NSK Releases 2013 Sustainability Achievements

ANN ARBOR, Mich., July 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- NSK Americas (NSK) has released its 2013 sustainability achievements, demonstrating the company's ongoing commitment to environmental protection. The year's accomplishments show that NSK saved:

• 39,200 trees - equivalent to 485,688,000 sheets of newspaper
• 1,028,000 gallons of oil - enough to heat 6,456 homes for a year
• 15,556,000 gallons of water - enough to meet the daily needs of 207,413 Americans
• 53,300 gallons of gasoline - enough to drive a mid-size car 1,492,400 miles
• 52,938,000 kilowatt hours of electricity - enough to power 6,456 homes for a year

"NSK's commitment to corporate social responsibility and our corporate environmental policy initiatives are producing meaningful results," said Brian Lindsay, CEO. "The ongoing addition of new initiatives to complement our sustainability program continues to improve those results, year over year. Ultimately, that benefits the global environment and the health of the local communities in which we operate."

As a contributing member of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) WasteWise program, NSK strives to meet a series of internal benchmarks which translate into sustainability numbers regarding how many trees, how much water, etc. the company has saved. The 2013 results for each benchmark represent improvements ranging from 20%-37.5% over the previous year.

In 2013, NSK's environmental and safety portfolio was established as a stand-alone corporate operating department, headed by Susan Diehl, Vice President, Legal and General Counsel.

"NSK Americas' commitment to sustainability means ensuring that we can provide continuing value to our stakeholders, while having minimal impact on our environment and keeping our team members safe," said Diehl. "We are working to restructure our compliance, employee health and safety and sustainability functions to provide a context for our actions which, in turn, will help us all to remember that each thing we do has an impact on ourselves and our stakeholders. The result will be an even more robust system for providing economic, ecological and environmental value for the communities we live in."

Marcia Fournier, Environmental and Chemical Manager, and the company's front-line green ambassador, is very proud of NSK's sustainability achievements. "We continue to improve our waste management processes," she said. NSK has a Master Agreement with Safety-Kleen, which not only ensures responsible waste management and disposal, but enables NSK to track any issue that may arise, and quickly mitigate environmental risk. "In 2012, Safety-Kleen worked with us to help us better manage our mop water at our Bennington, Vermont site, and now we are recycling that water in-house. The result is cleaner floors, which protect our customers' products, and less waste, which reduces both environmental impact and cost," Fournier added. In October 2013, the company partnered with Tetra Tech, and improved its response time to customer requests for product composition data by 50%.

Earth Day is an annual opportunity to highlight NSK's dedication to environmental leadership, and this year was no exception. A company-wide coloring contest to design an Earth Day T-shirt was held for the children and grandchildren of employees. 3,100 shirts sporting the winning drawings were distributed to NSK staff to celebrate the annual event.

NSK continues to advance its bearing production processes by reducing scrap waste, increasing energy efficiency and reducing the use of harmful chemicals. Steel and metal recycling is in place in all U.S. sites, and a number of sites began recycling cardboard and plastic in the past 12 months.

All seven NSK U.S. manufacturing facilities are ISO 14001 third-party registered, and the company is concurrently working toward registration at its headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and its Silao, Mexico manufacturing facility. Training for Lead Auditors is scheduled for July.

NSK's 2013 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) report highlights its global achievements in areas such as health and wellness, carbon footprint, responsible sourcing, and environmentally friendly product development. The report also emphasizes the company's ongoing commitment to minimize CO₂ emissions through innovative technological development.

As a supplier of components vital to a broad range of manufacturing and processing industries, NSK continues to develop environmentally preferable products, build a solid business foundation and grow as a company that contributes to society.   

About NSK
Established in 1916 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, NSK is a world-class manufacturer of motion and control products, leading the industry with superior quality, engineering research and technical innovation. NSK produces and distributes a wide range of rolling element bearings, linear motion and automotive component products for a variety of applications.

Operating in the Americas (North and South), NSK Corporation and NSK Steering Systems are members of the NSK Ltd. group and are headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

NSK has a network of sales and engineering teams working in partnership with customers to deliver high performance products, application-specific solutions, superior technical support and exceptional service to the Americas market. The company's strategically located manufacturing and distribution centers supply both original equipment manufacturers and the industrial aftermarket through a broad distribution network.

For more information, visit www.nskamericas.com. 

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20140714/126878 

SOURCE NSK Americas