For Immediate Release
Contact: Dan Dwyer
Milacron Marketing Company
513/458-8117

CINCINNATI, OH — Milacron is pleased to announce that CIMCOOL Global Industrial Fluids has received ISO 14001 Certification.  ISO 14001 is a voluntary international standard that establishes the requirements for an environmental management system (EMS). The objective of the standard is for an organization to establish an EMS that is integrated with the overall business management process. To be certified, an EMS impacts all levels of an organization, directly involving environmental policy, planning, implementation and operation, checking and corrective action and management review.  Integral to the EMS is organizational continual improvement, including improved communications and employee awareness, improved environmental performance, and improved emergency planning and response programs.

According to Bob McKee, president, CIMCOOL Global Industrial Fluids, achieving ISO 14001 certification is a significant milestone.  “As an organization, we’ve always tried to stay ahead of the curve on environmental issues,” McKee says. “We have a long history of concern for the environment, concern for our employees and customers and concern for the proper lifecycle use of our products.  ISO 14001 acknowledges our long-held stance on corporate citizenship and environmental stewardship.”

CIMCOOL achieved 14001 certification on its first attempt — an uncommon achievement in its own rite.  “This is a huge accomplishment,” McKee says, “one that very few, if any, of our competitors can claim. This is a testament to our procedures and practices and acknowledgement of the commitment of our employees.”

Work on certification began more than two years ago and involved every level of the organization.  Kurt Vedder, manager, Quality Assurance and Logistics, says that every business process was flow-charted and analyzed.  “To make this kind of paradigm shift,” he says, “conforming everything we do to a single system that combined our quality management system with our environmental system, required buy-in from the very top levels of management on down.”

Important, too, says Vedder, is that the process wasn’t perceived as a “topdown” initiative — was, in fact, a bottom-up/top-down process evaluation. “As we conformed our business operations to the 14001 standard, we improved many of our processes and procedures.  And while it may be that certifications in the past have been perceived as just something framed on the wall, ISO 14001 has changed the way we work and see our work.  This has been a fundamental shift, a mind-set change.  It’s the way we now do business.”

McKee points out that achieving ISO 14001 represented a significant investment.  “As we all know,” he says, “the economy of the past few years has been such that a standards certification could well have been put off, perhaps deemed as less pressing than other matters. However, sticking with our plan and staying on schedule clearly demonstrates CIMCOOL’s serious commitment to these important environmental issues.”

McKee suggests two factors alone made this achievement possible: technology and people.  “I don’t think you can separate the two, technology and people,” he says.  “Having the technical acumen provides us with the tools to address and stay on top of these issues.  However, it takes people to understand the issues.  Without the commitment from every person in this organization we would not have been successful in reaching 14001. Every employee has played a key role.”

Milacron, Inc, is a global leader in the design, manufacturer and service of metalworking fluid technology.  It is a leading supplier of metalworking product cleaners, corrosion inhibitors, metal forming lubricants and chemical services to help industry manage metalworking fluids and reduce costs. It is certified ISO 14001, ISO 9001 and ANSI/ASQ Q9001.

For more information, contact Milacron Marketing Company, 3000 Disney Street, Cincinnati, OH, 45209; 1-888-246-2665;     www.cimcool.com