PORTLAND, Ore. (BRAIN) — Chris King Precision Components announced it will withdraw from the B Corporation recertification process, a designation from B Lab that a company meets sustainability standards while balancing profit with purpose.
Chris King GM Kirby Bedsaul said the company couldn't agree with B Corp on establishing manufacturing standards.
"We were hoping to work with B Corp ... to move beyond the basics of transparency and domestic materials sourcing," Bedsaul said. "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."
He said Chris King would need to hire someone to work on creating those standards and then verifying them with B Corp. "We're more inclined to put that money into our new environmental initiatives," Bedsaul said.
When reached by BRAIN about Chris King's decision, a B Lab spokesperson would only confirm Chris King is no longer B Corp certified and would not comment on companies not part of its network.
In addition to sustainability initiatives, B Corp Certification is a designation that a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability, and transparency on factors from employee benefits and charitable giving to supply chain practices and input materials.
According to Chris King, a challenge in establishing B Corp improvement was the lack of measuring "a before state" of emissions and other waste products in its factory because the company's namesake founder set up all processes for minimum waste. Because of this, Chris King was not able to demonstrate significant improvement, a key factor in the certification process.
Chris King will remain a Beneficiary Corporation.
"The B Corp movement is important, and we have learned a lot from the process of looking at all our business practices," Bedsaul said. "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."
