Our Product and Company News

After the wild success of the 2011 Southern Automotive Conference (SAC), ERA Environmental has become a sponsor of the upcoming 2012 SAC, held October 11 & 12 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

The Southern Automotive Conference is one of America's largest automotive conferences, and ERA will be there to share information and teach manufacturers about sustainable practices in the automotive industry.

In particular, ERA has worked closesly with Volkswagen's Chattanooga facility, which is the major presenting sponsor of the conference.    

Some of ERA's environmental specialists will be attending the event too, so make sure you come by to say hello and chat with us about your sustainability efforts.

ERA Environmental Management Solutions will be sponsoring the work that will be done at the first annual Alabama E3 Sustainability Conference.

Alabama E3 is designed to assist manufacturers be successful and profitable through the implementation of sustainability, waste-reduction, and more efficient programs. So far the Alabama E3 has helped over 40 manufacturers, and saved over a million dollars through sustainable programming.

The Alabama E3 Sustainability Conference, taking place August 23 and 24, will feature a keynote speech from the Managing Director of Green Innovation for Nascar, Dr. Michael Lynch. It will also provide training for sustainable manufacturing practices, and energy saving.

You can get involved in the E3 network here.

Come by and say hello to ERA's environmental experts while you're there! 

Image Credit: Alabama E3

In mid-July, ERA will officially begin working as part of the Materials Issues Group for the Suppliers Partnership for the Environment. 

ERA joined the Suppliers Partnership earlier this year, adding its environmental compliance expertise to the SP's diverse range of environmental & manufacturing specializations. We plan on bringing our unbeatable knowledge in environmental data management to the Supplier's Partnership.

As part of the Materials Issues Group, ERA will assist in two main projects:

• Developing standardized criteria for sustainability reporting and sustainability projects in the manufacturing industry.
• Developing standardized criteria for managing materials and final products throughout the entire product life cycle.

ERA Environmental Management Solutions has won the Accolades 2012 Award in the field of Sustainable Development by the Montreal West Island Chamber of Commerce.

Congratulations go out to the entire ERA team!

The Accolades Awards recognizes businesses and non-profits that have achieved excellence in a number of fields, including manufacturing, innovation, technology, and sustainable development. Accolades judges were definitely impressed during their tour of ERA's offices, particularly with the cutting-edge technology and data-security measures being implemented by the team.

Chief Technical Officer Sarah Sajedi accepted the award at the June Accolades Gala event held in Montreal. She spoke about the growing importance of sustainability in the automotive industry, and ERA's continuing mission to provide the very best environmental management tools.

Congratulations definitely go out to all the other nominees and other 2012 winners!

ERA Environmental Management Solutions has been unveiled as a finalist for the West Island of Montreal Chamber of Commerce's Accolades Award for Sustainable Development.

Winners will be announced at the 2012 Accolades Gala dinner on June 14.

We wish the best of luck to the other finalists!

Congratulations to the Volkswagen Chattanooga facility, who recently won the prestigious Gold Edison Green award for 2012 - an award that recognizes Volkswagen's excellence in the fields of environmental stewardship and sustainability.

ERA is proud to have been a part of a facility that continues to achieve continued environmental success. VW's environmental efforts continue to break ground with their work on important environmental initiatives that will, no doubt, continue to fuel their success.   

The Chattanooga facility has already achieved LEED platinum certification as part of Volkswagen's Think Blue initiative. It is the first and only automotive manufacturing plant in the world to achieve this extraordinary level of LEED certification.

You can read about the Chattanooga facility's journey to achieving platinum certification from the LEED green building program in our 3 part interview with Ron Drumeller, the Environmental Specialist for the Chattanooga facility starting here.

ERA is pleased to announce it is now a member of the Suppliers Partnership for the Environment and will collaborate as part of the Chemical Issues Work Group to help develop and define sustainability criteria for the automotive industry.

The Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP) brings together automobile original equipment manufacturers, their suppliers, and the Environmental Protection Agency to implement projects that advance the environmental sustainability and economic success of the automotive industry.

As part of the Chemical Work Issues Group, ERA will be working to address emerging chemical issues related to supply chains and environmental compliance. In particular, the group is looking to improve the way that environmental specialists make chemical decisions for their facilities and communication of chemical information across the sustainable supply chain.

Visit the SP website here: Supplierspartnership.org

ERA Environmental Management Solutions will soon be seen at the Texas Comission on Environmental Quality's Environmental Trade Fair and Conference this May.

The conference is Texas' premier environmental educational forum - considered to be one of the best in the United States - which means it is a natural fit for ERA's environmental experts!

The fair will bring together professionals from a wide range of industries, including engineers, geoscientists, sanitarians, project managers, utiliites specialists, and natural resource managers, all to encourage dialogue about environmental management and best practices.

We'll be there sharing our experience and advice on proper environmental recordkeeping and regulatory compliance management. If you or any one you know is also attending, drop on by and say hello.

We always enjoy meeting face to face!

ERA Environmental Management Solutions will be attending at the Automotive Parts Manufacturing Association's (APMA) upcoming annual conference: Establishing a Competitive 2020 Vision, June 6 & 7. 

If you're attending, or know anyone who is, make sure to say hello to our friendly Environmental Specialist team as part of your conference plans. (Look for us at Booth 130). It's a great chance to meet face to face with ERA-EMS users and to get to know new people. 

The conference promises to be an exciting event, with keynote speaker Mr. Tanguay, the Senior Managing Officer, Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), Senior Vice President, Toyota Motor North America (TMA), & Chairman of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada Inc. (TMMC).

**Update: Even more great keynote speakers have been added. We can now look forward to hearing from Don Walker, CEO of Magna International Inc., and Richard E. Dauch, Co-Founder, Chairman &CEO of American Axle & Manufacturing (AAM).** 

There's also a great selection of other speakers from across the automotive industry, and on a wide range of topics facing the automotive industry.

We hope to see you at the APMA conference soon!

Phone or email us if we can expect to see you there.

Having already proven itself on land and in the air, ERA Environmental Management Solutions is poised to set to sea by working with Vigor Industrial, the leading provider of shipbuilding, ship repair, and marine & fabrication services in the Pacific Northwest. 

Vigor builds and repairs a wide range of ships, including ferries, barges, fishing and cargo vessels, workboats, tugs, as well as U.S. Navy aircraft carriers and U.S. Coast Guard icebreakers. It even applies specialty finishes and builds alternate energy platforms. A bustling company like Vigor needed a robust environmental management system that could keep up with it.

ERA is proud to be working with Vigor, a company that has already demonstrated its commitment to corporate social responsibility and environmental stewardship, as evidenced by Vigor's own code of conduct:

Be Smart – Do the right thing the first time.

Be Careful – Do it safe all the time.

Be Productive – Do a full day's work for a full day's pay . . . every day.

Be Flexible – Do what is needed to get the job done.

Be Considerate – Treat everyone with dignity and respect.

Vigor takes a community minded approach to everything it does, from environmental responsibility to strengthening the communities around it. Vigor already knows the importance of environmental sustainability and ERA is excited to help Vigor get its environmental compliance done faster, more effectively, and with less stress.