ITW Foils’ Parent Company Named Top 25 Socially Responsible

NEWBURYPORT, MA—July 31, 2012—Illinois Tool Works (NYSE: ITW), the parent company of ITW Foils, has been named a Top 25 Socially Responsible Dividend Stock by Dividend Channel as reported in Forbes magazine. ITW was recognized by prominent asset managers as being a socially responsible investment, through analysis of social and environmental criteria.

Environmental criteria include environmental impact of the company’s products and services, as well as the company’s efficient use of energy and resources. Social criteria include human rights, child labor, corporate diversity, and the company’s impact on society. Other prominent recipients in the top 25 include PepsiCo, McDonald’s, Intel Corporation, Kraft Foods, Colgate-Palmolive, and Proctor & Gamble. ITW Foils is a global manufacturer and distributor of technically superior foils, films, and laminates for the packaging and printing markets. For more information, go to www.itwfoils.com.

“The commitment to sustainability is embraced corporation-wide,” notes Gary Jones, national sales manager, ITW Foils. “At ITW Foils, we share a dedicated responsibility to minimizing our impact on the environment, and to continually striving to find new manufacturing techniques, substrates, and internal processes to deliver quality without compromise.”

ITW Foils appreciates that environmental sustainability is a growing imperative for designers, brands, printers, and converters. The company offers various brilliant decorative options to help brands shine with a clear conscience. In addition to hot foils and cold foils, which allow for recycling and biodegrading of paper, ITW Foils offers two more sustainable solutions with excellent shelf impact:

• EcoShine™—A sustainable transfer process for waste-free, recyclable metallic and holographic paperboards.
• EcoCast™—An on-press holographic effect with no VOCs or waste.

ITW Sustainable Packaging Group
To further promote and encourage sustainability throughout ITW, the corporation has developed the ITW Sustainable Packaging Group (SPG). The SPG encompasses ITW’s 40+ packaging companies, along with its relevant laboratories and technology center. The group uses state-of-the-art project management tools and leverages vertically integrated technologies to ensure that customers receive innovative solutions to their sustainable packaging problems quickly, efficiently, and cost-effectively.

The SPG was the brainchild of leaders from many different ITW companies. Through their work for customers such as Wal-Mart, Procter & Gamble, Kraft, and others, it became apparent that ITW’s broad packaging resources could be better leveraged to help customers worldwide improve the success of their sustainability initiatives, while reducing the economic and environmental costs of their total packaging systems.

About ITW Foils
ITW Foils is a global leader in the manufacturing and distribution of technically superior foils, films, and laminates. Its parent company is Illinois Tool Works, based in Chicago, Illinois. Through 850 decentralized businesses and operations spanning more than 50 countries, the ITW companies provide a “total systems approach” to their customers’ decorating needs. ITW Foils is a partner that understands the needs of designers and brand owners, presenting them with the resources and tools they need for Making Brands Shine.

Source: ITW Foils.