Following a rigorous five day assessment by Lloyd's Register, SMC Pneumatics (UK) Limited has been certified to ISO 14001 for their Environmental Management System.Following a rigorous five day assessment by Lloyd's Register, SMC Pneumatics (UK) Limited have announced that they have been certified to ISO 14001 for their Environmental Management System. (The aim of this international standard is to support environmental protection and prevention of pollution in balance with socio-economic needs). The SMC Corporation of Japan was awarded ISO14001 in December 1999 and has encouraged all subsidiaries, worldwide, to work towards certification.
SMC, in the UK, are the first subsidiary to achieve the accreditation.
Environmental legislation is increasing and recently packaging waste regulations have been introduced, together with more legislation concerning the materials used in packaging; the design of packaging so it can be re-used or recycled; and reducing the amount of packaging used generally.
Apart from legislation, there are also voluntary standards and codes of practice, of which ISO14001 is one.
SMC looked at their impact on the environment by examining all activities and identifying those which affected the company's environmental performance.
Once this was done, they explored how to minimise the environmental impact, set objectives/targets and time scales.
A team of five staff produced an Environmental Management Manual, and ran in-house seminars to create employee awareness.
The resulting environmental benefits to the company have been many - these include...
- Reduction in electricity consumption.
- Reduced consumption of packaging materials.
- Improved management of compressed air.
- Installation of bunded tanks for waste oils and coolants.
- Product designs for longer life, less material and lower power consumption.
- Installation of a waste compactor.
- Separate waste collection for canteen wastes, preventing spoilage of material for recycling.
- Material segregation on the shop-floor for increased recycling.
- Biodegradable loose fill, now being used for some packaging activities.
- Minor product changes bringing improved efficiency in production and reduced waste.
- Mobile phones returned to supplier for recycling.
- IT and electronic equipment all removed by specialist waste contractor for recycling.
SMC's Managing Director, Steve Bangs, thanked all employees for their input and interest and said, "This accreditation will mean as much to our organisation, in the future, as ISO9000 has in the past.
It is becoming clear that many customers now require suppliers to adopt a formal environmental policy."
He continued, "It is important that we all recognise the need to maintain and improve on the initiatives started."