Cooper Texarkana Plant Earns Environmental Certification

Cooper Tire & Rubber’s Texarkana facility, located in the US state of Arkansas, has been granted the IS0 14001 environmental management system certification. Adherence to the ISO 14001 standard, which specifies requirements for a facility’s environmental management system, is intended to help minimise a facility’s impact on the environment through the use of standardised processes and regular performance audits.

“Earning this certification demonstrates the commitment by our Texarkana plant to operating an environmentally friendly facility,” said Carl Montalbine, vice president of Global Quality, Operational Excellence and Information Technology. “Especially as all of us are trying to conserve energy, reduce waste and preserve the environment, we felt that attaining this ‘green’ standard was simply the right thing to do.”

The positive results stemming from the certification are numerous, reports Cooper. Employees better understand the environmental issues that pertain to the plant and how they assist in managing those issues. The facility earns a more positive, “green” image through continuous improvement efforts focused on such areas as energy use, conserving raw materials, and recycling.

In November 2008, the company announced that it had earned IS0 14001 environmental management system certification at manufacturing facilities in Albany, Georgia, and Tupelo, Mississippi. In addition, Cooper announced that it had earned ISO 9001:2000 quality standard certifications at its four U.S. tyre manufacturing facilities, in Albany, Georgia; Findlay, Ohio; Texarkana, Arkansas; and Tupelo, Mississippi. Separately, Cooper’s Tall Timbers mould operations facility in Findlay, Ohio, announced its re-certification in March for both ISO 14001 and ISO 9001:2000. The Mould operations facility already had earned ISO 14001 certification in March 2006 and ISO 9001:2000 accreditation in February 2003.