.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} OSE Office Interiors’ Web site has read “coming soon” for the past couple of years, and very few dollars have gone toward advertising the company, which is tucked within an Urbandale business park beside Interstate 35/80.

However, with a full line of “green” furniture and office products ranging from carpeting to entire workstations now available, the company is looking to expand its showroom and promote itself as a major retailer in Greater Des Moines.

“We’re now going to start to promote the company,” said Greg France, vice president of new business development. “We’re positioned now to do it, with these types of products and other things that go along to complement it. We’ve been kind of a secret and we just need to educate people on what you can do and what’s available.”

OSE is one of a growing number of small businesses in Greater Des Moines that are capitalizing on the national consumer trend toward buying green products and services. Though these companies are in a wide range of industries, those that have gone this direction believe they could be the leaders in their market if Greater Des Moines begins to focus on sustainable behaviors.

“I think now more than ever,” France said, “we are poised to become a very progressive community.”

Sustainable or green practices encompass energy efficiency, resource conservation and indoor air quality, but can involve a range of choices within these three categories, allowing a wide range of companies to enter this area.

Here’s an overview of some Greater Des Moines businesses that are headed in this direction:

OSE Office Interiors

Starting out as a refurbishing company, OSE was founded on the concept of recycling old office furniture.

“It’s not something that [the owners] said, ‘This is a hot button. This is going to be a good seller some day. We need to jump on the bandwagon,'” France said. “We’ve been there since the company’s been founded.”

However, in the past few years, the company has found it cheaper to sell new furniture manufactured in an environment-friendly way. Now the company touts its main line, made by AIS Inc., which in 2003 won the Shingo Prize for excellence in lean manufacturing and quality, which France compares to a Nobel Prize.

AIS, which also started out refurbishing furniture, created a system that produces new workstations at less cost than the competition while also having less impact on the environment, France said. For example, it recaptures unused paint after powder-coating the furniture, reduces energy use by automating some processes, recycles fabric scraps and other waste and uses recycled materials for the majority of some of its workstations.

In May 2005, the company became Greenguard certified, which means its products do not emit harmful toxins. This certification also means that AIS products will help a building receive a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.

In addition to the AIS line, OSE offers carpeting made from recycled materials, some with corn-based backing, wall coverings, paint, cork flooring, linoleum work surfaces and window treatments designed to keep heat out but let light in, all of which are more environmentally friendly or healthier than competing products.

OSE expects its business to expand as more people in Des Moines become aware of the benefits of green products. If cities decide to set standards for commercial buildings, similar to Chicago mandating that new downtown commercial buildings need to be LEED-certified, that could provide another boost.

“The demand has really fueled the development and the availability” of these products, France said.

But so far, the green products have not driven OSE’s sales, France said. Rather, customers have been more interested in aspects such as durability and appearance than green certification.

The main challenge for OSE employees is sorting through the information and learning about the products so they can educate customers. They have been researching online and training through courses such as a Web-based series on how to become a green dealership, and market it to the public and educate consumers.

“It’s letting people know it’s out there, it’s available,” France said. “Hopefully everybody will want to do it because there’s no negatives to doing it.”

Iowa-Des Moines Supply

The commercial distribution industry has never been an exciting field in terms of innovative new products until now, said Bill Weidmaier, owner of Iowa-Des Moines Supply Inc.

Bill Weidmaier, owner of Iowa-Des Moines Supply Inc., will begin selling green products this month. His company is now a major distributor of chemicals from Rochester Midland Corp., which is focused on environmental-friendly products. Photo by Duane Tinkey

Manufacturers are coming out with products that are healthier, made from recycled products, more energy efficient or environmentally friendly, allowing his company to expand the line of chemicals, cleaning detergents, paper and disposable products and other items it sells to large commercial clients, including restaurants, hospitals and hotels.

“I am hopeful that it will give us an opportunity to develop new business and new accounts,” Weidmaier said, “and possibly allow us to gain strength in some areas that we’re weak in, such as schools.”

Iowa-Des Moines Supply recently expanded its warehouse on the east side of Des Moines by 11,000 square feet as a result of overall growth in business and the expectation that the new line of green products it’s rolling out this month will increase sales even more.

