Innovation

3L2R’s innovation in recycling electrical parts, refurbishing them so they are meant to last, and customizing the recycled parts to fit new buildings promotes the idea of affordable and clean energy for everyone. 3L2R ensures access to clean and affordable energy by supplying the electrical systems of hospitals, factories, schools, and other institutions in the Southwestern Ontario region. 3L2R lowers the cost of electrical equipment by having an inventory of recycled parts, and the ability to custom-fit those parts, into new electrical systems; saving small businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars. 3L2R also does routine testing for their electrical systems and routine planned outages to ensure the safety of the people within the hospitals and schools.

3L2R not only strongly works towards SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy), but they also implement the 12th SDG throughout their business model (responsible consumption and production). By using recycled products, 3L2R ensures sustainable electrical systems are being built and managed in the southwestern Ontario region. By doing routine tests and planned outages, and by reusing electrical parts throughout their practice, they are ensuring sustainable production patterns are not only being implemented, but are becoming modern practice for other electrical companies.

Inspiration

Through his actions, you can see that Bill is not merely focused on profit, but on what good he can do for others. Beginning as an electrician, he had the education and skills to create his own business. After learning and seeing firsthand the greed that corporations have he decided that he wanted to do good with his talents. During the interview, Bill explained that “It's just that the corporation I worked for, it didn't make a lot of sense to me because they go off in the different directions and God knows what corporate initiative they're trying to follow”. This fueled the idea for his company, instead of following orders from big corporations with ulterior motives, he decided to create his own company to do good.

The challenging part of his motivation to do good was the shift from a corporate mindset to having his own company. Instead of being constrained, he was the one making the calls and planning what needed to be done. Bill took a leap of faith and knew that his plan had the opportunity to make a difference, but whether this would work or not was the hard part. Now, his idea to do good has allowed his company to grow and become successful.

Overall, Bill had a plan and knew that through his experiences as a corporate worker, that he could do better and think bigger. Now, after hours of hard work all motivated by the belief in his company, Bill was able to create a stable and successful company. Having such strong confidence and motivation to create a business and taking that leap of faith shows that anything is possible if you have the right inspiration and mindset.

Overall impact

Working in the energy business, Bill has significantly impacted and fueled many different aspects and projects with his innovation. One key example is the help that he does to 2 local hospitals in Cambridge. Bill not only helps reuse and fix old equipment, but he also helps maintain generators to keep the lights on during power outages. Using his skills as an electrician, and utilizing his company's main concept of reusing old parts and recycling them, he can make a difference in his community.

This is not a mere short-term effect. Not many people realize how important keeping the lights on is in power outages, and sometimes take advantage of power until it's gone. Hospitals need to have working generators more than anywhere. A manufacturing plant or grocery store may shut down, but in the long run, the only thing being lost is the product. However, in a hospital, the loss could be a life. His care and dedication to helping hospitals save lives and make a difference in these people's lives. Unlike the short-term effects of a power outage, what Bill does has long-lasting impacts on the people whose lives were saved due to his innovation.

Every time a power outage occurs at these hospitals, you can see the impact of his innovation by the power being on in dire situations. Bill has created a positive impact not only on his regular day-to-day clients but also creating long-term positive and in this scenario, life-saving solutions to problems.

Business benefit

Bill’s innovation gives opportunities for co-op students to learn and get real-life experience in his field. He hires high school co-op students specifically to help them discover if what he does is something they would be interested in in the future. Many years ago a high school student was hired for a co-op term, and this student then went to work for Bill for the last 10 years This has also occurred with another high school co-op student who has now been working for him for 5 years. By allowing students to have an opportunity to work for him, Bill not only helps the students but creates employees for him who know the ins and outs of his company and how incredible it is. This not only saves him the resources of training new hires, but also guarantees that the employees know how the specifics of his company work. A common struggle for business owners is the trouble of helping new hires adapt and understand the flow of the company. Having these employees for years previously helps ease the stress of a new hire and not knowing if they will be a good fit or not.

Bill also not only creates profit for himself but also helps people save money. Instead of having to buy completely new technology, he can fix them and give them a new life. By reusing and refurbishing equipment, businesses not only save money but contribute to sustainability in reusing their equipment. By merely running his business, Bill makes positive impacts to more than just his business, but others as well.

Social and environmental benefit

As mentioned, Bill greatly contributes to the Community by not only hiring local high school co-op students, but also by making sure generators are running smoothly in hospitals and therefore saving lives. As a man who cares about his community, Bill takes extra care of local issues. For example, once a breaker blew in a local high school in Cambridge, and instead of taking a long time to fix, Bill made it his priority and fixed the breaker before the weekend was up. This shows his dedication to society and his care towards students' education so they did not miss out on learning opportunities due to a technology issue. By prioritizing the greater good, Bill greatly contributes to society and is always ready to help community members in need.

Regarding the environment, the recycling and fixing of old electrical equipment is a prime example of sustainability. Instead of throwing out old equipment and buying new ones, 3L2R will fix the equipment and give it new life. Sometimes things need a mere simple fix, so instead of creating waste of these products they can be reused and save people money. This is how Bill makes a significant positive impact in his field. If more people focused on reusing and recycling materials like electronics, there would be way less waste in products, and overall better durability in electronics.

Overall, Bill has created a business that is community-focused and environmentally friendly. Focusing on both of these aspects sets 3L2R apart from other businesses in the electric field. His commitment and passion for helping others are clear in the work he does and the effort he puts into every job.

Interview

Bill Kuchma, President