Our Product and Company News

Sarah Sajedi (centre) wins the Sara Kirke Award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship

ERA's CEO Sarah Sajedi has been honored with the Sara Kirke award recognizing her achievements in creating an innovative world-class technology product and for being a role model for women entrepreneurs across Canada.

The award was presented to Sarah Wednesday night, May 29, at a gala by the Canadian Women in Technology group (CanWIT) and the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance groups. 

CanWIT awards the Sara Kirke award to one woman each year who has demonstrated consistent and superior innovation and leadership skills, including the creation of a world-class technology product that helps to put Canadian entrepreneurs on the map. Sarah was nominated due to her corporate leadership, dedication to excellent customer service, and for striving to make a difference for other women in the environmental and software industries.

After accepting the award, Sarah was asked to share the secret to her success. With CATA she recorded a short video of her insights and experiences which we'll share with you later here, so stay tuned.

Congratulations on winning another impressive award Sarah! The entire ERA team is proud of you!

ERA Environmental Management Solutions has made some important upgrades to our EMS software that affects how users will generate their Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) reports for the2012 calendar year and future reports.

These upgrades are designed to ensure your reports are accurate and in compliance with current  federal regulations.

Modified Handling of Glycol Ethers

The EPA has mandated that two specific Glycol Ethers should not be included in TRI reporting under toxic category N230:

• 110-80-5 2-Ethoxyethanol
• 109-86-4 2-Methoxyethanol

Instead, these two substances should be reported separately from N230 and should not be included in the threshold determinations for that category.

Accordingly, the ERA-EMS will no longer include your annual usage amounts for these two Glycol Ethers against the N230 reporting threshold. Instead, they are treated individually and have their own reporting thresholds based on how they have been used:

• Manufactured reporting threshold: 25,000 lbs.
• Processed reporting threshold: 25,000 lbs.
• Otherwise Used reporting threshold: 10,000 lbs.

These two Glycol Ethers are determined against these reporting thresholds separately. They are not combined for threshold determinations. If your usage exceeds this threshold, the individual Glycol Ether will be reported separately.

For those clients that use 2-Ethoxyethanol or 2-Methoxyethanol in their facility, this will change your overall reported usage submitted for category N230 compared to previous years using the ERA-EMS. The majority of users will not be affected by this change.

This change to TRI Reporting is handled entirely by the ERA-EMS and no additional action is required on your part. Simply process your TRI report as usual.

This change will not affect how other Glycol Ethers are reported or calculated against the N230 reporting threshold.

Improved TRI Treatment Codes for Metals

The ERA-EMS now allows users to specify specific treatment codes for metals contained in waste streams. You can set up these new waste stream codes in the waste stream set up menu.

Previously, a single treatment code could be assigned to a waste stream, regardless of its contents. However, in order to offer greater flexibility and compatibility with TRIMe Web reporting, users can enter a separate waste treatment code for the metals contained within each waste stream.

For example, as shown in the image below, you can assign the treatment code M56- Energy Recovery to your waste stream non-metals, and treatment code M24 – Metals Recovery to your metals.

Allowable Treatment codes for metals under TRI reporting are as follows:

Recycling/Transfer for Recycling

M24 – Metal Recovery
M26 – Other Reuse/ Recovery
M93 – Transfer to Waste Broker – Recycling

Transfer of Metals

Action required: to complete your TRI report properly, you will need to assign the proper waste treatment code to your waste streams. If you do not set this up before generating your TRI report you may not have correctly validated information in your report.

ERA Environmental Management Solutions to Provide EMS Software and Implementation.

Montreal, QC – ERA Environmental Management Solutions (ERA) has been awarded the contract to supply Oshkosh Corporation with environmental management software, including implementation services and ongoing environmental support to the Oshkosh environmental staff.

