Environmental Policy (ISO 14001)

We as a society are faced with a number of serious environmental problems, including global warming and climate change, resource depletion, and environmental pollution. The Maruyama Group is actively engaged in environmental preservation activities based on our business philosophy of making a difference in the lives of hard working people, and our commitment to maintaining a harmonious relationship between people and the environment.

Maruyama’s Chiba factory has obtained ISO 14001 certification for its environmental management system.

Overview of ISO 14000

ISO 14000 is a family of international standards related to the environment that exists to help organizations throughout the world coordinate efforts to minimize how their operations impact the environment. The flagship standard in this family, ISO 14001, was released by the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) in September 1996. ISO 14001 was later revised to incorporate elements of other related standards and a 2nd edition was released in 2004. The ISO 14001: 2004 standard is the one currently in use.

Steps Taken to Obtain Certification

As society has become more aware of the need to protect and preserve the environment, the corporate sector has realized that, as part of the global community, not only does it have to take steps to reduce its collective impact on the environment and carry out environmental conservation activities, but that companies also need some kind of system to indicate their stance on the environment and report the results of their activities to local communities, stakeholders, and society at large. Recognizing that the ISO 14001 standard would be an extremely effective tool in meeting the above needs, Maruyama launched a project to obtain ISO 14001 certification.

ISO 14001 is a standard pertaining to the operation of systems and aims to help companies build and implement systems for reducing their environmental impact; it is not legally binding. Acquisition of the environmental ISO standard is therefore voluntary, and it is even possible to make an autonomous declaration of environmental ISO compliance (along the lines of "We declare that our environmental management system meets the ISO 14001 requirements"). However, deciding that it would be better to be evaluated by a fair and objective third-party certification authority, Maruyama's Chiba factory received a certification audit from the JQA (Japan Quality Assurance Organization) and was granted ISO 14001 certification in August 2001.

Activities at Chiba Factory

All environmental activities at the Chiba factory are carried out based on Maruyama's environmental policy, which is the platform upon which all plans concerning the environment are created.

The Chiba factory currently implements the following environmental policy:

The Chiba factory of Maruyama Mfg. Co., Inc., is actively committed to creating a more prosperous society and reducing environmental impact by ensuring that the products we supply as part of our business, specifically agricultural machines, industrial pumps, and fire-prevention equipment, are environmentally sound. We will achieve this by:

1. Setting up and implementing environmental PDCA cycles to realize ongoing improvements in our environmental preservation activities.
2. Complying with the requirements of all environmental laws and other compliance items to which we have agreed.
3. Preventing and reducing environmental pollution by promoting the reduction and recycling of waste, conserving resources and energy, and developing products that have a low environmental impact.