June 24, 2002 - National Semiconductor Corporation's (NYSE:NSM) manufacturing facility in South Portland has received ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 Certifications, two key international safety and environmental standards. ISO 14001 is an environmental management standard, and OHSAS 18001 is a specification for an occupational health and safety management system.
To qualify for ISO 14001 certification, National conducted an in-depth review of all the ways it impacts the environment and studied how these impacts can be controlled or mitigated. As a result of this proactive, internal review, National Semiconductor set specific targets to reduce water and electricity, instituted a battery disposal program to keep batteries out of the general waste stream (and prevent release of mercury vapor into the atmosphere) and enhanced its recycling program. The certifying inspectors praised National Semiconductor employees' "impressive commitment to improvement."
OHSAS 18001 certification combines several international standards for occupational health and safety. It also requires a management system that identifies, controls and seeks continuous improvement in occupational health and safety. National Semiconductor's focus in this area has been, and continues to be, ergonomics --both in the office areas and on the manufacturing floor. National's employees have responded so well to this program, they operated continuously for over nine months without a lost-time work injury, surpassing the one-million hours milestone.
"I'm very proud of this accomplishment for the site. Anything we can do to keep our employees safe and help ensure our compliance with environmental laws is a worthwhile investment of time and effort," said Paul Edmonds, National Semiconductor vice president and managing director of the facility.
International certifications are becoming a requirement for doing business with European customers. Consequently, all of National Semiconductor's manufacturing facilities are working to obtain their certification. "Even without a customer-driven mandate, our learnings from the process of preparing for the certifications are invaluable," said Edmonds, who praised the "all-hands effort" necessary to attain the certification.
"The management at this site continually stresses safety as the number one priority," said John Dunn, National's facilities manager who has responsibility for environmental, health and safety initiatives at the site. "We focus on protecting the safety of the individual as well as the environment and the facility. For National, the right way is the only way for our company to do business."
About National Semiconductor in Maine
National Semiconductor's South Portland Maine manufacturing facility processes eight-inch silicon wafers using .35, .25, and .18 micron CMOS and BiCMOS technologies. The Maine-made integrated circuits ("chips") are found in consumer products including information appliances, computers, flat panel displays, scanners, DVDs, digital cameras and wireless communications. The factory operates seven days a week, 24 hours a day and employs 625 employees in South Portland including engineers, technicians and support personnel. National has been in Maine since 1987. The factory started operations in 1997.
