(March 12, 2002) - The American Furniture Manufacturers Association has recognized Stanley Furniture Company's plant in Martinsville, Va., as the first to receive certification for implementing AFMA's new environmental management system.
Called EFEC - "Enhancing Furniture's Environmental Culture" - the program is designed to challenge U.S. furniture manufacturing operations to strengthen their commitment to the environment. Implementation requires moving beyond compliance with environmental laws to developing proactive environmental systems.
The Stanley plant served as a pilot location for the EFEC program. At its Environmental Conference in Charlotte last month, AFMA announced that the plant had successfully passed an EFEC audit to become the first facility certified under the new program.
"The EFEC program provides us an opportunity to showcase our industry's environmental commitment," said Bill Perdue, AFMA's director of environmental and technical affairs. "Stanley is to be commended for their effort and willingness to embrace environmental stewardship."
"It's not easy to be the guinea pig," said Dave Maddox, Stanley's director of environmental engineering, who spearheaded the pilot program. He said Stanley concluded that the EFEC program was "the right thing to do" both from a corporate and an industry viewpoint. "We need to tell the world we're a proactive rather than a reactive industry when it comes to the environment," he said.
Elements of the program include developing a written corporate environmental policy, creating employee awareness and education programs, measuring progress and performance, and creating corrective plans once any environmental problems or deficiencies are identified. "Implementing EFEC required us to formalize many procedures and programs we already had in place," Maddox said.
AFMA developed the EFEC program in 1999 to promote and reward environmental excellence among home furnishings manufacturers.
