Grace Jianping Guan | Facilities & EHS Management, Jilin, China

They've passed stringent international audits and have an exceptional record for worker safety. How has the Jilin site achieved so much in so little time? For Grace Jianping Guan and her colleagues, the answer is simple: teamwork.

It's been only five years since the Jilin manufacturing site came online for NXP, but they've already received four very important certifications: ISO 9001 for quality management systems, ISO 14001 for environmental management systems, OHSAS 18001 for occupational health and safety management, and the Sony Green Partner certificate, awarded by Sony's procurement group.

“We began with a good management team,” says Grace. “They brought experience with international standards and trained us on world-class requirements.” For each certification, Grace and her colleagues in Jilin's Environment, Health & Safety (EHS) department “organized several meetings with different departments to get suggestions and identify actions.” That way, the whole company had one goal - to work together effectively and pass the audit. “We needed every employee to participate.”

As Grace explains, “the ISO and OHSAS certifications have several common elements, such as management review, document control, corrective action, and the requirement for trained personnel. Achieving these certifications is a significant milestone for any company, because they show that our management has a good orientation.”

The Sony Green Partner certification went exceedingly fast, requiring only two months from start to finish. They had a dedicated project team, carried out company-wide training, and updated work processes. The certificate is expected to help solidify Jilin's existing supply relationship with Sony and prepare them for new business from other customers who recognize the importance of Sony certification.

Grace highlights the OHSAS certification, which focuses on employee safety. “As the saying goes,” she points out, “safety is there only to take you home every day.“ It would seem that all 300 of Jilin's employees would agree with her, since they recently passed an important milestone in worker safety, reaching two million incident-free work hours. That is, their production line has worked continuously for the equivalent of two million man hours without losing any time due to worker injury.

Recognizing the outstanding effort and commitment that the two-million mark represents, the entire site celebrated with outings to scenic Songhua lake. “All our employees participated,” she says. “It's important to recognize everyone at the site for their hard work, dedication, and commitment. Our success would not have been possible without this high level of professionalism.”