The company now carries about 100 green-certified products, with its biggest line being chemicals from Rochester Midland Corp., a New York-based company that’s been developing chemicals that are less toxic and more environmentally friendly for at least 20 years. Iowa-Des Moines Supply has signed a deal that will make it the largest dealer of Rochester Midland’s products in Iowa.

The company also will carry products such as green certified paper and disposable products, touch-free dispensers, fluorescent lights and even a floor mat designed to capture 90 percent of dust and dirt from shoes.

Weidmaier expects it will take time to see results from adding these products, but said nearly all of his clients have asked to learn more about the products when they are available.

Weidmaier began learning about green products from distributors on the east and west coasts a few years ago, but did not begin to research which products he wanted to offer until about a year ago, when demand for green products began to build in the Midwest. “I have been keeping a close eye on the trend with the idea that at the right time we would hopefully become the leaders in this,” he said.

Now he anticipates adding more green products in the future as more manufacturers develop them. For example, he hopes to add more environmentally friendly laundry and dishwasher detergents once the manufacturers begin offering them and is looking into selling biodegradable supplies, such as disposable coffee cups made from corn, for food industry clients.

The learning curve for understanding green certified products and the lines that are the best to carry has been high, Weidmaier said. He and the company’s employees have undergone training from some of the manufacturers whose products Iowa-Des Moines Supply carries. This education process has led to more sustainable or green practices within the company as well, which includes more recycling, changing light bulbs to fluorescents and adding automatic flushers to toilets.

“As we’ve educated ourselves,” Weidmaier said, “we’ve realized the value and the importance of this, not only as a company but also to the environment itself.”

Bamboo LLC

Eight jobs in 12 years is a sign that Kris Moorman’s marketing career has adapted to new opportunities. Her latest focus: green consulting. She has become one of the first marketers in Iowa to offer services that help businesses capitalize on the green trend.

Kris Moorman left Trillix Marketing Group Inc. to start Bamboo LLC, a green consulting company, in January 2006. She works from her horse farm in Indianola and now has 15 clients. Photo by Duane Tinkey

Working from her farm in Indianola, Moorman has increased her client base from one, when she left her position as a partner in Trilix Marketing Group Inc. in January 2006, to 15 today. These clients range from small start-up companies to larger businesses, such as Meredith Corp.’s BHG.com division, and includes writers, remodelers and technology companies. She also is working on three events that will further educate public relations and marketing experts and businesses about green issues.

Moorman’s interest in green marketing developed while she was living in Maine, which she felt had a different philosophy about land use and conservation than the Midwest. However, it was not until she had been working for Trilix for a couple of years and had clients who were interested in green ventures that she saw a need for marketers with expertise in this area. So she decided to apply her skills in strategic planning, branding, e-business development and public relations, as well as her experience working in a corporate setting and as head of a start-up technology company in the 1990s, toward helping businesses communicate their sustainable practices or products full time.

The biggest opportunity she sees for businesses is to reach a group called “lifestyles of health and sustainability.” The segment is a $228.9 billion market in the United States, or about one-third of American adults, who are interested in improved sustainability and quality of life in areas such as energy conservation, health and wellness, and investment in companies that are socially responsible.

“It’s a group that continues to grow,” she said, “because we as a society are getting to be more and more conscious about how we spend our dollars.”

Moorman’s business model has also changed as she has seen a need to educate others in her field about this segment and green issues. Having graduated with a master’s degree in environmental management through Harvard University’s distance learning program and completed a training program on global warming led by former Vice President Al Gore, her understanding of green issues extends beyond marketing, and much of her work recently has been educating businesses and public relations specialists.

Moorman is working on a conference in Chicago this fall, and hopes to offer another version of the event in Des Moines early next year. The conferences will focus on how marketers and public relations experts can develop communication internally and externally to support what a company is doing to be more sustainable.

“We need to be educated,” Moorman said. “We’re not the cradle of environmentally sustainable lifestyles like you’d find in San Francisco. There are so many things out there that are just the way of life. … I think Des Moines is moving toward it, though.”