In November 2011 Bombardier Aerospace achieved certification to the international standard for Environmental Management Systems, ISO14001 with no major and no minor non-conformances. It was a recertification for all of the company’s existing facilities and operations in Northern Ireland, but for the first time it also included certification for its new state of the art C-Series wing manufacture and assembly facility at Queen’s Island, Belfast.
Employing some 5,000 personnel, Bombardier Aerospace undertakes a diverse range of activities across some three million square feet of property at its five locations.
With increasingly stringent legislation; it’s ageing building stock; the rising costs of energy and waste; honouring the Company’s commitment to good environmental performance presented a relatively small environmental team with quite a challenge. To meet this challenge the team developed a structure to make the most of its limited resources. All operations were divided into twelve autonomous ‘business units’, with the management team at each business unit identifying their own dedicated ‘environmental coordinator’ supported by a cross-functional ‘environmental working group’ including a dedicated environmental team focal.
The Environmental team trained the twelve ‘environmental coordinators’ and developed a set of standard document templates to ensure a consistent approach across all ‘business units,’ from supply chain through to the aircraft assembly operations. All environmental working groups meet once per month, adhering to a standard agenda they review performance and agree any changes necessary to maintain the system and deliver on their improvement targets. The environmental team also chairs a ‘central environmental coordinators forum’ on a monthly basis that facilitates communication and knowledge sharing between the environmental team and the local business units.
