Precision Coating Receives ISO 14001 Certification

Precision Coating, a medical coatings service provider to interventional, orthopedic and advanced surgical markets has achieved ISO 14001:2015 certification for its environmental management system at its Hudson, Massachusetts, facility.

“This certification reflects a lot of hard work by our employees and a tremendous commitment to sustainability,” says Bill Ellerkamp, Precision Coating president. “Having a robust and certified environmental management system in place supports and reinforces our conviction to implement best practices to meet or exceed the expectations of all of our stakeholders. This marks the completion of one stage of a long journey on which we will continue to do the right thing always and be relentless about improvement.”

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) explains that the ISO 14001 standard specifies the requirements for an environmental management system that an organization can use to improve its environmental performance. ISO 14001 is intended for use by an organization seeking to manage its environmental responsibilities in a systematic manner that contributes to the environmental pillar of sustainability. Under this certification, an organization manages the intended outcomes of its environmental management system, which provides value for the environment, the organization itself and interested parties. Consistent with the organization’s environmental policy, the intended outcomes of an environmental management system include:

• Improvement of environmental performance
• Fulfillment of compliance obligations
• Achievement of environmental objectives

The ISO 14001 certification is important to the company. “Precision Coating is a leader in the application of specialized coatings for the medtech industry,” says Ricardo Sequeira, Precision Coating global quality systems manager. “The organization is demonstrating commitment with environmental management systems to control, reduce and/or eliminate the potential impact on natural resources. Precision Coating believes that consideration of environmental impacts in all aspects of the company is not only good for the environment but is good for business and is consistent with our mission.”

By establishing systemic environmental controls, Precision Coating says it will improve sustainability while reducing environmental impact and the cost of raw materials, waste disposal and compliance.

Precision Coating worked toward this certification with over two years of internal collaboration among team members. This was a cross-functional initiative involving a range of employees. Development and rollout of the initiative involved various activities that included audits, gap analysis, project planning, training, and implementation and integration of ISO 14001 into the company’s ISO 13485 Quality Management System.

“Our team started from the ground up, structuring the quality management system to fully integrate the focus on minimizing environmental impact and ISO 14001 compliance,” says David Jordan, Precision Coating group vice president of quality. “We conducted numerous site surveys, materials assessments, equipment and process control reviews, and risk management analyses to determine what the greatest potential impact items are — and mitigate them before occurrence. These exercises were very helpful to improve awareness of our common practices and how to protect the environment.”

The ISO 14001 certification applies to the Hudson, Massachusetts, facility. Within the company, there are plans to expand the certification to other Precision Coating facilities.

“The ISO 14001 certification creates a set of standards for our organization that will guide us in our continued protection of the environment,” says Dan Coye, environmental health and safety/facilities manager. “This certification shows our commitment to protecting the local and global ecosystem, and it is just one step Precision Coating is taking to meet that commitment. We only have one Earth to protect, so it’s our responsibility to make sure it’s a healthy, stable environment for future generations.”

Precision Coating appreciates the support of its certifying body, SGS.