Purpose-built technology for the road ahead.
To provide the tools and technologies to safely and efficiently deliver people, packages, and services where they’re needed most.
These are engrained in how we do our work every day on behalf of our stakeholders.
Honesty and Integrity: Do what’s right every time.
Accountability: Own it.
Trust: With trust comes empowerment.
Performance Excellence: Improving never ends.
The Shyft Group is the North American leader in specialty vehicles — vehicles that move people, products, and services where they’re needed most.
Our innovative organization is comprised of nine distinct brands in last-mile delivery and other specialty vocations, which focus on building chassis, bodies, and providing upfit services that are purpose-built for every customers’ specific needs. We do this through leveraging our Work Driven Design™ consultative process — where we listen to the end user and deliver what is needed to get the job done.
Our customers include first-to-last mile delivery, infrastructure segment companies across vocations, government entities, and those in the utility and RV industries.
We have always believed in customer-centric operations built from long-standing commitments to quality, execution, innovation, and operational excellence. This proven recipe for success is born from our values and built from almost 50 years of industry expertise, yielding a unique business acumen that drives our organization’s strategic vision.
This belief is inherent in our values — Honesty & Integrity, Accountability, Trust, and Performance Excellence — and an integral element of how we operate our business.
This report contains forward-looking statements, including our commitments, targets, and other statements that are not historical facts. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements are set forth in our SEC filings. All forward-looking statements are based on management’s current assumptions, estimates, and projections.
To support clear communication surrounding our values, we have implemented robust data gathering and reporting, using the investor focused disclosure standards developed by the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). Working with investor stakeholders, SASB has developed standardized disclosures on the industry-specific issues prioritized by investors.
Our disclosures within the SASB framework were prepared with the goal of developing future qualitative and quantitative reporting to align with industry best practices, and our values as an organization. While there is still much work to be done, we believe that all Shyft stakeholders, including our investors, employees, customers, and the communities in which we do business, will benefit from our advancement in these material Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) areas.
Our Board provides guidance, insight, and oversight as to the strategy, initiatives, and management’s performance in achieving ESG goals. Against this backdrop, we have, with the assistance of outside ESG expertise, performed an assessment of key indicators and engaged with our internal and external stakeholders on ESG topics to inform the tenets of our ESG strategy.
This is our inaugural Sustainability Report (“Report”), which presents a materiality-based approach to disclosure based on fiscal 2021 data, unless otherwise noted. This report was prepared in accordance with the SASB standard. In compiling this Report, in 2021 and 2022, we completed a SASB materiality assessment. The assessment began by examining a range of key stakeholders — including investors, customers, employees, and ESG rating organizations. We then reviewed the recommended ESG topics for inclusion in the sustainability disclosure, rating methodologies, investment decision-making, goal setting, and strategy.
President and Chief Executive Officer
The Shyft Group
In 2021 and 2022, we developed an ambitious ESG strategy to align with the broader transformation of our organization, following the divestiture of the emergency response business and rebranding of our company from Spartan Motors to the Shyft Group.
Our executive team recognized the importance of embedding environmental and social priorities within our business operations and approved an enhanced and modernized ESG strategy, intended to promote further advancement in sustainability, diversity, equity and inclusion, and increased transparency. Our senior management team develops our ESG strategic direction in partnership with the ESG working group, led by a cross-functional team of executives representing Communications, Environmental, Health and Safety, Finance, Human Resources, Investor Relations, Operations, and Legal. Against this backdrop, the six tenets of our strategy include: (1) Protecting the Environment, (2) Supply Chain Management, (3) Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, (4) Health & Safety, (5) Philanthropy, and (6) Governance & Ethics.
