O’Reilly-DePalma Client News

Congratulations to American Standard! LIXIL Corporation, headquartered in Tokyo, today announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire 100% of the share capital of the parent company of American Standard Brands.

“This transaction marks an exciting chapter in our 137-year history,” said Jay D. Gould, American Standard BrandsPresident and CEO. “We and our customers will surely benefit by combining LIXIL’s quality control, manufacturing technology and product development with American Standard’s sales networks, and I believe these will help the company maintain our position as a market leader.”

For more more information on this announcement, view the complete press release or email us.

A new partnership between American Standard Brands and WaterAid seeks to save lives and improve access to safe sanitation in Bangladesh. Through their joint effort, hundreds of thousands of people in this developing country will receive a cost effective, sanitary toilet pan to help prevent the spread of disease and improve their standard of living.

“Our partnership with WaterAid plays a crucial role in raising the standard of safe sanitation in Bangladesh. We will be donating hundreds of thousands of our SaTo sanitary toilet pans to residents and institutions in Bangladesh, one for every Champion toilet sold here in North America,” said Jay Gould, president and CEO of American Standard Brands.

In parts of the world like Bangladesh, where fresh water is scarce and sewer infrastructure does not exist, open pit latrines allow disease to spread through direct and indirect contact with human waste. Globally, lack of access to safe sanitation facilities causes 2,000 deaths each day, mainly among children.

The SaTo (pronounced SAH-toh, derived from “Safe Toilet”) uses ingeniously simple mechanical and water seals that reduce the transmission of disease by closing off pit latrines from the open air. After eight months of development at the company’s New Product Design Center in Piscataway, N.J., successful field testing on the SaTo was completed in Bangladesh in early 2013. Users especially appreciated how the small amount of water retained after each use created an airtight seal that reduced odors, as well.

For more information on this announcement view the complete press release or email us.

Uponor North America (Uponor) has been named one of the Top 100 Workplaces in Minnesota, based on an employee-based survey project from the Minneapolis-based Star Tribune. Uponor was ranked 16th on the midsize company list.

Top Workplaces recognizes the most progressive companies in Minnesota based on employee opinions about organizational health, job expectations and employee engagement. The analysis included responses from more than 64,300 employees at Minnesota public, private and nonprofit organizations.

“This acknowledgement is about organizational health and employee engagement, so the biggest rewards are enjoyed every day by Uponorians working in a healthy and motivating environment,” says Jyri Luomakoski, Uponor president and CEO. “The team has not only improved the business, but also ensured that it is a place where people want to work, creating a sustainable base for continuous success.”

Published on June 16, the rankings in the Star Tribune Top 100 Workplaces are based on survey information collected by WorkplaceDynamics, an independent company specializing in employee engagement and retention. To qualify for the Star Tribune Top Workplaces, a company must have more than 50 employees in Minnesota. Nearly 1,900 companies were invited to participate. Rankings were composite scores calculated purely on the basis of employee responses.

Star Tribune Publisher Michael J. Klingensmith said, “The companies in the Star Tribune Top 100 Workplaces deserve high praise for creating the very best work environments in the state of Minnesota. My congratulations to each of these exceptional companies.”

Uponor North America President Bill Gray adds that the Star Tribune’s Top 100 Workplace recognition is a great honor. “This truly is a great place to work. The passion and dedication that our employees bring to work every single day is inspiring. I’m proud to work beside such a talented group of people.”

For more information, see: http://uponor.oreilly-depalma.com/2013/top-workplaces-us.shtml