in certification.
“The B-Corp movement is important, and we have learned a lot from the process of looking at all our business practices,” Bedsaul continued. “At the same time, Chris set us up with so many of the B-Corp’s principles in mind from day one, so in a sense, we’re pushing ahead of the movement, and forgoing the certification to invest in what comes next feels like the right choice for us.”
CKPC will remain a Beneficiary Corporation with all the transparency requirements that designation comes with. Their Portland, Oregon factory will remain the most efficient, low-emission production facility in the bike industry.
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