July 28, 2003
MiBiz Network
By Tim Gwodz

GRAND RAPIDS - With Michigan Department of Environmental Quality approval of a Clean Corporate Citizen (C3) designation for four of its plants, Grand Rapids-based Adac Plastics Inc. is achieving some monumental firsts:

The designation of the four plants, plus last year's C3 approval of Adac's 36th Street plant, give the company five facilities with C3 status, tying it with Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Corp. for first place for the most designations in Michigan.

Adac's automotive trim facility in Saranac is the first manufacturing plant in Ionia County to earn a C3 designation.

Adac also becomes the first Muskegon County employer to gain C3 status with the designation of its two door components plants in Muskegon.

In order to be designated a C3, a company must have a strong and effective environmental management system (EMS) in place that identifies environmental impacts and includes self-initiated compliance audits, environmental training for employees and a clear statement of commitment to environmental excellence. It also must implement a pollution prevention policy and be in constant compliance with all applicable environmental requirements.

All five Adac facilities have been certified to the ISO 14001 EMS. The 36th Street plant was ISO certified in December 2001. That facility was designated C3 in August 2002. The Saranac and Muskegon locations along with Adac's 32nd Street door components plant were ISO certified in December 2002 and just earned the C3.

As ISO 14001 certification becomes a supplier requirement mandated by the OEMs, Adac Environmental Health and Safety Manager Scott Plummer said the C3 designation takes on even more significance. "We wanted to set ourselves apart from the other automotive suppliers. We knew this would make us stand out."

Adac continues to work toward the overall improvement of the monitoring and measuring of the firm's environmental impact, particularly air emissions and hazardous waste generation, stated Plummer. He singled out the fact that Adac collaborates with key suppliers to eliminate chrome finishes from their parts. The company also has a solvent reconstitution program to reuse hazardous waste solvents from its surface coating operations. "Not only are we cutting down the amount we're buying, but also the amount we're disposing of and the cost of the disposal," Plummer said.

"From a manufacturing viewpoint, we look at this environmental effort as part of an overall strategy to eliminate waste in every facet of our business," said Rick VandeKopple, director of manufacturing operations and product management. "The improvements that we've seen have had a direct effect on the bottom line as well as the environment. The overall effort makes very good business sense."

The prime incentive to a company to earn a C3 designation is the loosening of the DEQ regulatory reins. The four Adac plants will now be given shortened waiting periods for permits and are subject to reduced monitoring and reporting requirements in areas such as air permits, groundwater and surface water discharges and underground storage tanks.

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