The materiality matrix in this report shows the relative weight of different topics from two perspectives. The X axis shows how important we believe an issue is considered by the industry, while the Y axis, informed by our assessment, shows the topic's importance to external stakeholders. We then conducted a deeper analysis to prioritize these issues starting with an assessment of a selection of highly rated ESG industry peers and also examined the methodologies of leading ESG investor raters and institutional investors. We reviewed their strategic selection of material ESG topics for inclusion in their sustainability disclosure, rating methodologies, investment decision-making, goal setting and strategy. From this research, we calculated an overall materiality score for each ESG topic to help focus our strategy and disclosures in this report. Using this quantitative model, Shyft identified the 12 highest scoring topics as most material to the business.
of waste recycled in 2021
revenue generated in 2021 from products designed to increase fuel efficiency and reduce emissions
The Shyft Group is committed to customer satisfaction and delivering the highest level of personal service. We work closely with our suppliers to reach these goals. We strive to procure high-quality products and services that are delivered on time to support daily operations, but are also innovative and add value to the Shyft Group product lines. Selected criteria for suppliers that are important to us include:
We continually seek to partner with suppliers that share our four core values. Therefore, a proactive approach to supplier onboarding, combined with ongoing assessments of potential supply chain risks is extremely important to managing a responsible supply chain. Additionally, we consider the upstream and downstream impacts of our operations. Upstream, we use electricity which may be generated by a variety of providers using various fuel sources. Certain locations conduct regulatory permitted coating operations, which generate VOCs and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) below permitted limits.
Downstream, we produce vehicles that are used in the transportation and delivery space, which generally use fuel for combustion engines while our electric vehicles (EV) use electricity generated by local providers. Internally, our production facilities use natural gas for heating, and LP gas and electric for powering forklifts. In addition, the operation of paint booths or welding cells may create VOCs or other emissions that are mitigated through a variety of methods required by regulations. We are also constantly improving our operations to proactively identify more efficient and effective ways to ensure both the long-term success and the continued vitality of the communities in which we do business. We currently maintain, and require our suppliers to comply with, robust supplier policies including a formal robust supplier policies including a formal Supplier Code of Conduct, a Conflict Minerals Policy, and a Global Supplier Standards Manual.
The Quality Management System at the Shyft Group drives consistent results and reliability in the products that we build. We operate a Quality Management System which aligns with the requirements of ISO 9001. The Shyft Group has one location certified to ISO 9001:2015. The implementation ensures we meet the needs of our internal and external customers through training our employees to understand the requirements of our Quality Management System. Through our modernization efforts, Shyft is helping to do its part in offsetting the negative impacts of climate change.
We believe that investing in local communities to create social and economic outcomes is at the heart of generating social impact. We believe in giving back to the communities in which we live and work. We support and empower our employees’ volunteer efforts in their communities. Through strategic nonprofit partnerships, volunteerism, and philanthropy, our corporate responsibility is focused on contributing to the creation of a better world. Notably, direct donations to local charitable organizations in the communities where our business operates and our employees live. In 2021, Shyft donated $125,000 to the Eaton Community Health Collaborative in support of the greater Charlotte, Michigan, community, where the company got its start and continues to operate. The donation, made on behalf of The Shyft Group Foundation, completes a $1 million declaration of support that spans a decade. Beneficiaries for the full pledge have included Sparrow Eaton Hospital’s AL!VE wellness center, under previous ownership, and now the Eaton Community Health Collaborative. Shyft strives to use our capabilities, reach, and resources to make a lasting difference in the world. We believe it is our responsibility to respect human rights in our operations, including, among other things, by opposing human trafficking and the exploitation of children. Going forward, we will look to partner with nonprofit organizations that work to decrease the number of individuals facing economic barriers and make our communities reflections of our commitments and values.
This annex expands transparency through key quantitative data compiled in accordance with the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Standards, along with additional details on our workforce, revenues, sales, stakeholders, locations, and certification. Report data covers all global operations unless otherwise noted. In developing our Report, we have compiled metrics organized by key ESG themes incorporated within our tables and throughout our organization. Shyft best classifies into the SASB classifications for Industrial Machinery & Goods and Auto Parts. Our reporting reflects that classification.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a series of interlinked goals adopted by UN member states in 2015. These goals focus on creating a fairer, more just world with more sustainable economic and environmental practices by 2030. The goals are ambitious and will only succeed through the combined efforts of government, business, and civil society.
We support the SDGs, and recognizing the importance of the goals we have linked our priority areas to them. We have prioritized several goals that most align with our business and where we can make a positive impact around the world.