ERA’s environmental software will be used by Oshkosh’s global operations, including JLG Industries, London Machinery, CON-E-CO, Jerr-Dan, IMT, Frontline Communications, McNeilus, Pierce, Oshkosh Defense and Oshkosh Airport Products.

About Oshkosh Corporation

Oshkosh Corporation is a leading manufacturer and marketer of access equipment, speciality vehicles, and truck bodies for the primary markets of defense, concrete placement, refuse hauling, and fire and emergency. It is widely recognized as a technology leader in every industry it serves. Founded in 1917, Oshkosh Corporation now has manufacturing operations in the United States Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, France, The Netherlands, and Romania, and employs over 13,000 people worldwide.

About ERA Environmental Management Solutions

ERA Environmental Management Solutions specializes in web-based environmental management software for the automotive & manufacturing industries. ERA’s software distills 20 years of environmental compliance expertise to deliver the most comprehensive library of environmental reports and an experienced & award winning support team of qualified environmental experts to their clients. It also provides environmental managers with the most accurate environmental & chemical data through a unique data transfer system for 3rd party vendors & tools. In addition, it gives clients access to an exclusive partnership program with the world’s largest chemical & coating vendors that provide exact chemical data. ERA’s software has been implemented globally by some of the world’s most successful automotive manufacturers, including Volkswagen, Oshkosh, BMW, Toyota & Nissan.

ERA's team of environmental experts presented ERA's environmental management software (EMS) at the upcoming AEROMART convention for the international aerospace industry, held this year in Montreal. There was over 550 companies, 1300 participants, and 28 countries attending. The convention is taking place April 23 to 25, 2013.

For the first time in North America, AEROMART will be hosting a Green Aviation village in which green technology companies will showcase the ways that the aerospace industry is becoming greener and more innovative. 

ERA is no stranger to the aerospace industry, and we'll be showcasing how we've been helping aerospace equipment manufacturers get more out of their environmental management and green their supply chains.

An important update affecting how to enter VOC, HAP, and VHAP data into the ERA-EMS software has been released to your ERA-EMS.

The ERA-EMS is now capable of calculating the VOC content by weight, HAP content by weight, and VHAP content by weight for products for you. This calculation is done using the corresponding percentage data and density commonly included on most MSDSs. Previously, user were required to calculate these values outside the program.

To calculate these values, enter the product density into the Density field and the % by Weight value of the corresponding VOC, HAP, or VHAP. Once these fields are complete, click the Calculate Buttons in the lower left corner of the screen. See the below image for an example.

An example of using Density and % by Weight to automatically calculate VOC Content by Weight, Density HAPS and Density VHAPS fields.

As seen above, the fields used to automatically calculate Content by Weight are highlighted in red. The calculation buttons are highlighted in orange. The fields that are automatically populated by the calculated results are highlighted in blue on your ERA-EMS screen.

In this example, to calculate the VOC content by weight (wt), you would have to enter the product density, %VOC by weight, and then click the VOC calculate button. To calculate Density HAPS you would enter the product density and %HAPS by Weight then click the HAPS calculate button.

If your MSDS for a product already indicates the VOC content by weight, Density HAPS, or Density VHAPs, you can simply enter that data instead of using the ERA-EMS to calculate them for you.

It is important to note that the blue calculated fields contain the data that is used during the generation of emissions reports. If you change the data within any of the calculation fields but forget to click the calculate buttons to update the data in the blue fields, these changes will not be reflected in your final reports.

In addition, there are now VHAP and HAP data fields on the components tab of the products set up menu. This enables the ERA-EMS to track VHAP and HAP data down to the component level.

ERA Environmental Management Solutions will be participating in the upcoming Suppliers Partnership for the Environment Southern Supply Chain Forum: Improving Materials Efficiency. 

The forum is taking place on Feb. 19, in Spring Hill, TN. The event is being hosted by General Motors' Senior Environmental Engineer, Patrick Van Ryckeghem. The day concludes with a tour of GM's Spring Hill Manufacturing LGE Engine Plant.

