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Ford Becomes 1st Automaker to Require Suppliers To Achieve ISO 14001

21 September 1999

Ford Becomes First U.S. Automaker to Require Suppliers To Achieve ISO 14001 Certification

    DEARBORN, Mich., Sept. 21 -- In another example of Ford Motor
Company's environmental leadership, the automaker is requiring ISO
14001 certification from all of its suppliers with manufacturing facilities.
ISO 14001 is an environmental standard under which independent auditors
evaluate environmental processes and system performance.
    Ford is the first U.S. automaker to require certification by suppliers and
is one of only a few automakers in the world to require certification of its
suppliers.  The requirement follows the announcement in December that Ford is
the first and only automotive company to certify its plants around the world
under ISO 14001 -- 140 manufacturing facilities in 26 countries.
    "This requirement reinforces Ford's commitment to the environment," said
Carlos Mazzorin, Group Vice President of Purchasing and Ford of Mexico.  "We
have extended that commitment to thousands of other companies -- exponentially
increasing the benefits of this rigorous environmental certification."
    Specifically, Ford is requiring suppliers to certify at least one
manufacturing site to ISO 14001 by the end of 2001 and all manufacturing sites
shipping products to Ford by July 1, 2003.
    To help suppliers meet these goals, Ford is offering ISO 14001 Awareness
Training later this year at its Total Cost Management Center.  In addition,
Ford is exploring tools that it can make available to suppliers to let them
benefit from Ford's experience in achieving ISO 14001 certification at its
plants.
    The requirement affects about 5,000 of Ford's production and non-
production suppliers with manufacturing facilities.  Mazzorin sent letters to
suppliers informing them of the requirement.
    Ford decided to require ISO 14001 certification of its suppliers after it
surveyed its top suppliers earlier this year about their environmental
policies and programs.  Several suppliers indicated that some of their
manufacturing facilities were already registered to ISO 14001.  The majority
of the suppliers said they planned to register their plants to ISO 14001 in
the next few years.
    Ford Purchasing also is leading other environmental efforts with
suppliers.  For example, Ford is working with its fabric suppliers to explore
the use of eco-effective fabrics for future vehicles.  In addition, Ford is
working through vehicle program teams to increase the amount of recycled
materials and the number of recycled components on the approximately 7 million
cars and trucks it sells each year.