U.S. Environmental Firm Announces First ISO 14001 Registrations: Lockheed Martin Radar Plant, Synair Polyurethane Plant

Business Wire, March 12, 1997

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 11, 1997--The first U.S. environmental and engineering consulting firm accredited to review conformance with ISO 14001 international environmental management standards has announced its first completed registrations. Advanced Waste Management Systems Inc., based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is one of five U.S. firms receiving approval earlier this year to register companies in conformance with ISO 14001. AWM is an environmental consulting firm with projects in Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Middle East. The other four companies have served previously as registrars for ISO 9000, a widely accepted standard governing manufacturing quality.

The Chattanooga company recently registered the environmental management systems of a Syracuse, New York manufacturing plant, Lockheed Martin's Ocean, Radar and Sensor Systems, and the Synair Corporation, a multinational rubber chemical company headquartered in Chattanooga.

ISO 14001 is an international voluntary environmental management standard recognized by major trading nations and trade regulating organizations such as the World Trade Organization. Part of the broader ISO 14000 series developed by member nations of the Geneva-based International Organization for Standardization, ISO 14001 deals with environmental management system (EMS) that monitors a company's environmental performance.

"ISO lays a template over a company's environmental operations," said Dr. Richard Ellis, President of AWM. "It links environmental information from formerly independent systems in all areas of operations and creates one system in which environmental performance is constantly known."

The Lockheed Martin facility that was registered employs 2,000 people and produces sonar and radar systems. Synair is a privately held rubber chemical company specializing in polyurethane systems and technologies. The company employs about 50 people in the Chattanooga plant and a similar number in England.

Despite the difference in size, said Ellis, both companies have received benefits from the audit process. "Proportionately we saw the same trends at both companies," he said, citing benefits from cost reduction, regulatory relief, and achieving participation of the whole organization in environmental controls.

"Lockheed Martin got rid of many waste streams and, therefore, the waste management permits that had been required," according to Ellis. "As a registrar, we reviewed the internal system that, essentially, managed those waste streams out of existence."

The Lockheed Martin plant uses innovative computer systems to track wastes, disseminate information throughout the work force and to outlying facilities, and to identify more environmentally benign substitutes for pollutants. The audit confirmed that the company had eliminated all but a small residual of ozone-depleting chemicals used at one time in the operation, and for decades considered essential in this industry. Remaining amounts are scheduled to be eliminated in 1997.

Synair Corporation has engineered its Chattanooga plant for zero emissions production, according to president Jeffrey Gomberg. "Our goal with ISO 14000 is to surpass the environmental standards dictated by the regulatory bodies," he said. The company has been a near-zero emissions chemical manufacturer for over 20 years. It produces thermosetting urethane resin systems for a broad range of applications, including rubber moldmaking and casting. Synair's products are widely used for special effects in movies such as "The Last of the Mohicans," "Toy Story" and "Jurassic Park."

Sensitivity to both workers and the environment has led Synair to invest in plant design that optimizes production efficiency without sacrifice to the environment. One example is a system designed to assure that fumes from all rail tankers and tank trucks delivering chemical feedstocks are captured and fed back into the tanker rather than being allowed to escape into the air. The plant's only discharge, according to Ellis, is exhaust heat from a small, natural gas boiler.

The company's goal, according to Gomberg, is closed loop manufacturing systems. "To avoid emissions, Synair manufacturing processes must be 100% efficient." By the year 2000, the company plans to allow customers to return urethane discards to the point of manufacture, where they will be reworked into their constituent polymer components and reused.

Although the new ISO standards have been embraced sooner overseas than in the U.S., Ellis said interest is heating up faster than he had anticipated. His company has received serious, unsolicited inquiries from domestic utilities preparing for deregulation. In addition, he says, the U.S. government has indicated intentions to either prefer or require that government suppliers be registered to ISO 14001. Taiwan, Thailand and China have indicated that ISO 14001 registration will be required for certain imported goods, a requirement that is fully accepted by the World Trade Organization.