The Suppliers Partnership for the Environment (SP)
is an association of automobile original equipment manufacturers
(OEMs) and their suppliers working in collaboration with the
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other governmental
entities to identify and implement creative projects and programs
that will advance environmental sustainability while providing
economic value to the automotive supply chain through strategic
action and engagement.
SP’s members work together to improve environmental
performance while increasing value throughout the automobile
supply chain. SP provides a forum for small, mid-sized and
large automotive and vehicle suppliers to work with automobile
OEMs to learn from each other and share environmental best
practices while also providing economic value throughout the
supply chain.
View 2011 member
companies here.
Download
a PDF copy of the SP 2011 Activities Report.
2011 QUARTERLY MEMBERSHIP MEETINGS
In 2011, SP held four Quarterly Membership Meetings providing
an opportunity for members to network with industry and government
leaders, share environmental best practices and advance Work
Group objectives. Meetings included:
- SP 1st Quarter Meeting – January
13, 2011 (Detroit, MI)
- SP 2nd Quarter Meeting – June 7,
2011 (Detroit, MI)
- SP 3rd Quarter Meeting – September
8, 2011 (Spring Hill, TN)
- SP 4th Quarter Meeting – November
8, 2011 (Detroit, MI)
As the Executive Committee has set a strategic goal for SP
to expand its activities within the Southern United States
SP collaborated with the Tennessee
Automotive Manufacturers Association (TAMA) to host its
3rd Quarter Membership Meeting in Spring Hill, Tennessee.
Over 150 representatives from the automotive supply chain
participated in the meeting, making it the most well attended
SP meeting to date. SP plans to continue to work toward its
goal to expand its activities in the southern automotive supply
chain in 2012.
Pictured (left to right): Steve Hellem,
SP, Keith Updike, TAMA, Donald Stoegbauer, MAMA, Rick Walker,
GAMA, Amy Bunton, SAWF, Lew Drummond, AAMA, Hal Johnson,
SCAC at SP's 3rd Quarter Meeting
A diverse representation of guest speakers
from the government, non-profit and automotive sectors
participated in SP meetings in 2011, to discuss their
efforts, share opportunities and report on the latest
information and trends impacting the automotive supply
chain. In 2011, SP created opportunities for several groups
to meet with SP member companies, including:
-
Martin Chilcott,
Founder & CEO, 2degrees
-
Lew Drummond, Executive
Director, Alabama Automotive Manufacturers Association
(AAMA)
-
Benjamin Teitelbaum,
Special Projects' Coordinator, Commission for Environmental
Cooperation (CEC)
-
Andre de Fontaine,
Partnership Development & Deployment, Department
of Energy (DOE) – Industrial Technologies Program
-
Ben Vickery, Senior
Technical Analyst, Department of Commerce, National
Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST), Manufacturing
Extension Partnership Program
-
Rick Walker, Falcon
Automotive Manufacturing; President, Georgia Automotive
Manufacturers Association (GAMA)
-
Donald Stoegbauer,
Nissan North America; President, Mississippi Automotive
Manufacturers Association (MAMA)
-
Mike Coast, President,
Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center (MMTC); Board
Member, American Small Manufacturers Coalition (ASMC)
-
Hal Johnson, Upstate
Alliance; South Carolina Automotive Council (SCAC)
-
Amy Bunton, Pathway
Lending; Vice President, Southern Automotive Women’s
Forum (SAWF)
-
Keith Updike, BBK;
President, Tennessee Automotive Manufacturers Association
(TAMA)
-
Kevin Butt, General
Manager/Chief Environmental Officer of Environmental/Safety
Engineering, Toyota North America
-
Stephen Zimmer,
Executive Director, United States Council for Automotive
Research (USCAR)
-
A.W. Armstrong,
Program Manager, By-Product Synergy, United States Business
Council for Sustainable Development (US BCSD)
-
Steve Owens, Assistant
Administrator, Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution
Prevention, US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
-
Tom Murray, Chief,
Prevention Analysis Branch, US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA)
A number of SP member companies shared case
studies & lessons learned, best practices and technologies,
products & processes that may be utilized by companies
in the automotive supply chain seeking to improve their
environmental performance during SP’s 2011 Quarterly
Membership Meetings, including:
-
Albemarle Corporation
– Specialty Chemical Company
-
Asset Recovery & Management
Group – Zero Waste,
Zero Landfill and Lowest Lifecycle Cost
-
Chrysler Group LLC
– Seats from Recycled Foam: An Industry First;
Zero Waste To Landfill; Corporate Sustainability Report
-
EDSS
– Profitable Energy Strategies in a Challenging
Business Climate: Benefits for Designing or Upgrading
an Energy Efficient Property
-
EQ – The Environmental
Quality Company – Environmental Management
Services
-
Ford Motor Company –
Ford’s Sustainable Materials Story: Then, Now
and Future Opportunities; Strengthening OEM and Supplier
Relationships through SP
-
FTS Technologies
– Flame Treatment of Interior TPO Parts Before
Soft Touch Paint: Application & Environmental Benefits
-
GDC Inc.
