After a long day on the trail, one of the most appreciated creature comforts is a high-quality, plush, and durable sleeping pad. There’s nothing like forgetting your pad or getting a puncture to remind you how essential a great pad is to getting a good night’s sleep.
The next time you stretch out beneath the stars on an MEC sleeping pad, consider the amazing technology that supports you, and the fact that it came from a relatively small family-run company based in Taiwan.
But there’s much more to this story…
MEC has been developing sleeping pads with Feng Yi Outdoor Leisure Equipment since 1997. Feng Yi began operations in 1994, and quickly gained a following by producing quality pads and by advancing the technology used to make them. The company’s success is partly due to the skilled mechanical engineer who founded it. Mr. Lin is one of a rare breed of engineers who has the ability to conceptualize and design products and the skill to bring his designs to life. He started out building machines to make medical equipment, cars, and furniture, then transferred the technology to sleeping pads and used his years of machine-tooling experience to fabricate the large-scale machines now used on the production floor of Feng Yi.
While building up his business, Mr. Lin chose to put an emphasis on reducing the environmental footprint of his products. Early on, Feng Yi switched from using PVC (polyvinyl chloride) to TPU, a material that’s considered less toxic to people and the environment over its life cycle, and is easier to recycle. Switching to TPU required new designs and new machinery to make it a practical alternative.
Mr. Lin also spent time thinking about how to re-purpose the large amount of scrap foam left over when each sleeping pad is cut. The factory turns scrap foam into MEC self-inflating pillows for camping and pillows for the domestic market in Taiwan.
Feng Yi makes our sleeping pads using bluesign® approved fabrics. Bluesign provides independent auditing of textile mills. They examine the manufacturing process from all inputs: raw materials, chemical use, water, and energy, to all outputs: finished materials, water effluent, air emissions, and physical waste. Audit findings are ranked in order of concern, and bluesign suggests ways to reduce impacts to the environment and the work place, ways to use resources efficiently, and recommends alternatives to hazardous chemicals or processes wherever possible.
A sleeping pad is submerged to test for leaks as part of Feng Yi’s quality control program.
MEC visits this factory often and it’s not unusual to find his wife Mrs. Lin, on the factory floor. She handles factory management and human resources and can be found talking to employees, suggesting ways to improve production, but also checking in on their family lives and personal needs.
As part of our responsible sourcing program, we conduct independent interviews with the factory employees. We find their satisfaction with the work environment, compensation, and opportunities for advancement are high, and it leads to a very stable workforce (of 120) with very little turnover. Small, but important benefits include free lunches, a retirement plan and bonuses to recognize production and important holidays in Taiwan.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Lin are nearing retirement and are beginning to pass the responsibility of operating their business to two of their children, Cindy and Peter, who oversee the development of new technologies such as down-filled pads, non-slip cottons, advanced valve designs, and internal pumps. For the Lins and the employees of Feng Yi, business is good. They are scheduled to open another factory soon. We wish them well, and hope for many more good night’s sleep on the pads they create.
Contributed by Amy, Manager of Social Compliance at MEC.
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