Going green sparks spinoff benefits for Bouckaert

READY TO RIDE: Victor Bulux, left, and Luis Delacruz, machine operators at Bouckaert Industrial Textiles in Woonsocket, do a production run of equestrian saddle padding. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO
READY TO RIDE: Victor Bulux, left, and Luis Delacruz, machine operators at Bouckaert Industrial Textiles in Woonsocket, do a production run of equestrian saddle padding. / PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

If you drive, fly or ride a horse, odds are good that those experiences were enhanced by one or more of Bouckaert Industrial Textiles’ diversified textile products. Needle-punch wool and synthetic felts, for instance, are in automotive carpet padding, tire reinforcement and soundproofing; wool felt carpet under pads are found in aircraft cockpits and cabins; and wool and synthetic felts provide shock absorption in equestrian saddle pads.

“We don’t make the finished saddle pad,” said Max Brickle, BIT president, owner and CEO. “Our felt makes your manufactured saddle pads better!”

Founded by Thomas Bouckaert in 1988 to manufacture disaster-relief blankets, BIT was acquired by The Brickle Group, a third-generation industrial textile company, in 2000. With a diverse customer base, BIT achieved sales growth of just under 6 percent in 2015 and projects annual growth of 15-20 percent in 2016.

Initially, cost savings drove BIT to focus on sustainable green manufacturing; since then, the company has become more competitive and a better employer. Since installing a $650,000 dust collection system, the company’s pollutant output, employee sick days and employee turnover are all down. Now recycling 99 percent of its own waste, BIT takes waste fiber, recycles it and makes a high-value and high-performing – though not necessarily expensive – product. Currently, some 80 percent of the roughly 13.5 million pounds of raw fiber processed annually at BIT comes from recycled sources.

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While Brickle appreciates all of BIT’s environmental commitments, its humanitarian relief blankets earned a special shout-out. The U.S. departments of state and defense buy the blankets, made from recycled fibers, and deliver them, free of charge, to entities serving homeless individuals and refugees around the world. Close to home, BIT also donates blankets to shelters and churches.

While BIT’s textiles are used in dozens of diversified commercial, residential and industrial applications, felt for the insulated packaging industry is one of its newest and most exciting products. Made predominantly from natural jute fibers recycled from used burlap coffee and cocoa bags – which BIT shreds – the felt does a better job keeping food fresh than do nonbiodegradable packing fillers, such as Styrofoam. The product’s customer, which Brickle declined to name, is considering moving to Rhode Island and bringing 60 to 120 jobs. “That business alone could drive our business by 10 percentage points,” said Brickle, who noted the company’s commitments to research and development for niche opportunities.

Several programs, including The Brickle Group’s solar farm, have reduced energy use. More initiatives are on the horizon, including a new solar farm, further refining energy-saving measures and finding new ways to limit, re-use or recycle waste products.

Now seeking 10 additional individuals for manufacturing jobs, BIT has experienced challenges in finding and retaining a qualified workforce. So Brickle took action. Through a $150,000 state grant, BIT and other businesses formed the Phoenix Group, launching a program to strengthen employees’ understanding of basic manufacturing, team expectations and lean principles.

Through the Phoenix Group’s Rhode Island Manufacturing Excellence Center, participating companies’ employees will be paid to participate in a beta eight-week course, to be taught this fall at New England Institute of Technology. The initial curriculum is only the beginning; Brickle envisions adding courses for supervisors and managers. If the program has “legs,” he envisions turning it back to government and managing it with private-sector oversight.

Calling the Rhode Island Foundation, with which BIT has developed a relationship, a “good conduit to sponsor programs that will be beneficial to the state,” Brickle believes it can lift the state’s current abysmal ranking as a desirable place for business. “We want to be [in the] top 30, then the top 20, then the top 10.” •

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