– Total Solutions Provider for a Variety of Products
& Components
-
General Motors
– Strengthening OEM and Supplier Relationships
through SP
-
Goodwill Industries of Greater
Detroit – Training
Individuals and Creating Employment Opportunities
-
Green Tree Products and Technologies
– Putting New Life Into Your HVAC System
-
Haley & Aldrich, Inc.
– Environmental and Engineering Services
-
Johnson Controls
– Greening the Automotive Supply Chain
-
MPS Group –
Industrial, Environmental and Facility Services
-
Work Force Safety
– Introduction to Hazardous Vapor Detection Systems
and Service
Copies of all of the presentations given at SP's 2011 Quarterly
Membership and Work Group meetings are available on the SP
Members Only website.
SP QUARTERLY MEETINGS – SIDE EVENTS
Several additional events were organized in conjunction with
SP’s Quarterly Meetings, providing added value to participating
companies.
A few examples include:
SP 1st Quarter Meeting & the North American International
Auto Show (NAIAS)
SP’s 1st Quarter Meeting was organized in conjunction
with the Industry Preview Day of the 2011 North American International
Auto Show (NAIAS) in Detroit, MI providing members an opportunity
to tour the show floor. Following the 1st Quarter Meeting,
SP organized a special tour of the Show with Steve Owens,
Assistant Administrator for the Office of Chemical Safety
and Pollution Prevention (OCSPP), US Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) and a group of SP member companies. Senior leaders
from Chrysler, Ford, General Motors and Johnson Controls hosted
Mr. Owens for a tour of their companies’ exhibits.
  
Pictured: (left) Tom Murray, EPA, Greg
Rose, Chrysler, Steve Owens, EPA, Kyle Jones, Jay Wilton
and Reg Modlin, Chrysler; (middle) Vickie Mecsey and Mike
Robinson, GM and Steve Owens, EPA;
(right) Bob Holycross, Ford and Steve Owens
SP 2nd Quarter Meeting & National Environmental
Sustainability Summit – Auto Industry Day
On June 7, 2011 SP partnered with the National Environmental
Sustainability Summit (NESS) to organize a half-day session
targeted towards the auto industry in conjunction with SP's
2nd Quarter Membership Meeting. Events included:
- Sustainable Communities: Detroit Driving It Home!
in which speakers discussed how Detroit is becoming a sustainable
community and creating a model for other urban cities across
the country to follow. SP member Heather Cataldo of MPS
Group moderated a panel of speakers including: Susan Mosey,
University Cultural Center Association (UCCA) - Midtown
Project; Jean Redfield, NextEnergy; and, Jacob Corvidae,
WARM Training Center.
- A panel of government and auto industry representatives
from the US, Canada and Mexico focused on opportunities
to Improve the Economic and Environmental Performance
of the North American Automotive Industry Supply Chain.
Panel participants included: Maria Petrou, Environment Canada;
Sandra Galindo, Profepa; Tom Murray, U.S. EPA; John Bradburn,
GM; Jim Laney, DENSO; and, Benjamin Teitelbaum, CEC.
- A Plenary Panel on Advancing Environmental Stewardship
within the Automotive Industry. Ken Zarker, P2 Section Manager,
Washington State Department of Ecology moderated a panel
of SP member company representatives including: Jay Wilton,
Vice President, Engineering Planning and Regulatory Compliance
and Certification, Chrysler Group LLC; Teri Kline, Manager,
Environment & Energy Policy, General Motors; Bob Holycross,
Manager, Vehicle Environmental and Energy Planning, Ford
Motor Company; and, Steve Owens, Assistant Administrator
for the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention,
U.S. EPA.
Pictured (left to right) Jay Wilton,
Chrysler; Teri Kline, GM; Bob Holycross, Ford; Steve Owens,
EPA; Ken Zarker, Washington State Dept. of Ecology
SP 3rd Quarter Meeting & CEC Workshop
 On September
7, 2011 SP members participated in a Commission for Environmental
Cooperation (CEC) sponsored Workshop on Environmental
Assistance Programs and Resources for Automotive OEMs and
Suppliers in Spring Hill, Tennessee organized in conjunction
with SP’s 3rd Quarter Meeting which included discussions
of voluntary environmental programs and tools available for
automotive companies in the US, Mexico and Canada and opportunities
to develop new programs across North America.
