Driving Operational Efficiency and Economic Impact Through an ESG Program

Sustainable business practices and operational excellence are complementary to one another. At Velosity, our first formal Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) report made that case in concrete terms. What began as a strategic commitment several years ago has since become embedded in every aspect of how we operate: how we manage resources, train and support our employees, work with partners, and measure progress. The results have been evident across safety performance, workforce engagement, resource efficiency, and supply chain processes, and they have strengthened our business in ways that go well beyond compliance.

As a contract manufacturer shipping over 130 million parts annually and supporting more than 130 businesses, we had both the scale and the responsibility to pursue this work seriously. For other business leaders considering the same path, the lesson we have learned is straightforward: ESG is a mindset and a practice that drives efficiency, builds culture, and creates lasting economic value.

Three Phases to Guide Your ESG Path

ESG has evolved from a reporting exercise into a core business discipline. At Velosity, we approach it through the lens of operational excellence, workforce engagement, customer trust, and long-term value creation. It is measurable, pragmatic, and embedded into daily decision-making across our manufacturing environment. For organizations looking to build or deepen an ESG program, the path forward involves three phases.

The starting point is adopting an ESG mindset, rather than only focusing on metrics. Identify areas of ESG materiality that align with the organization’s business strategy and designate internal ESG leaders. From there, ESG must be woven into the same operating process as safety, quality, and financial performance. At Velosity, that means ESG goals are expressed as repeatable routines such as how maintenance is scheduled, waste is managed, suppliers are vetted, energy is consumed, and teams are trained. Governance and oversight are not imposed “because of ESG.” Rather, they are core competencies embedded in daily workstreams.

The second phase is to build a culture of sustainability by training employees across relevant areas—such as health and safety or environmental stewardship—and implement data management systems to track consumption, waste, and scrap. Roll out an employee engagement survey to understand what matters most to the team and where opportunities exist. 

When employees start, are they provided with opportunities for education about the business? Establish a baseline program to teach about mission, products, customers, marketing, operations, HR, and other important aspects to understand the company. A common, shared background with universal language and an invitation to see how the business is structured beyond an individual role can offer context and buy-in from employees seeking to understand how they fit into the larger picture. It also creates opportunities for new recruits to see what could be ahead for future roles within the company. Internal promotions also reduce costs in the external hiring process and preserve institutional knowledge.

In the third phase, leverage data. Set up a continuous improvement (CI) tracker or equivalent system to develop initiatives based on what the data reveals, whether that is recruitment and retention improvements, near-miss reporting protocols, or energy and waste reduction targets. 

A CI tracker encourages employees across the organization to submit ideas ranging from production processes to safety practices into the tracker. Leadership can review submissions at regular intervals and assign a leader to areas where employees have raised concerns across different areas. Have the finance department validate any hard cost savings. Recognize employees whose ideas are implemented with monthly rewards, including gift cards and paid time off. The outcome is a culture where improvement is everyone’s job.

Data and results can be used to develop an initial ESG report. This report can help the organization establish a baseline and provide a way to accurately and succinctly share with others—including employees, suppliers, customers, local community members, and more—the work and progress the organization has made on its ESG efforts. From our perspective at Velosity, being transparent about the work we have done in the ESG space has been a positive experience that our employees, customers, and partners have noticed. 

Focus on People First

ESG isn’t only about the business. It comes from a deeper commitment to our people. We want our employees to feel valued in their profession and proud of the company that employs them. For members of any team to be invested in their work, we know it requires offering living wages and quality benefits, focusing on safety, and ensuring a fair work-life balance to create a positive internal culture.

So, while improved metrics toward efficiency and value may feel like powerful indicators for growth, ESG must be rooted in a people-first approach. Living wages, best-in-class benefits, and a people-first culture create the foundation from which everything else follows. 

Business leaders can prioritize employee wellness with a wide array of experiences and cultivate a positive work culture as the business grows. This could include healthcare supplements or expanded insurance benefits, such as paying for every employee and their family to have the benefits, even if they don’t use the business’ offered health insurance. An investment like that not only supports employees but can also reduce the renewal rate year to year from a lower number of healthcare claims. 

Consider hosting a health fair with practical offerings to support employee wellness, like flu shots, dental and vision benefits information, healthy recipes, or access to food.

Another crucial area for businesses to examine through an ESG lens is internal promotions and diverse hiring. With supportive systems in place, managers and leaders can continually communicate and help employees with professional development goals and programs, as well as career path aspirations, and share information about open positions internally. Investing in the existing team boosts morale, builds trust, and can significantly lower employee turnover rates—something we know has a huge impact on efficiency.

Investments could look like internships for college students, partnering them with an internal mentor and allowing them to present a capstone project upon completion of their program. This could also be an effective way to discover new talent to add to the team.

The complementary element to developing team members as future leaders within a company is examining and potentially restructuring the hiring process toward diverse hiring. Having a team with diverse ranges of experiences adds layers of perspectives and a variety of ideas, creating opportunities for new growth, vision, and ideas for improvement efforts. Diversity within a business leads to better problem-solving and innovation.

Assembling the team and introducing them to the business, offering attractive benefits and wages, and presenting mentoring opportunities are excellent, but unless those systems are embedded into a strong workplace culture, they may not have maximum impact. Growing a business and building an invested team also means scaling a culture. One can’t be done without the other. Offering a safe and positive place to work is necessary to tie all these ESG elements together. 

How does a company support teams holistically? Strong cultures require camaraderie and experiences to grow as a team. Ideas include volunteering in the community together as a team or making donations to a shared cause. Community engagement, like supporting nonprofits across children’s causes, education, hunger relief, homelessness, veterans’ services, and sustainability, further reinforces that an organization’s values extend beyond the facility walls.

The people and the culture of a company fit directly into the social aspect of ESG. As a business grows, it’s important to ensure company values are woven into everything. One of those values could be ESG, not just as an HR or operations program, but as part of the DNA of the company.

Conclusion

Tracking ESG performance is about accountability and creates the opportunity for operational excellence and lasting economic value. At Velosity, as we examined results from our 2025 ESG initiatives, we saw measurably improved statistics because our efforts and practices were and continue to be based on our core commitment of focusing on people to guide decisions as we build and integrate new systems. For example, a few 2025 initiatives have included our safety team’s efforts that reduced total recordable incidents by 76% and surpassed the continuous improvement program goal of saving $750,000 in manufacturing process cost, ultimately reaching more than $933,000 in cost savings by the end of the year, along with many other achievements.  

The organizations best positioned to grow responsibly and profitably are the ones that treat ESG reporting as a strategic tool rather than as a compliance checkbox. My advice to other executives is to ask your environment, health, and safety teams what they want to accomplish in 2026 and give them the platform to do it. Conduct an employee engagement survey and let it drive the conversation. Celebrate self-directed ESG initiatives, because that is what shifts a program into a culture. When ESG becomes a core part of an organization, efficiency gains and economic impact follow naturally. We have seen it firsthand, and the momentum continues to build.

Dave Hemink joined Velosity in 2021 as CEO, bringing over 30 years of experience in the medical device market space in a variety of sales, marketing, strategy, and leadership roles. Before joining Velosity, Hemink spent time at Boston Scientific, Cantel Medical, and C.R. Bard. He holds a BA in business/corporate communications from California State University, Fresno, as well as an MBA from Northwestern University—Kellogg School of Management.