Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
resources (ibid.). Motorola also developed product performance goals for environmen-
tally preferred products (EPPs) (ibid.).
With respect to procedures, Motorola maintains a suite of speci
c internal protocols
and reporting requirements that must be followed by all plants worldwide. Each site is
required to report on a standard set of environmental metrics consistent with corporate
environmental goals (Motorola, 2002). In addition, the
fi
fi
rm uses a variety of proprietary
global and subsidiary-speci
c software tools to drive it toward continuous environmen-
tal improvement. A Motorola Toxicity Index (MTI) is used to identify each of the chem-
icals used in a product and to weigh each chemical by its toxicity. This, in turn, enables
the company to develop a simple aggregate measure of the toxicity of each product. The
Green Design Advisor (GDA) is used in the project design stage to improve the recycla-
bility of new products while designing out toxicity (Feldman et al., 1999). Motorola also
maintains a speci
fi
cations list, the W 18 list, of banned substances and those that can only
be used if they fall below certain concentration levels.
With respect to suppliers, Motorola has numerous requirements to ensure compliance
with environmental expectations. All
fi
fi
rst-tier-quali
fi
ed suppliers must be ISO 14001
certi
ed. Suppliers are not permitted to use ozone-depleting substances. Suppliers must
also complete detailed materials disclosure sheets for all the parts they supply. These
sheets identify the use of particular materials in components supplied to the MNC (e.g.
lead and all heavy metals) and detail the amount of those materials in each product sup-
plied. These supply chain requirements are 'enforced' by the use of a Parts Information
Management System (PIMS), an electronic tool that identi
fi
fi
es each part in each product
by a part number, supplier and set of technical speci
cations. Motorola is in the process
of implementing a new database system called Compliance Connect (Kierl, 2004).
Compliance Connect will enable Motorola to electronically identify each part in each
Motorola product by a part number, preferred global supplier, technical speci
fi
fi
cations,
and by toxic substance and toxicity level.
How have Motorola's global
ected its wholly owned subsidiary
in Penang and this subsidiary's suppliers in Penang and Malaysia? There are several
answers to this question. Because Motorola benchmarks individual plants against
fi
rm-based standards a
ff
rm-
wide performance standards, the Penang facility is benchmarked on such performance
measures as water and electricity use, hazardous waste generation and waste recycling.
This has encouraged substantial improvements in environmental performance at the plant
- between 2000 and 2003 hazardous materials per unit built has fallen by 75%, the scrap
recycling rate has increased by 100% and water use has declined from 35 liters per person-
hour to 15 liters per person-hour.
Pursuit of corporate environmental objectives forced Motorola-Penang to work more
closely with its local suppliers. This began when plant engineers realized that they could
not meet Motorola's deadline for phasing out chloro
fi
uorocarbons (CFCs) without
getting their suppliers to eliminate the use of CFCs in the parts they supplied. More
recently, regulatory developments elsewhere
4
suggested to Motorola-Penang that contin-
ued access to those markets might depend on their ability to meet new stringent hazardous
substances requirements.
Faced with this problem, Motorola-Penang turned to Motorola's Corporate EHS
Department, the Real Environmental Assessment Lab (REAL) in Wiesbaden, Germany,
and the Environmental Materials Assessment Lab in China for help. Much of the initial
fl
