case study
OXO + Cincinnati Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired
At OXO, our products are developed through the principle of Universal Design.
We engineer items that are comfortable and easy to use for all hands and people — but we’re always striving for better. Through our partnership with the Cincinnati Association for the Blind & Visually Impaired (CABVI)(Opens in a new window), we’ve learned that the people who make our tools can have a hand in doing just that: making us better.
CABVI is a dynamic, not-for-profit organization whose mission is to empower people of Greater Cincinnati who are blind or visually impaired with opportunities to seek independence by providing a variety of employment opportunities and services in the community.
Assembling a partnership
For nearly 25 years, OXO has worked with CABVI as a manufacturing and assembly partner. Together, OXO, CABVI and National Industries for the Blind (NIB)(Opens in a new window) identify tools and gadgets from OXO’s catalog that can be successfully manufactured by people who are blind and visually impaired employees. NIB is the nation’s largest employment resource for people who are blind.
The OXO engineering team provides how-to guides and suggested step-by-step processes for CABVI’s employees who are blind and visually impaired. From attaching a handle to the body of a tool to adding finishing components like silicone caps to dish racks, or packaging products and adding hang tags, the work varies.
The OXO-CABVI partnership began with the launch of several basic kitchen products including a ladle, spoon and turner for NIB’s Military Resale Program. Since 1997, OXO, CABVI and NIB have expanded the kitchen gadget line to 75 products sold in military commissaries worldwide.
Over the past two decades, CABVI employees have helped build durable OXO tools, which are distributed to Commissary locations across the country. It is through this partnership that OXO’s distribution to military bases nationwide has been able to grow, with CABVI team members manufacturing approximately 4.3 million tools since the program’s inception.
A better future
When asked how the OXO partnership most benefits them, CABVI said, “This partnership fuels our mission to reduce the 70% unemployment rate for people who are blind & visually impaired by creating meaningful employment. CABVI is also proud to serve our military customers, offering savings to our valued servicemen and women.”
In 2017, OXO won the Small Supplier of the Year Recognition Award from NIB and the National Association for the Employment of People Who Are Blind (NAEPB) for our ongoing work with CABVI.
OXO is committed to enhancing the opportunities for economic and personal independence of CABVI employees, and supporting our search for better.