SASB Topic | SASB Code | SASB Metric | Narrative Response & Comments |
---|---|---|---|
Energy Management ![]() ![]() |
RT-IG-130a.1 | (1) Total energy consumed, (2) percentage grid electricity, (3) percentage renewable |
(1) 118,246 GJ (2) 46% (3) 0% |
Employee Health & Safety ![]() ![]() |
RT-IG-320a.1 | (1) Total recordable incident rate (TRIR) (2) fatality rate (3) near miss frequency rate (NMFR) |
(1) 8.7 (2) 0 (3) 4.76 Employee health and safety (EHS) is a priority at the Shyft Group and it has been a key area of focus in 2022. This year we added EHS leadership personnel to our Corporate and Divisional teams, and we added further EHS professionals to our existing EHS team. In addition, we drafted Corporate EHS policies and introduced increased EHS communication and collaboration with Division Presidents, Senior Operations Leaders, and EHS professionals within the corporation. Together, these actions have resulted in a reduction of approximately 26% in our TRIR, comparing YTD August 2021 to YTD August 2022. |
Fuel Economy & Emissions in Use-phase ![]() ![]() |
RT-IG-410a.1 | Sales-weighted fleet fuel efficiency for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles | Given the nature of our business and Shyft's products, this disclosure is not available. |
RT-IG-410a.4 | Sales-weighted emissions of: (1) nitrogen oxides (NOx) and (2) particulate matter (PM) for: on-road medium- and heavy-duty engines | Given the nature of our business and Shyft's products, this disclosure is not available. | |
Materials Sourcing ![]() ![]() ![]() |
RT-IG-440a.1 | Description of the management of risks associated with the use of critical materials | The single largest commodity directly utilized in our production is aluminum, which we purchase under purchase agreements based on forecasted production requirements. To a lesser extent, we are dependent upon suppliers of lumber, fiberglass, and steel for our manufacturing. We have initiated long-term supplier agreements and are consolidating suppliers which are beneficial to gain quality, delivery, and price advantages. Our experienced purchasing departments execute inventory and backlog management and coordinate between multiple suppliers for backup and volume spikes. There are several readily available sources for the majority of these raw materials. |
Remanufacturing Design & Services ![]() |
RT-IG-440b.1 | Revenue from remanufactured products and remanufacturing services | The Shyft Group is not engaged in remanufacturing products and services. |
Activity Metric |
RT-IG-000.A | Number of units produced by product category | Fleet Vehicles and Services (manufacturing, upfit, and aftermarket) 25,365 Specialty Vehicles (manufacturing, upfit, and aftermarket) 3,974 The above information excludes product associated with Blue Arc as the product line is launching. |
RT-IG-000.B | Number of employees | The Shyft Group has 3,800 employees (direct and indirect) as of 12/31/2021. | |
Energy Management ![]() ![]() |
TR-AP-130a.1 | (1) Total energy consumed, (2) percentage grid electricity, (3) percentage renewable | (1) 118,246 GJ (2) 46% (3) 0% |
Waste Management ![]() |
TR-AP-150a.1 | (1) Total amount of waste from manufacturing (2) percentage hazardous (3) percentage recycled |
(1) 8,251.8 t (2) < 1% (3) 78.4% |
Product Safety ![]() |
TR-AP-250a.1 | Number of recalls issued, total units recalled | In 2021, the Shyft Group had 13 voluntary recalls affecting a total of 12,350 units. Eight of these recalls were mentioned in the NHTSA's monthly recall reports. For more information, please visit NHTSA.gov. |
Design for Fuel Efficiency ![]() ![]() |
TR-AP-410a.1 | Revenue from products designed to increase fuel efficiency and/or reduce emissions | In 2021, the Shyft Group generated $305,000,000 in revenue from products designed to increase fuel efficiency and/or reduce emissions. These include our Velocity bodies, which are more fuel efficient than traditional walk-in vans, and our diesel-pusher motorhome chassis, which is more fuel efficient than its gasoline alternative. |
Materials Sourcing ![]() ![]() ![]() |
TR-AP-440a.1 | Description of the management of risks associated with the use of critical materials | See RT-IG-440a.1 above. |
Materials Efficiency ![]() ![]() |
TR-AP-440b.1 | Percentage of products sold that are recyclable | In 2021, 75% of the Shyft Group's products sold were recyclable. |
TR-AP-440b.2 | Percentage of input materials from recycled or remanufactured content | In 2021, 60% of the Shyft Group's products included input materials from recycled or remanufactured content. | |
Competitive Behavior ![]() |
TR-AP-440b.2 | Total amount of monetary losses as a result of legal proceedings associated with anticompetitive behavior regulations | The Shyft Group had $0 in losses as a result of legal proceedings associated with anticompetitive behavior regulations in 2021. |
