Maintains SCS Indoor Advantage™ Gold Certification
Leominster, MA – Dec. 15, 2021 – Massachusetts-based AIS, the largest manufacturer of commercial office furniture and seating in New England, today announced that seven of their products have earned LEVEL® 3 BIFMA certification.
AIS products now certified at the highest level available are: Calibrate® Conference and Day-to-Day® Tables, and the following systems: Aloft®, DiVi®, Matrix®, Mwall, and Oxygen®. The certification is effective through Nov. 30, 2024.
BIFMA certification is the furniture industry’s independent, third-party evaluation standard to determine the level of sustainability for which an office furniture product qualifies and consists of three performance tiers; Levels 1, 2, and 3 with higher numbers indicating that more criteria have been met.
The BIFMA process involves independent audits, visits to manufacturing locations, and a review of program strategies and activities and measures attributes including materials and chemicals, the manufacturing process, social responsibility, and organizational commitments. Evaluators also consider a company’s social actions, energy usage, material selection, and human and ecosystem health impacts.
AIS has been environmentally friendly since the day the company was founded more than 32 years ago by Bruce Platzman and Arthur Maxwell.
“We never had to ‘go green’ because we’ve been sustainable since we opened our doors. To us, sustainability is not an initiative, it’s part of our DNA. Our design and manufacturing teams consider every design and manufacturing process to create the most environmentally-friendly products and processes possible,” states Platzman. “We start at the concept stage and the careful selection of materials and construction methods.”
The company’s vice president of strategic resources, Amy Transue, who leads AIS’ certification efforts received the LEVEL® 3 notification. “We are so pleased to be granted LEVEL® 3 certification for these popular products. Our teams work very hard to maintain and continually improve our sustainable business practices while enhancing the value offered to our customers.”
Not only is it important that products are sustainable, it is also critical that the process is as well. The company’s design for environment team continually works to establish new ways to utilize renewable, recycled, and biodegradable materials along with water management and energy efficiency and the use and disposal of products at the end of their life.
AIS has held LEVEL® 1 and LEVEL® 2 certifications for a decade and continues to be certified at those levels for the following products:
LEVEL® 2 compliant products include:
- Seating: Auburn™, Devens™, Essex™, Pierce™, Triad™
- Systems Furniture: Calibrate®, Calibrate® Community, Powerbeam.
LEVEL® 1 compliant products include:
- Seating: Bolton™, Element™, Grafton™, Granite™, Natick™, Paxton™, Revere™, Stow™, Trix®, Upton™.
INDOOR AIR ADVANTAGE™ GOLD
In addition to the BIFMA certification process, AIS uses SCS Global Services Indoor Advantage to measure the impact of AIS products on air quality via testing done through an independent, accredited laboratory.
AIS products granted the Indoor Advantage™ Gold are:
- Systems Furniture: AO2, Aloft®, Calibrate®, Calibrate Community®, Day-to-Day® PowerBeam, DiVi®, L-Series Storage, Matrix®, Mwall, Oxygen®, Volker™;
- Seating: Auburn™, Bolton™, Devens™, Element™, Essex, Grafton™, Granite™, LB Lounge, Natick™, Paxton™, Pierce™, Revere, Rutland™, Stow™, Triad™, Trix®, Upton™, and Volker™;
- Tables: Day-to-Day® Table Bases.
PARTNERSHIP WITH ANEW GIVES OLD AND SURPLUS FURNITURE A NEW LIFE
AIS has established a partnership with the non-profit organization ANEW to give new life to used furniture. This take-back solution assists nonprofits and public agencies by providing them with easy-to-install donated furniture and diverting the items from landfills. In its more than 16 years, ANEW has diverted an average of 3 million pounds annually from landfills and served over 2,000 organizations in 20 countries.
More about AIS’ sustainability efforts, including the solar field rooftop.
