Challenge: We required certification to the ISO 14001 international standard, which was mandated by our Swedish parent company. The EMS needed to cover our truck factory, national parts distribution warehouse, office facilities, and company dealerships, and be flexible enough to incorporate additional facilities when required. Needed to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements in several States as well as Volvo corporate standards. We required a system that could be operated by personnel at each site and be reviewed and managed by the Australian corporate HSE Manager.

Strategy: Implemented the Intelex Environmental Management System, initially PC-based and then as a Web-based system hosted by Intelex in Canada. Use Objectives and Targets as the day-to-day environmental management tool, enabling signoff of action programs to achieve them and tracking of continual improvement. Regularly review Aspects and Impacts to incorporate any changes in operations – an important ability when the Volvo and Mack truck factories were integrated on to one site. The listing of all regulatory requirements and corporate standards in Intelex makes it easy to keep track of changes through regular review triggered by the program informing the responsible person when they are due.

Results: The experience with the PC-based EMS enabled rapid conversion to the Web-based system when it became available. The hosting by Intelex has provided regular updates, backup and maintenance, and has avoided any conflict with other programs on the VCVA server. By having the program hosted by Intelex, all of our sites have immediate access, and our EMS consultants can also keep an eye on how the EMS is being implemented. Using Objectives and Targets as the day-to-day environmental management tool. enables tracking of continual improvement by Top Management. Intelex has enabled Volvo to develop and maintain an EMS certified to ISO 14001, which has been expanded over time to include additional operations and sites. The reporting function of Intelex has proved to be most valuable in providing regular progress reports to management.