Activity Metric |
TR-AP-000.A | Number of parts produced | Fleet Vehicles and Services (manufacturing, upfit, and aftermarket) 1,221,151 Specialty Vehicles (manufacturing, upfit, and aftermarket) 250,380 The above information excludes product associated with Blue Arc as the product line is launching. |
TR-AP-000.B | Weight of parts produced | Fleet Vehicles and Services (manufacturing, upfit, and aftermarket) 40,926 MT Specialty Vehicles (manufacturing, upfit, and aftermarket) 57,472 MT The above information excludes product associated with Blue Arc as the product line is launching. |
|
TR-AP-000.C | Area of manufacturing plants | 211,214 m² |
Social Responsibility
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Investing in our teams has never been more important. Exceptional people working together are the foundation for our success, and we are dedicated to growing our people through professional and personal development opportunities, which includes a focused approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. We also believe that investing in local communities to create social and economic outcomes is at the heart of generating social impact. We believe in giving back to the communities in which we live and work.
Respect for human rights is a fundamental value of the Shyft Group. We strive to respect and promote human rights in accordance with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in our relationships with our employees, suppliers, customers, and other stakeholders. We are also a member of the United Nations Global Compact, which seeks to encourage businesses worldwide to align strategies and operations with universal principles on human rights, labor, environment, and anticorruption, and take actions that advance societal goals. Our aim is to help increase the enjoyment of human rights in the communities where we operate. Our actions to protect human rights and promote social responsibility are aimed to protect our most important asset — our people.
DEI is vital to Shyft. Our commitment starts with our goal of attracting, retaining, and developing a workforce that is diverse in background, knowledge, skill, and experience. Shyft is committed to providing equal employment opportunities, and makes all recruiting, payment, performance, and promotion decisions based on merit, without discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, age, family status, ethnic origin, nationality, disability, or religious belief. We believe people are the most critical component in our continued success, and we strive to attract high-performing talent.
Inclusion is the way we treat and perceive all differences. We are focused on creating an inclusive and high-performance culture where all forms of diversity are seen as real value for Shyft. Throughout the year, we reach out to our workforce to reinforce and celebrate the importance of diversity and inclusion, including by directly expressing our support for International Women’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Juneteenth, Veterans Day, Pride Month, Hispanic Heritage Month, and International Day for Persons with Disabilities.
As a certified MVAA Veteran-Friendly Employer, the Shyft Group is committed to helping veterans gain and retain employment in a company where they can be proud to work. We work hard to understand our service men and women, then help to bridge the gap between military and civilian careers. Our DEI activities are shaped and directed by our DEI Leadership Council that we formed in 2021. Notably, we established our 5-year DEI roadmap with a goal to foster an even more inclusive culture and diverse environment within all areas of Shyft.
As of December 31, 2021, we employed approximately 3,800 employees and contractors. Approximately 13% of our total workforce consists of contractors, including all personnel at our Saltillo, Mexico, operation. Compared to 2020, we decreased the percentage of contractors in our workforce by approximately 50%. This decrease reflected a strategic change in our talent acquisition strategy of direct hiring instead of contract relationships. Of our total workforce, 92% reside in the United States, with the remaining 8% in Mexico. Our production processes leverage a combination of skilled tradespeople and high-touch assemblers working in body, electrical, mechanical, paint, and assembly operations.
As a team, our employees and contractors put Shyft’s core values into action, while executing on key growth initiatives to maintain long-term sustainable growth. We strive to create a workplace of choice to attract, retain, and develop top talent to achieve our vision and deliver shareholder results.
13%
of total workforce are contractors (down 50% from 2020)