Design for United Natural Foods Inc - Essay Example

United Natural Food Inc. (UNFI) Introduction UNFI is the leading distributor of organic andnatural foods in the Whole Foods and Sprouts market. The company’s main objective is to expand its business to other parts of the world, maintain their competitive advantage, increase profits and conserve the environment. This has led to the company embracing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), (United Natural Foods, Inc. 2014). This article describes the major benefits of the design’s changes.

Benefits of design changesThere are various risks UNFI faces, but most of them are associated with energy and environment. The rampant global warming portrays as the biggest threat to the company’s objectives. This is due to increase in food shortage due to drought, increase in the federal government restriction on greenhouse wastes to the environment and fluctuations of oil fuel prices due to economic changes. LEED will reduce production costs by almost 50% due to the reduction power usage and the reduction of over reliance on electricity and diesel (United Natural Foods, Inc. 2014). The use of renewable energy reduces carbon dioxide emissions, thus reducing taxes on environmental pollution.

The use of recycled materials to build its warehouses has increased the space by 185%, making enough room for production and storages at a cheaper cost. The reduction in lighting power by 18% helps reduce expenses (United Natural Foods, Inc. 2014). This reduction in production costs will hence increase the profit margin, making the company restore its competitive advantage. The ability to conserve the environment will improve the goodwill of the company that will be useful for successful expansion.

ReferenceUnited Natural Foods, Inc. (2014). Retrieved from www.unif.com on July 4, 2015.