Sustainability is central to our mission to make the world more productive and more sustainable, and to our promise of Expanding Human Possibility.
This commitment to environmental stewardship within our own operations and across our entire value chain is not new. What is new is the team created to focus our ability to:
- Enable our customers to achieve their own sustainability goals, making a positive impact on the world.
- Create innovative, sustainable products and solutions, and foster a culture that empowers employees to operate safely, sustainably, and responsibly.
- Support the communities in which we live and work, having an impact that extends beyond our own organization.
Leading the Rockwell Automation Sustainability team, Tom O’Reilly is prioritizing the work, empowering his team and their colleagues, and holding both accountable for outcomes.
Investments accelerate sustainability for customers
A group of passionate and experienced people, our Corporate Sustainability team oversees cross-functional workstreams for all aspects of sustainability.
“While we have a strong foundation for this work, adding a new structure, resources and a dedicated focus will help us accelerate and align our efforts across the company and continue to build sustainability into our current and future portfolio,” said Tom, whose title is vice president, Sustainability. “These offerings help customers achieve their sustainability goals by providing innovative ways to reduce waste and increase operational and resource efficiency across value chains.”
Allie Schwertner, our Sustainability Strategy and Technology Leader, is responsible for leading our new core customer sustainability team and strategy.
“One of the top priority areas for how Rockwell can make an impact is how we can harness our technology, services, and partnerships to help industry achieve sustainability ambitions,” Allie said. “We need to create new innovative ways to conduct business with the highest standards of ethics, integrity to drive both economic and sustainable outcomes and accelerate the transition to a low-carbon circular economy.”
Her passion, thought leadership and expertise for sustainability earned her a spot in the World Economic Forum’s Advanced Manufacturing Fellowship focused on sustainability, denoting her place as a leader who has the vision and values, the character and competence, to shape the future while also balancing the polarities between short- and long-term goals. One of Allie’s main deliverables is to create a standard advanced manufacturing and ESG (environmental social governance) framework.
Majo Thurman, director, Environmental, Health and Safety, has been with the company for 31 years and has been a big part of the company’s efforts to provide a safe place to work and minimize the impact of our activities on the environment.
“Our programs are built on a strong foundation of environmental and safety management systems,” Majo explained. “Our Twinsburg, Ohio manufacturing facility was first certified to ISO 14001 environmental management system in 1996.”
In 2020, the company’s Sustainability Council led the work to complete a corporate responsibility materiality assessment and the results informed the holistic environment, social and governance pillars and strategy introduced in the 2020 Sustainability Report.
“I am proud and enthusiastic to be part of the team that will lead the efforts to bring that strategy to life and drive continual improvement,” Majo said. “I am also energized around the company’s renewed commitment and investment to achieve the announced carbon neutral goal for Scope 1 (direct) and Scope 2 (indirect) emissions by 2030.”
Addressing rapidly growing needs
“I am thrilled that our company is addressing the rapidly growing needs of our customers on their journey to greater sustainability and achieving net zero and circular economy of the future,” Tom said. “For years, we’ve helped our customers address their productivity issues – including sustainability – but now that sustainability has become a much more critical global issue, I appreciate the commitment of our stakeholders to do more.”
“Our ability to inspire, enable, and equip our people is how we innovate and deliver value to our customers,” he added. “I am excited about the progress we are making and am confident that this new team will help us move even faster.”
Unlocking new possibilities
That fast-forward progress is enabled by people who are passionate about sustainability and solving a global challenge and want to work for a global technology company that is both ethical and economical. And, with the world’s global supply chain challenges, employees on this team can influence how our company interacts internally, with our customers and with our communities focusing on long-term sustainable solutions to make our business more resilient and help ensure continuity in a globally diverse ecosystem.
“Resilience, agility, and sustainability are not only attributes we strengthen within our customers’ operations; they are also reflected in our culture and in our individual employees,” Tom said. “We expand human possibility, within our company and throughout the world of industrial production. So much of that work starts with this team and runs throughout our businesses and locations. It’s a world of endless opportunity and growth – the start of something bigger than we could ever have imagined.”
It’s noble work. Rockwell is unlocking new possibilities for creativity to add value to a changing world by blending business success with social responsibility. Do you have a passion for progress? Explore our career opportunities.
