In 1999, Toyota produced more than one million vehicles in its North American plants. ISO 14001 certification of its plants and suppliers by DNV has helped improve environmental performance.
Toyota places great importance on protecting the environment. That has long been the case with its cars and trucks, which feature state-of-the-art emission controls, and the newly introduced hybrid vehicles. But it is also true for Toyotas manufacturing operations in North America. At each facility, a priority is to protect the environment.
ISO 14001 a baseline
Says Kevin Butt, assistant general manager for Environmental Affairs at Toyota, We want improvement of the environment. We are always seeking ways to actually redesign the process itself so less waste is produced. Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America Inc.(TMMNA) was initially sceptical of the ISO 14001 process, as the company already had well established and effective management systems. Our first impression of ISO 14001 was
that it was too vague, with little impact, and not adding value. We considered it a baseline, but not all we needed. But it works if your registrar holds you responsible, and that is just what DNVs auditors do.
ISO 14001 makes possible continuous control of results. ISO 14001 compares to Toyotas own production philosophy and fits very well into our production system. We emphasise pro-active management and total employee involvement. It makes environmental awareness everyones business inside our plants. These standards can only make our already good environmental systems even better. ISO 14001 certification is a natural development of Toyotas manufacturing philosophy, which seeks to reduce waste and improve quality in all areas of production.
Reinforcing the production system
We began the process early in 1997, continues Butt. The first registration was received in October 1997, and the last will be in December this year. We covered all the North American plants, and we went at them step-by-step. So what we learned from one plant we could take to the next, and not have to reinvent the wheel each time.
Toyota was also the first automaker to secure full ISO 14001 registration in the United Kingdom and in Japan. And Toyota in the U.S.A. is actively working on the registration of its support organisations, including Toyota Logistics Services and Toyota Marine Operations in Florida.
Says Butt, Toyota has a had a very good environmental management system, but I think this process, ISO 14001, actually reinforces our production system of plan/do/check/action.
Certifying the suppliers
Toyota now spends more than $10 billion per year for parts and materials from hundreds of North American suppliers and partners. Each job created by Toyota in North America produces 5 or more additional jobs downstream, meaning Toyotas manufacturing investment in North America is actually responsible for more than 150,000 jobs overall.
Toyotas Green Supplier Guidelines outlines the initial steps its suppliers must take. The outlines have resulted in a few questions, but a largely positive response.
Says Tim Johnson, assistant manager, Environmental Affairs, Toyota expects 100 percent compliance from its North American suppliers. To make it easier for them to follow the ISO 140001 certification guidelines, we have created and are providing a CD-rom containing our guidelines and other useful information, free of charge. For the suppliers, it is of course a cost issue. Its also a question of credibility. A credibility that is strengthened by the fact that a third party is taking care of the auditing.
Kevin Butt considers DNVs auditors to be tough. We feel that DNV is our partner, and is helping us improve, not only in certification. Weve actually learned more about our manufacturing operations by going through the ISO 14001 process. The ISO process is a bottom-up, top-down approach, and everyone is involved; I think its been a great learning experience for a lot of our team members.
Toyota in North America
Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America (TMMNA) is the parent company of Toyotas manufacturing operations in the United States and Canada.
700 employees in Erlanger, Kentucky, provide centralised support to Toyotas ten North American manufacturing plants in several key areas, including purchasing, production control, production engineering, quality control and administration.
Manufacturing
In five states and Canada, Toyota is building cars, trucks, engines and components with parts from domestic and global sources.
In 1999, Toyota produced more than one million vehicles in North American plants.
Toyota also produces various key components in North America, such as engines, truck beds, catalytic converters, aluminium wheels, steering columns and aluminium engine parts. In 2001, Toyotas West Virginia plant will add automatic transmissions to its production. This will be the first plant outside Japan to manufacture Toyota automatic transmissions.
Today, Toyotas North American investment is nearly $12 billion and its total employment is 31,000 people, including 20,000 alone at manufacturing plants in California, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and West Virginia, and in British Columbia and Ontario, Canada.
Toyota and the environment
Virtually 99 percent of all scrap metal generated by Toyota plants is now recycled. In addition, many waste materials such as plastic wrap, paint solvents, used oil and packaging are recycled. Engine blocks too, keeping 500,000 pounds of material from ending up in the landfill. Toyota vehicles are now 85 percent recyclable. Shredders allow steel and non-ferrous materials to be recycled. New processes also enable recycling of urethane foam, copper, glass and plastic bumpers.
In addition to recycling, Toyota also actively seeks ways to produce less waste. For example, anti-chip paint is now applied by roller rather than sprayer. This saves paint, reduces emissions, eliminates the need for plastic masking and holds down cleaning costs. The redesigned process reduces wastes by 40 percent.
Toyotas Green Supplier Guidelines
Represent the initial steps suppliers must take as partners in protecting the environment. The Toyota Supplier Environmental Programme incorporates the following elements: ISO 14001 certification, a chemical ban list and a hazardous materials transportation management system.
To maintain credibility, objectivity and consistency of ISO 14001 certification, Toyota also requires third-party certification from its suppliers.
Toyota expects that suppliers providing direct raw material, indirect raw material and/or parts and components, develop and implement an environmental management system that conforms to the ISO 14001 standard. The environmental management system for each facility supplying the raw material/and or parts to or for Toyota must be certified by an external 14001 auditor by the end of 2003.
Toyota and ISO 14001 Certification
ISO 14001 is a voluntary standard that deals with a companys environmental management system. The certification process verifies that each Toyota plant has a formal environmental policy as well as a management system designed to track environmental performance and established mechanisms for continuous improvement.
ISO guidelines call for corporations to learn how environmental laws and regulations specifically apply to the individual company. Toyota employees and managers are encouraged to adopt personal responsibility for the environmental standards in their areas, and to establish their own objectives and standards.