Washington Business Fall 2016 | Washington Business | Page 21

what’s working: sustainability Building with Renewables For more than a century, this family-owned company has turned Northwest wood into quality utility products. employer: Brooks Manufacturing Co. location: Bellingham number of employees: Varies between 50-55 throughout the year product: With the tagline “engineered to outlive you,” Brooks Manufacturing Co. designs and manufactures quality wood crossarms and transmission framing products for the electric utility industry. Established in 1915, Brooks Manufacturing has been owned and operated by the Brooks family since 1935. Brooks is a certified womanowned business enterprise. innovative environmental stewardship: The company’s Douglas fir crossarms come from sustainable forests that are managed to meet the social, economic, and ecological needs of present and future generations. Treated Douglas fir wood remains the most cost-effective material available, both for its low initial cost as well as total lifecycle costs. On average, Brooks Manufacturing sequesters 15 million pounds of carbon per year. In addition, all leftover wood scraps are used on-site to power a portion of the company’s machinery. in their own words: “The Brooks team is proud of our environmental record of utilizing a renewable resource efficiently while extending the life of that resource with our manufacturing processes for the benefit of all our electrical utility customers throughout the U.S.” — Dwayne Carter, president, Brooks Manufacturing Co. www.brooksmfg.com fall 2016 21