Mexico's
largest steel-maker launches a "green cyber revolution"
Mexico City,
30 May 2000 - Mexico's
largest steel maker has more than a decade of environmental success stories
behind it but - with the "green potential" of cyberspace only just
being explored - the company is determined to remain at the cutting edge of
sustainable development.
For now, Altos Hornos de
Mexico (AHMSA) http://www.ahmsa.com,
an ICC/UNEP Millennium Award winning company that contributes 0.5% of the country's
GDP, is embracing the latest information technology to enable its entire staff
to access and fine tune the company's own environmental management system (EMS).
An intranet site, with 3000
access points across AHMSA's 1,100 hectare, 20 plant site in Northern Mexico
- capable of producing 3.8 million tons of liquid steel a year - will be employed
to capture the "best and brightest" environmental ideas from AHMSA's
workforce. After a pilot workplace training programme generated US$ 1.5 million
of savings from staff suggestions for process changes and good housekeeping,
management pushed ahead with the development of a company wide, cyber-based
EMS incorporating an "environmental ideas box". Now, AHMSA workers
will be able to play a direct part in the company's environmental rejuvenation.
Furthermore, AHMSA is now
in the process of configuring their EMS system so that other companies - prepared
to pay a fee covering the steel maker's costs - can examine how this former
state-owned, self-confessed "environmental pariah" transformed itself,
over an 11-year period, into a crusader at the forefront of the global steel
industry's efforts to turn green while increasing productivity.
Innovative thinking has
been a feature of AHMSA's environmental turnaround during the course of the
1990s. Facing bankruptcy and closure in 1989, AHMSA was privatised and then
undertook a dramatic, US$ 1 billion modernisation programme - 23% environment
related - making sound environmental management a cornerstone of its entire
operation.
"From the time AHMSA
was privatised in 1991, environmental management has been at the very heart
of our operational philosophy and this has required innovative thinking as we
had some serious challenges to confront from the past. The use of the intranet
allows our staff to make suggestions and interact with our EMS. Our decision
to open our EMS to other companies via our intranet is the latest extension
of this innovative approach," explained Lorenzo Gonzalez Merla, Vice President,
Environmental Affairs.
" Now we want to make
our environmental programme totally transparent both internally - for our own
staff - and externally, for other companies and the community in general. We
hope that all our stakeholders can learn from our lessons and pioneering methods,
" he added.
To coordinate the company's
health safety and environment policy at all plants, AHMSA developed an EMS in
1994 and key facilities (blast furnace No5 and a hot strip mill) were independently
certified to the ISO 14001 standard in January 1997 - just five months after
the ISO standard was launched worldwide.
Some of AHMSA's environmental
achievements since 1989 include:
· Discharges were
lowered from 4.5 m3 per liquid steel ton in 1991 to 1.9 m3 in 1999;
· Despite production growth, lubricant use was reduced from 202,000 litres
per month in 1994 to 125,000 in 1999;
· Lime fine emissions have been reduced from 4.36 to 0.52 mg/m3;
· Process lines using sulphuric acid were modified to use hydrochloric
acid and sulphuric acid discharges changed from pH1 to 8.
· The introduction of energy efficient processes reduced energy consumption
by 25% per ton of steel produced.
" We were delighted
to be selected as one of 12 global Millennium Award winners and this has been
an achievement viewed with great pride by AHMSA staff. It will spur us on further
to remain at the cutting edge of environment and sustainable development both
in Mexico and North America and as a leader for the steel industry worldwide,"
concluded Lorenzo Gonzalez Merla.
ICC/UNEP
Millennium Business Award for Environmental Achievement
The
Global Compact