Greenbytes: April 8, 2004 Edition

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Feature: Greening the Supply Chain

Over the last 20 years, many of the country’s large manufacturing plants – known as original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) – have become assembly plants. Most of the parts and components used by OEMs, along with the regulated processes and associated impacts to the environment, have been pushed down the supply chain to small off-site manufacturing facilities. A good example of this is Pratt & Whitney’s production of airplane engines. Eighty percent of the engine is produced not at a Pratt & Whitney facility, but at small metal fabricating, machine and metal finishing shops.

These small shops are a huge challenge for environmental regulatory agencies because there are many of them, they have limited resources and they tend to be less responsive to traditional environmental enforcement strategies. Small manufacturers are also facing challenges from an increasingly competitive global marketplace.

EPA New England has developed a Government-Industry Partnership to make small manufacturers more competitive while reducing their impact on the environment. Our regional office has combined the Environmental Management System (EMS) and Greening the Supply Chain movements to develop three pilot projects to test the effectiveness of developing EMSs for small manufacturers. The goal of these projects is to educate and train small suppliers on environmental management systems, leading to improved compliance, as well as process efficiency. The three projects include New Hampshire Ball Bearings and nine of its suppliers, Pratt & Whitney’s Hartford, CT facility and five of its suppliers, and Pratt & Whitney’s North Berwick, ME facility and 10 of its suppliers.

The projects begin with EPA and the host OEM sponsoring a one-day workshop to educate suppliers on environmental management systems and their benefits. The next step is for suppliers to participate in a six-month training program that tackles all aspects of environmental management systems.

Two of the projects have been completed and the feedback has been very positive. Small facilities appreciate the approach because it allows them to tailor the training to their own facilities, develop a closer relationship with a major customer and, best of all, obtain free training. OEMs benefit because suppliers are becoming more lean by reducing their costs of energy use, water use and hazardous waste disposal.

This spring, EPA will be launching a fourth project focused on CT-based Hamilton Sundstrand and its suppliers. The industrial products company, owned by the United Technologies Corp., will be hosting a one-day EMS overview meeting June 10 at its headquarters in Windsor Locks, CT.

For more information about the June 10 meeting and EPA’s Greening the Supply Chain efforts, contact EPA’s Linda Darveau at darveau.linda@epa.gov or by calling (617)918-1718.

Press Releases

Department of Veterans Affairs Agrees to $133,000 Settlement For Lead Paint Disclosure Violations in Maine and Massachusetts

EPA Offers $5,000 to $30,000 Healthy Community Grants in New England; Deadline for One-Page Proposals is May 3

Maine Groups Honored for Clean Air Project at Acadia National Park

Cambridge Plating To Pay $50,000 For Waste Violations

EPA Announces Job Training Grant to Lewiston, Maine

EPA Announces Major Job Training Grant

EPA Announces Job Training Grant to Groundwork Providence, RI

EPA Files Complaint Over Hazardous Waste Violations by City of Lebanon, NH

EPA and Boston School Department Announce Results of School Drinking Water Project

EPA Takes Enforcement Action Against Seabrook, NH for Clean Water Act Violations

EPA Announces Environmental Justice Grant Availability

Consent Decree Entered for Atlas Tack Superfund Site in Fairhaven, MA

Events and conferences are not archived. Please refer to the Regional Calendar for upcoming events and conferences.

Durham Meadows Superfund Site - community update posted: 1,4 - dioxane, mar 2004

GE Superfund site - public presentation from peer review meeting 1/13/2004

Grants - application kit for financial assistance

Lead In Drinking Water - links to national info

Mercury - new hospitals information posted

OMSAP - updated text and files

RCRA - federal register state program authorization

Storm Water - annual reporting forms

Urban Environmental Program - new grant information

Wastewater - wastewater financing and savings documents added

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