By Kathleen Racine, Marketing Specialist
SACO AEI Polymers is proud to announce its recent ISO 45001 & ISO 14001 certifications, following a successful audit by NSF-ISR. These certifications are in addition to our existing ISO 9001:2015 certification. By adding the two new certifications to our ISO 9001:2015 certification, we are managing as an integrated system. It is SACO AEI Polymer’s expectation to be audited and certified as an Integrated Management System (IMS), by the end of 2022.
ISO founded in 1947, was created to establish a network for developing global technical standards. During the last 75 years, the organization has instituted 24,296 international standards and has representation in 167 countries.
Who We Are
SACO AEI Polymers has three locations, one in Aurora, Ohio, one in Sandwich, United Kingdom, and the remaining location in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. We have more than two decades of experience in supplying the global market with grafted resins, compounds, masterbatches, and additives – proudly offering 13 product lines of material. Utilizing our technical expertise, we have developed innovative solutions in crosslinking, reactive compounding, flame/smoke management, coupling impact modification, and wood-plastic composites.
SACO AEI’s regulated solutions are a rapidly growing presence in the marketplace for applications like wire & cable, pressure pipe, building & construction, films, deck & railing, automotive/ transportation, films, and packaging that can be sterilized.
SACO AEI Polymers has been ISO 9001 certified – since our first year of operation. This notice represents the addition of the ISO 14001 Environmental and ISO 45001 Occupational Health & Safety certifications. By certifying to these ISO standards, it exemplifies SACO AEI’s dedication to quality, the environment, and occupational health & safety.
ISO 9001:2015 – QMS
ISO 9001:2015 is a standard specification for a Quality Management system (QMS). The standard demonstrates the ability to provide products and services that are fully compliant with global customer and regulatory requirements.
To earn this ISO 9001 QMS certification, there was a lot of documentation and planning that needed to occur, to avoid any non-effective processes. It was necessary to detail out the production of our products, from design to delivery. We needed to implement systems to meet
the standard, measure the effectiveness of the system, and commit to continuous improvement. Trained and competent internal auditors perform internal process audits annually, to ensure our processes are effective and compliant. Third-party registrars audit the three locations as well, to verify continuous improvement and compliance with the standard. By certifying to the ISO 9001 standard, we now have evidence of constant commitment to customer satisfaction.
ISO 14001:2015 – EMS
ISO 14001:2015 are the internationally agreed-upon standards that lay out the requirements for an Environmental Management System (EMS). The EMS guides organizations to improve their environmental performance through more efficient use of their resources and reduction of waste.
At SACO AEI Polymers, recycling and sustainability are at the forefront of our minds as we continue to grow our business. We wish to protect the environment and reduce our carbon footprint. SACO AEI has taken several steps towards sustainability, beginning with small things like changing out our light bulbs, establishing a dog park on our campus, and using recycled material in our products, when it will not compromise the quality of our products. One of the larger and more interesting green features of our facility is at our headquarters office location – it is heated and cooled, using non-contact cooling water from our plant manufacturing equipment.
Other environmental initiatives involve continuous improvement of our impact to the environment by reducing water contaminants, reducing noise pollution, and improving air quality by monitoring emissions from our manufacturing processes. We have not only implemented the standards, but we have also provided evidence of our commitment and continue to seek ways to improve the impact our company has on the surrounding environment.
The process for certification involved evaluating the cause and effects the company has on the environment and any legal requirements that we needed to consider. Next, we took steps to meet our goals, monitoring and measuring along the way to ensure our efforts were effective. We empower our employee’s participation in these goals and continue to review our progress while continuously improving our performance.
ISO 45001:2018 – OHSMS
ISO 45001:2018 details the requirements for an Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSMS), establishing a foundation to provide a safe and healthy workplace by preventing injuries and health issues, as well as being proactive for continuous improvements.
At SACO AEI, our number one resource is our employees and safety is always our number one priority. We take pride in providing a safe and healthy working environment and taking proactive steps to prevent work-related injuries and illnesses.
We prepared for this certification by performing risk analysis on our operations. Doing this identified the potential risks & hazards and aided in the implementation of corrective actions. The primary goal of this exercise was to reduce/eliminate near misses and injuries.
ISO Certification Advantage
These certifications give us an advantage – it shows our follow-through and our dedication to self-improvement. Earning these certifications was no small feat and took tremendous dedication and cooperation, to ensure compliance. We worked with unified objectives, improved focus, and increase efficiency and effectiveness. Having earned these ISO certifications, reduces our customer concerns, improves the consistency of our products, reduces our accident incident rate, betters our environment, and increases our productivity. Once certified as an IMS, we will reduce the number of audits and costs needed to operate effectively.
What began with a global safety team, and safety-conscious employees, encouraged further employee participation to be safe and aware. Even though our top management is accountable for promoting the three systems from the top down; we have incredible
support from our employees, co-workers, and partners to meet and sustain our goals and objectives. Our employees now share common goals and objectives through our awareness of our policies, implemented processes, training, and documentation, which allows everyone a voice to contribute to continuous improvements. Our SACO AEI Polymer family is proud of this accomplishment. These certifications did not change how we do business…they have only enhanced it.
We are not done yet! SACO AEI has been certified to the ISO 14001 & ISO 45001 standards, and we will continue to promote continuous improvement. These enhancements will benefit the safety of our employees, the sustainability of the environment, and further our company and its products.
View our certifications: https://www.sacoaei.com/certifications/
About Kathleen Racine
Kathleen Racine is an experienced Marketing Specialist at SACO AEI Polymers, where she has been employed for nearly a decade. In her role, she provides valuable insight and market analysis on emerging market opportunities and drives lead generation through digital campaigns and sharing database metrics to the commercial team.
Kathleen monitors and reports competitive intelligence on the polymer market to stakeholders, to track the shifting market trends. She also organizes trade show participation and stimulates new growth opportunities.
Kathleen went back to school full-time concurrent to working at SACO AEI Polymers. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, with strengths in Marketing & Management – graduating summa cum laude.
Kathleen was born and raised in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. She lives there with her husband, Kevin. Her favorite pastimes are metal detecting and magnet fishing for treasure.
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