Ford Becomes First U.S. Automaker to Require Suppliers To Achieve ISO 14001 Certification

DEARBORN, Mich. (PROTEXT) - In another example of Ford MotorCompany's (NYSE: F) environmental leadership, the automaker isrequiring ISO 14001 certification from all of its suppliers withmanufacturing facilities. ISO 14001 is an environmental standardunder which independent auditors evaluate environmental processesand system performance. Ford is the first U.S. automaker to require certification bysuppliers and is one of only a few automakers in the world torequire certification of its suppliers. The requirement followsthe announcement in December that Ford is the first and onlyautomotive company to certify its plants around the world underISO 14001 -- 140 manufacturing facilities in 26 countries. "This requirement reinforces Ford's commitment to theenvironment," said Carlos Mazzorin, Group Vice President ofPurchasing and Ford of Mexico. "We have extended that commitmentto thousands of other companies -- exponentially increasing thebenefits of this rigorous environmental certification." Specifically, Ford is requiring suppliers to certify at leastone manufacturing site to ISO 14001 by the end of 2001 and allmanufacturing sites shipping products to Ford by July 1, 2003. To help suppliers meet these goals, Ford is offering ISO 14001Awareness Training later this year at its Total Cost ManagementCenter. In addition, Ford is exploring tools that it can makeavailable to suppliers to let them benefit from Ford's experiencein achieving ISO 14001 certification at its plants. The requirement affects about 5,000 of Ford's production andnon- production suppliers with manufacturing facilities. Mazzorinsent letters to suppliers informing them of the requirement. Ford decided to require ISO 14001 certification of itssuppliers after it surveyed its top suppliers earlier this yearabout their environmental policies and programs. Severalsuppliers indicated that some of their manufacturing facilitieswere already registered to ISO 14001. The majority of thesuppliers said they planned to register their plants to ISO 14001in the next few years. Ford Purchasing also is leading other environmental effortswith suppliers. For example, Ford is working with its fabricsuppliers to explore the use of eco-effective fabrics for futurevehicles. In addition, Ford is working through vehicle programteams to increase the amount of recycled materials and the numberof recycled components on the approximately 7 million cars andtrucks it sells each year. ots Original Text Service: Ford MotorCompany Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Ron Iori ofFord, 313-317-4234 Web site: http://www.ford.com

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