Bryant Esch honored for work in sustainable manufacturing

(Waupaca, Wisconsin) Jan 7, 2025— The American Foundry Society (AFS) has recognized Waupaca Foundry’s Bryant Esch with a lifetime achievement award. Esch is the corporate sustainability manager for the Foundry and has been employed there for more than three decades. During his tenure, Esch has held positions as an environmental engineer, director of environmental engineering, and his most recent position.

The American Foundry Society (AFS) recognized Esch with the 2024 Childress-Loebler Lifetime Achievement Award at its annual Environmental, Health & Safety Conference in October of 2024. The award is presented to individuals who have dedicated their careers to improving the environment or employee health and safety in metalcasting-related industries. Esch is recognized for his dedication, innovation, and perseverance throughout his career and for bringing a vision of improved environmental, health, and safety performance to fruition at Waupaca Foundry.

During his tenure with Waupaca Foundry, Esch led the company's energy and decarbonization efforts at plants nationwide. His professional accomplishments include:

• Received the 2021 AFS Environmental, Health & Safety Service Award. This award is presented to individuals in the industry for dedication and service to help build and improve environmental, safety, and health conditions within the metalcasting industry.
• Developed technical programming for national metalcasting conferences and industry events. 
• Contributed to guidelines adopted in industry standards and provided stakeholder support in developing state/federal legislation.
• A leading voice in sustainability for manufacturing and is a published author in trade and business platforms. 

• Served as a member of the foundry’s environmental, health and safety committee.

Bryant has dedicated his career to improving the environmental, health and safety of those working in the foundry industry,” said Badger Mining EVP of Sales Michael Lenihan in the nomination. “He sets a fine example for others to follow in all that he does, and he is admired by his peers as a remarkable contributor and even better person.”

Waupaca Foundry is on a journey to reduce emissions and has accelerated investments in sustainability since 2001. Under his leadership, he achieved the following sustainability benchmarks for the foundry: 

• Reduced its Scope 1 & Scope 2 energy intensity by 21% since 2010.
• Prepared its first CDP report (FKA Carbon Disclosure Project), and the first U.S. metalcaster to do so, in 2015.
• Beneficially reused 80% of spent foundry sand and 74% of all foundry by-products.
• Reduced water use consumption by 71% over a 10-year period.
• First in the industry to publish an annual sustainability report, since 2014.
• Earned ISO 50001 energy management certification at its Plant 1 grey iron foundry in 2016.

"This lifetime achievement award reflects Bryant’s unwavering dedication to advancing environmental, social, and governance standards. His leadership, innovation, and commitment to excellence have elevated Waupaca Foundry’s performance in sustainability while setting a new standard for the metalcasting industry,” said Mike Nikolai, President, COO, and CEO. “At Waupaca Foundry, we are proud to celebrate his outstanding contributions, which reflect our shared commitment to creating a practical green foundry.” 

For more information on Waupaca Foundry’s sustainability efforts, please visit this https://waupacafoundry.com/blog/category/sustainability. 

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