Ford Australia has become the first car manufacturer in Australia to require all manufacturing suppliers to achieve ISO 14001 certification.

In doing so, Ford has followed the lead of its American parent, which issued a similar requirement to suppliers during September.

The Australian announcement follows very positive results from a survey undertaken earlier this year to assess supplier readiness towards ISO 14001.

"The feedback from suppliers as a result of this survey was very encouraging," said Vice President Purchasing, Ford Australia, Tony Simpson.

"Several suppliers responded that their facilities were already registered to ISO 14001, while the vast majority of others indicated that they were already working towards this certification. It's great to see that our suppliers are joining with us in recognising its environmental and cost savings benefits."

Ford Australia will now require:

• All production and non-production suppliers with manufacturing facilities to certify a minimum of one manufacturing site to ISO 14001 standard by December 31, 2001.
  

• All supplier manufacturing sites to be certified to ISO 14001 standard by July 1, 2003.
  

To assist suppliers in accelerating their ISO 14001 efforts, Ford Australia will offer Supplier Awareness Training on a voluntary basis in February 2000. These sessions will provide guidance and tools for suppliers who are developing an ISO 14001 compliant environmental management system.

"During the training sessions we'll also be leveraging our own experience at implementing ISO 14001 for the benefit of our suppliers," said Tony.

Ford became the first automotive manufacturer worldwide to certify all its manufacturing facilities around the globe to ISO 14001 by the end of 1998.