CEC workshop presenters included:
- Tom Murray, Chief, Prevention Analysis Branch, U.S. EPA
- Ben Vickery, Senior Technical Analyst, Department of Commerce,
National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST),
Manufacturing Extension Partnership Program
- Lynn Lane, Human Resources Manager, Electricfil Corporation
- Alejandro Sosa, Director, Navista Mexico
- Maria Petrou, Environmental Protection Operations, Environment
Canada
- Rahul Naik, Principal In-Charge, ARCADIS
- Benjamin Teitelbaum, Special Projects' Coordinator, Commission
for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
SP 4th Quarter Meeting & Member Company Facility
Tours
In conjunction with SP’s 4th Quarter Meeting, SP organized
a tour of EQ's Belleville, MI facility. Participants toured
EQ’s Michigan
Disposal Waste Treatment Plant, the largest stabilization
and treatment facility in North America (by volume) with the
ability to process hazardous and non-hazardous materials through
stabilization, chemical oxidation/reduction, deactivation,
micro encapsulation and other permitted technologies. The
tour also included EQ's Wayne
Disposal, Inc. Site #2 Landfill, the only commercial hazardous
waste landfill in Michigan and the only landfill in EPA Region
V permitted to accept PCB contaminated wastes.
Pictured: Breakout Groups Tour Goodwill
Industries of Greater Detroit
In addition, SP members had the opportunity to tour the
facility of Goodwill
Industries of Greater Detroit during the 4th Quarter Meeting
where they viewed the work of Goodwill’s client / trainee
teams, including:
- Small parts kitting with hand pack and AutoBaggers
- Automated 4-Hopper AutoBagger producing multi-component
kits
- License Plate Bracket Kits
- Mopar Service Parts
- SASO Kits
- Diesel Pressure Sensors (DPS) assemblies
- Bracket Assemblies
- Custom Data, Power and Brake Cable assembly
SELECTED SP SUCCESS STORIES
Energy Management
 In 2011,
SP’s Energy and Water Work Group hosted a Workshop
on Strategies in Energy Program Management and Available Resources
for Manufacturers at Chrysler’s Headquarters in
Auburn Hills, MI.
The Workshop featured a presentation from SP member Bill
Allemon, ARCADIS, on “Managing the Manufacturing
Energy Team: Strategies in Energy Program Management”.
Bill discussed energy management basics, energy management
business models, Federal government energy programs such as
EnergyStar and Save Energy Now, and utility rebate programs.
Bill led workshop participants in a discussion of energy program
management strategies and resources, including the upcoming
ISO 50001 energy management standard, as well as upcoming
regulatory updates with a potential impact on energy efficiency.
The Workshop also featured presentations from Gerald Polk,
DTE Energy and David MacDonald, Consumers Energy on energy
efficiency programs and resources available to Michigan based
commercial and industrial customers.
Chemicals Issues Management
Since its formation, SP’s Chemical Issues Work Group
has provided a forum for discussing emerging chemical issues
within the automotive supply chain, sharing best practices
and discussing approaches to material risk assessment for
automotive products. In 2011, the Work Group focused on Phase
3 of its Materials Assessment Strategy (MAS) project related
to assessment of chemicals found in brake and tire wear debris.
The MAS documents discussed by the Work Group in 2011 include:
- Hazard Assessment and Dose-Response Assessment for Wear
Debris
- Exposure Assessment for Wear Debris
- Risk Assessment for Wear Debris
Materials Efficiency
At SP’s 2nd Quarter Meeting in June 2011, SP member
Mobile Fluid Recovery, Inc. received the
General Motors Environmental Excellence Award for providing
unique recycling ideas and collaborating on projects like
turning oil-soaked booms from the Gulf of Mexico into Chevrolet
Volt components1.
Pictured (from left to right): Butch
Flatt, MFR; Lee Hachigian, GM; David Briggs, MFR; Trevis
Lyon, MFR; Shane Bennett, MFR; and, Brett Remington, MFR
 In the
Gulf oil spill project, Mobile Fluid Recovery extracted the
liquid from the boom material. The company used a large high-speed
drum to remove the oil and wastewater using a patented "free
liquids" removal process. GM's team of partners on the
Gulf oil spill project also included SP member companies Heritage
Environmental, who collected the boom material in
Louisiana, and GDC, Inc., who produced the
Volt components.
