Environmentally responsible: ISO 14001 certification

Franklin Delano Roosevelt used to say: “A nation that destroys its soils destroys itself”. Protecting the environment is an essential factor to which we all are called to contribute.

PDCA, ie, Plan-Do-Check-Act: these are the cornerstones of the “continual improvement model” (also named the Deming Cycle after its inventor) designed for the continuous improvement of long-term quality, processes and the optimal use of resources.

Quality: a concept that the business community has incorporated over the past two decades by applying it in an increasingly precise and extended way to products and production processes, and that for some time now has assumed a larger meaning, not just limited to qualities or characteristics of the product itself.

Now we also speak of quality with a look at the environment, the level of attention that any organization devotes to comply with the rules that ensure its preservation. A tangible commitment, that of "environmental quality", made possible by a specific environmental management system.

The international standard of reference for environmental quality is the Environmental Management Standard (EMS) ISO 14001. Taking inspiration from the above-mentioned PDCA model, it identifies the requirements of an "environmental management system" for the management and control of environmental performance in the long term.

Compliance with the ISO 14001 standard (in Italy UNI EN ISO 14001:2015) and the pertaining certification doesn’t attest a specific environmental benefit or a defined level of environmental impact, but it’s there to show that the certified organization/company has established an appropriate management system to monitor the environmental impacts of its activities, and it’s trying systematically to improve it in a coherent, effective and above all sustainable way.

The ISO 14001-certified company:

- establishes its own reference framework on which to set the activities

- defines the objectives of its mission towards the environment

- organizes tools and procedures for continuous improvement and dissemination of the environmental management system.

To effectively do this the company/organization needs the will, the ability to question itself, to give itself clear rules and especially to implement them and keep them up-to-date, with a commitment that goes beyond the possible economic impact on the product (ISO 14001 is not a certification for products).

It is a challenge in which CAE has invested time, resources and above all a great effort, which led to obtaining the certification in question as of September 1st of 2016. CAE is committed to reducing the consumption of non-recyclable materials and develop a sustainable and environmentally friendly production; essentially, the company is taking a real and important commitment to the Environment, a unique and common good the safeguard of which is already partly a direct business of the company. This choice brings with it the knowledge to have taken an important step forward for the protection of the present and future generations.