February's SP meeting will focus on how materials efficiency can help manufacturers reach their landfill-free goals, as well as improve their waste reduction practices and operational efficiency.

The Goal of the SP Materials Efficiency meetings is to develop and deploy environmental technologies and programs to reduce environmental impacts, gain financial value, and promote environmental sustainability. Accomplishing this goal entails identifying ways to provide value within the automotive supply chain and working together to reduce waste, promote reuse, and maximize recycling.

ERA will be contributing to the round table discussions, as we are already working with many automotive OEMs and their supply chains to reduce hazardous waste generation and streamline waste reduction processes. We believe that by properly managing your supply chain, you can better control your environmental footprint and greatly improve your operations.

For more information on zero waste and landfill-free manufacturing, you can read a recent article from ERA here. To read more about supply chain management for sustainable manufacturing, click here.

Improved report filtering, and organization features for the ERA-EMS have been rolled out this January as part of the many planned updates for 2013.

These new features will make it significantly easier to find specific reports from the large built-in reporting library, search through your own custom reports, and manage how those reports display the information you use most.

Filtering Report Lists

A  report code filter option has been added to the reporting menu that enables you to view only reports containing the character(s) entered into the Report Code field. 

For example, entering "250" into the Report Code field will prompt the ERA-EMS to display only those reports containing 250 in their report codes, i.e. Reports A250, B250, K250, etc., as shown below. The new Report Code field is highlighted in red:

 A sample display of a user filtering the reports library to display only reports with 250 in the report code.

A filtering option has also been added to the Reports Viewer menu that allows you to filter all reports queued in the viewer to display only those reports with codes containing the characters entered into the Report field.

For example, entering "a116" into the Report field of the Report Viewer menu will display every report available containing a116 in its code, as illustrated below. The new Report filtering field is highlighted in red:

 A sample display of how to use the new Report Viewer filter to display only the reports in containing certain characters or numbers.

Organizing Columns Within Reports

ERA has also added an second method for organizing and reordering the columns within custom reports. In addition to being able to highlight a particular column and moving it up or down in the column order with the Up and Down buttons, you can now enter a number in the Column Order field to determine the order the columns will be displayed. 

As seen in the example below, the "Unit VOC Density" column will be the first column displayed. The user has highlighted the "%VOC" column and can now either type in the desired column order number or change the order. The two methods for changing a particular column's order are highlighted in red below: 

The highlighted column name (%VOC) can be moved either higher or lower in the display order using either the Up and Down buttons or by typing a number in the column order field. 

If you have any questions about these improvements please do not hesitate to contact your ERA support agent by calling us at (514) 684-6408 ext.105, or by email at: tech_support@era-ehs.com. 

ERA Environmental Management Solutions is continuing to play an important role in the Suppliers Partnership for the Materials Issues Group by providing environmental data management expertise at the recent December SP Canada meeting in Toronto and at an upcoming January SP Chemical Issues Work Group Meeting in Detroit.

Gary Vegh, ERA's lead toxicologist, was on hand to work with automotive manufacturers as they determine the most effective methods for finding cleaner and more efficient materials in the manufacturing process. 

The Toronto meeting particularly focused on making the automotive industry's supply chain more sustainable by working with vendors and OEMs to make better choices and increase the flow of information up and down the supply chain - a perfect fit for ERA. 

We're looking forward to continuing our work with the Suppliers Partnership in the next year. 

This is an important reminder to all ERA-EMS users that use the system to generate air emission reports from their finishing and chemical coating products:

It is recommended that you always select the Show All Chemicals option on the report Parameters page when running a report for demonstrating local or federal regulatory compliance.

Do not select the Show Chemicals > 1% and EHS > 0.1% by weight option unless you have confirmation from your state regulatory agency that you are allowed to do so. 

ERA recommends you always select “Show All Chemicals” (as shown above) for your air emissions reports unless your state environmental agency states otherwise.