Recycling the booms resulted in the production of more than
100,000 pounds of plastic resin used in the manufacture of
a year's worth of air-deflection baffles for the Chevrolet
Volt. The parts, which deflect air around the vehicle's radiator,
are composed of 25 percent boom material, 25 percent recycled
tires from GM’s Milford Proving Ground vehicle test
facility and 25 percent plastic shipping aids from GM’s
Fort Wayne, Indiana, assembly plant. The remaining 25 percent
is a mixture of postconsumer recycled plastics and other polymers2.
Using the recycled booms, whose oil and water was refined
or used for energy, allowed GM and its supplier partners to:
- Reuse 227 miles of the absorbent boom material
- Save 29,000 gallons of water and oil from the nation's
landfills
- Eliminate 212,500 pounds of waste from being thrown out
- Eliminate 149 tons of CO2-equivalent emissions from entering
the air3
"The relationships forged in the Suppliers Partnership
group were a driving factor in creating a sustainable way
to help in Gulf clean-up efforts," said Trevis Lyon,
President, Mobile Fluid Recovery.
Technology & Networking
 Through relationships
developed within SP, FTS Technologies introduced
its Flame Treatment Technology to General Motors and its suppliers
in 2011. The technology lets paint stick to plastic vehicle
parts like instrument and door panels without using primers
that contain solvents.
According to GM, it evaluated the new technology as a total
business case. Not only does it improve efficiency since it’s
faster than spraying primer, but the capital expense pays
for itself in less than four months. In 2011, GM used the
technology on the Chevrolet Cruze, Sonic, and Volt.
By using the FTS Flame Treatment Technology on the Cruze,
for example, GM suppliers:
- Reduced solid and liquid waste (filters, cleaners, solvents
and coatings) from 48 tons a year to less than one.
- Decreased air pollutants from 810 tons a year to 80 tons
a year.
- Eliminated landfill waste like paint sludge and painted
scrap material from 25 tons to nearly zero.4
Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)
 In
2011, SP members participated in a Commission for Environmental
Cooperation (CEC) project that aims to “Improve the
Economic and Environmental Performance of the North American
Automotive Industry Supply Chain”. The project supports
the development of innovative automotive supply chain organizations
in both Canada and Mexico modeled after SP. It aims to create
a network of industry partners to share best practices and
success stories of how companies in the automotive supply
chain are improving the environment and creating economic
opportunity throughout the manufacturing process in each of
the three countries.
SP members participated and presented in CEC project meetings
and Workshops in 2011 in Canada, Mexico and the United States
to support the development of Suppliers Partnership activities
across North America.
SP 2011 LEADERSHIP AWARD
During SP’s 2nd Quarter Meeting, SP's Vice-Chair, Russell
Brynolf, FTS Technologies presented the 2011 SP Leadership
Award to Heather Cataldo, MPS Group,
for her leadership, dedication and commitment to SP. Heather
was instrumental in working to coordinate the National Environmental
Sustainability Summit (NESS) events in Detroit and collaboration
with SP in 2011, and has been an active member of SP for many
years including through the Materials Efficiency Work Group.
Pictured (from left to right): Steve
Hellem, SP; John Bradburn, GM, Heather, Cataldo, MPS Group;
and, Russell Brynolf, FTS Technologies
SP COMMUNICATIONS
SP produced five newsletters in 2011. SP
News highlights the activities of SP and success stories
of its members and is distributed to over 1,500 automotive
industry, government and non-profit contacts. In addition
SP produced the SP Monitor, a Members Only service highlighting
business and government activity of interest to each of SP’s
Work Group topic areas, as well as general auto supply chain
environmental news.
Steve Hellem, Executive Director, Kellen Mahoney, Program
Manager and SP’s Executive Committee and Work Group
Chairs represented SP at Conferences and industry events throughout
2011.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON SP
Steve Hellem, Executive Director
Kellen Mahoney, Program Manager
1155 15th Street NW, Suite 500
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 530-0096
info@supplierspartnership.org
REFERENCES
1: GM Recognizes Supplier for Environmental Excellence
– June 10, 2011
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gm-recognizes-supplier-for-environmental-excellence-123621709.html
2: Creative Recycling At Its Best – GM 2010
/ 2011 Sustainability Report – January 12, 2012
http://gmsustainability.com/featureStories/build/waterReduction/wasteReductionPopOut.html
3: Chevrolet Volt Spares Landfills From Gulf Oil
Spill Waste – May 23, 2011
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chevrolet-volt-spares-landfills-from-gulf-oil-spill-waste-122458453.html
4: GM Eliminates Solvent from Suppliers’ Paint
Process – August 23, 2011
http://media.gm.com/content/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2011/Aug/0823_solvent
|
