Smithers Scientific Services Inc. has reorganised as a result of its acquisition last March of a company specialising in environmental toxicology and analytical studies. The reorganisation brings three independent companies under the umbrella of the Smithers Group with worldwide headquarters in Akron, Ohio.
Goodyear’s North American Tire region has been recommended for certification to ISO 14001 environmental standard. The standard requires an organisation to identify and reduce its impact on the environment beyond legal requirements.
American Racing Equipment has been awarded ISO 14001 certificate of registration for its environmental management system. ISO 14001 provides a framework for managing environmental impact, similar to the way in which the ISO 9000 standard addresses issues of product or service quality. The International Standards Organization (ISO) awards the 14001 certification to companies whose environmental management systems conform to specified requirements and demonstrate a serious commitment to ensuring that company operations do not harm the environment.
Superior Industries International is expanding its commitment to customers, employees and the environment by ensuring that its production facilities are all certified to ISO 14001 within the next six months. Already, plants at Pittsburg, Kansas, Arkansas, Chihuahua, Mexico and Tatabanya, Hungary are registered to ISO 14001, other plants at Arkansas, California and Tennessee should also gain certification within six months. Executive Vice President, Steven J. Borick said,” ISO 14001 certification underscores our commitment to quality and productivity, as well as to the quality of life of our employees and the communities in which we work.”
Gajah Tunggal was established in 1951 to produce bicycle tyres and inner tubes. 20 years later production of motorcycle tyres began, followed in 1981 by car tyre production. Gajah Tunggal produced its first car and light truck radial tyres in 1989, and was listed on the Jakarta Stock Exchange in 1990. In the past ten years Gajah Tunggal has grown by acquisition of suppliers such as GT Petrochem, a producer of tyre cord and nylon filament, Langgeng Bajapratma, a wire manufacturer, and Meshindo Alloy Wheel Corporation. These developments linked to constant improvements in quality control, gaining ISO 9002 quality certification in 1995, along with TÜV Certification from Germany, helped create Gajah Tunggal as one of the leading tyre manufacturers in South East Asia. The Gajah Tunggal radial tyre plant gained ISO 9001 in 1997 and has also received quality certification from several countries i.e. E-Mark from the European Community, TÜV CERT from Germany, quality testing certification from the U.S. Department of Transportation, the BPS from the Philippines and a similar certification from the Government of Brazil. Currently Gajah Tunggal sources 36% of its raw materials from its subsidiary companies. Further vertical integration and synergy of its group activities to develop higher technology and higher value-added products, are a key policy in future development of the business operation. The company has entered into an off-take agreement with Pirelli to manufacture tyres for North America and Europe.
All of Goodyear’s North American manufacturing plants have been recommended for certification to ISO 14001 Environmental Management System standard. The plants were audited by Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Ltd. John Loulan, vice president of North American Tire operations said, “North American Tire is well ahead of the requirements set by major automotive manufacturers and also ahead of internal goals set for the end of 2002.” ISO 14001 is an international standard defining the requirements for environmental management systems used by an organisation to identify and manage potential impacts on the environment from its activities.
In a ceremony in Kenya, Firestone East Africa was awarded ISO 9002 quality accreditation. A spokesman said that Firestone will invest heavily in Uganda and Tanzania to boost its market share. The company already claims a 50 per cent share of the Ugandan tyre market.
Kwik-Fit GB has been re-awarded ISO 9002 quality accreditation, following an external audit of 26 of the company’s centres, four divisional offices and the fleet office. The company gained its first quality certificate (which used to be called BS 5750) in 1992 and the latest re-certification is valid until the end of 2003.
The Dutch company Rumal – part of the Kargro Group – recently received the ISO 14001 certificate. They process more than 25,000 tons of truck scrap tyres into granulate and rubber meal per annum.
The joint-venture aluminium wheel plant SUOFTEC of Superior Industries (Van Nuys/USA) and Otto Fuchs Metallwerke (Meinerzhagen/Germany) in Tatabanya (Hungary) has been awarded the ISO 14000 certification for Environmental Management Standard.
Three Goodyear plants have become the first sites in the world to be certified under the new global ISO Technical Specification 16949. The plants are Fulda (Germany), Amiens (France) and the Luxembourg Technical Centre. TS 16949 is expected to be recognised as a standard by all car manufacturers worldwide.
The world’s leading wheel producer Hayes Lemmerz has been awarded environmental certification ISO 14001 for its Czech facility Autokola (Ostrava).
Goodyear’s retread plant in North Bay (Ontario, Canada) is believed to be North America’s first Off-The-Road (OTR) tyre retreading facility to become ISO 9002 registered. The North Bay facility is Canada’s largest OTR retread operation.
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