That’s because some states do not allow reporters to utilize the De minimis exemption when reporting for HAPs or VOCs. You should always check beforehand with your state regulatory agency if you have the option of not reporting chemicals below the De minimis threshold.

The ERA-EMS uses the following De minimis thresholds:

• The ERA-EMS uses a De minimis threshold for all Extremely Hazardous Substance (EHS) chemicals of 0.1%
• Non-EHS chemicals have a default De minimis threshold of 1%

It is important to note that the De minimis percentages used for other federal or state reports, like annual Toxics Release Inventory reporting, may differ from those used in chemical/finishing air emission reports.

If your particular state does allow for the De minimis exemption, you have the choice to run the report using the “Show Chemicals > 1% and EHS > 0.1% by weight” for demonstrating your compliance. Using this option, the report will only calculate emissions from your product components, regardless of the calculation settings in your application system setups. For example, even if your source is set to calculate VOC from Vendor Values, selecting the De minimis when processing will only calculate VOC from component values in order to check each chemical against the De minimis. Only chemicals that exist in a material at levels above the De minimis threshold will contribute to emission calculations (for example, air emissions would not be reported for formaldehyde existing at 0.07% by weight in a specific material). This will likely reduce the amount of air emissions contained in the report.

It is always best to check with your state regulators before submitting any compliance report in order to protect your compliance history and avoid environmental fines. You can find a directory of State Environmental Agencies online here.

If you have questions or concerns about using the De minimis exemption or any ERA-EMS report, please do not hesitate to contact an ERA environmental specialist for support.

We are announcing the development and release of a new report to manage chemical coatings and finishing data: Report F230X.

This report is now available through the ERA-EMS reporting menu.

 A sample display of report F230X, with fields customized by the user (CLICK for larger view).

The Report

F230X is focused on providing the most flexible and customizable reporting possible, enabling you to determine the content and display of the report, including a level of customization not available in other emissions reports.

When using F230X, you have full control over the content of the report, and can choose to generate the report according to source, department, facility, group, or all 4 options. You can also decide to organize the outputs from these data sources into these same categories. This feature allows you to drill down or get a bird’s eye view depending on your reporting needs. You only need to see those materials that you are interested in.

Further customization is built-in, as you are able to choose which fields to display in the report and the order in which their columns appear. You are also able to define your own titles/headers for each field. To select which ones to display, simply click the check box next to each desired optional field. 

The new F230X Report allows you to display only the fields you care about using a checkbox system. In this example the user only wants to see four fields displayed.

F230X includes dozens of fields to choose from for your report, including some of the most used and some fields that typically aren’t included on standard compliance reports but can be very useful for internal performance tracking:

• %VOC
• Density VOC
• Thinner Used
• Total Mass VOC emitted per Volume of Solids Transferred
• Percent VOC by Volume
• Total Amount
• Total Density
• Product Descriptions
• %HAPS
• Density HAPs
• Capture Control Efficiency

Keep in mind that you have the option of changing the labels associated with all of these values.

When to Use F230X

Because this report is designed for flexibility and customization, it can be used for a number of purposes and can be used in a number of different situations:

Permit compliance: This report is easy to customize to match your unique permit conditions that may not otherwise be reflected by a single ERA built-in report. For example, a permit condition may require you to keep VOC emissions within a certain limit for a group of sources (a paint shop for example), and F230X makes it easier to drill down to that level.

Internal Reporting: Some users find that this report simplifies internal reporting of emissions on a monthly, annual, or even daily basis. It can be customized to show only the information you are interested in or that senior executives are interested in.

Benchmarking & Reductions: In addition to internal reporting, this report can be used on a regular basis for side-by-side comparisons and tracking emission reduction efforts.

Because this report is designed for flexibility, it can be used for numerous other purposes as well. Do not hesitate to experiment with ways to implement the new F230X report or to contact your ERA support agent for advice.