St Marys Cement Inc. receives North America's First ISO 50001 Certification for Energy Management
On June 7, politicians and community leaders were on hand to celebrate St Marys Cement Inc. – Bowmanville Plant having received North America's first International Organization for Standardization's (ISO) ISO 50001 certification. Erik Madsen, CEO of St Marys Cement Inc. – Votorantim Cimentos North America, accepted the certificate at a ceremony on location in Bowmanville. The award presentation was made by Michael Delisle, CEO of International Certification Services Inc. (ICS). St Marys was officially registered as the first North American recipient of ISO 50001 on November 15, 2011.
Upon receiving the certificate, CEO Madsen observed, "St Marys identified the benefits and embraced the certification process early. The ISO 50001 program and cement plants are a logical fit. Our Bowmanville plant has a rated capacity of more than 1.8 million metric tonnes of product, operates 24/7 and consumes significant amounts of energy. Managing these energy costs is a no brainer; it is good for the environment and our bottom line."
Mr Delisle of ICS, who oversaw the certification process, observed, "Achieving ISO 50001 certification shows a commitment to better understanding and modifying energy consumption and use. It has the added benefit of communicating to customers, regulators and suppliers in a reliable and transparent manner how St Marys Cement Inc. – Bowmanville Plant is reducing its energy use and greenhouse gas emissions."
Clarington Mayor Adrian Foster stated, "The initiative to embrace this type of program is part of what makes St Marys a valued member of our community. Not only is it a large employer in the region, but it is a continent-wide leader for manufacturers, demonstrating a strong commitment to sustainability and energy conservation in a very competitive economic environment."
Fabio Garcia, operations manager at St Marys Cement Inc. – Bowmanville Plant, told ceremony attendees, "Receiving this prestigious certification was not something that happened overnight. The origins of this certification can be traced back to 2005 when we were given the green light by senior management to move forward with an integrated strategy to reduce the plant's energy consumption.
Garcia observed, "Our success is driven from employee awareness of how we use energy. As a group, we then respond to challenges in very practical ways. Most of the energy saving measures required little capital expenditure or were done at no cost."
Each section of the plant is now monitored for energy use. Furthermore, energy-intensive processes (such as milling, grinding and conveying) have been moved to off-peak hours, wherever possible. Since 2005, electricity consumption has been cut by over 10.3 million kilowatt hours (approximately the same amount of energy used by 880 Canadian homes in one year).
CEO Madsen concluded, "The commitment to energy conservation, and the continual desire to improve processes by the entire staff at our Bowmanville plant, is the reason this is the first North American site to receive ISO 50001 certification. The energy conservation elements of ISO 50001 certification means we are on track for more than $1 million dollars in savings in 2012 alone. I want to thank each and every one of our employees, who helped to make this possible."
St Marys Cement Inc. is a leading manufacturer of cement and related construction products in Canada and the United States. The Bowmanville Plant has 127 employees and was established in 1968. For more information, visit www.stmaryscement.com. St Marys Cement Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Votorantim Cimentos, an international cement manufacturer based in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
ISO 50001 is a specification created by the International Organization for Standardization for an energy management system, which specifies requirements for establishing, implementing, maintaining and improving an energy management system, whose purpose is to enable an organization to follow a systematic approach in achieving continual improvement of energy performance, including energy efficiency, energy security, energy use and consumption.