Customers Case Studies

Background

Novelis Inc. is the world leader in aluminum rolling and beverage can recycling. In 2005, the company supplied an estimated 20 percent of global demand for aluminum rolled products and recycled more than 35 billion used beverage cans. With world-class assets and manufacturing technology, Novelis produces advanced aluminum sheet and foil products for customers in high-value markets including automotive, transportation, packaging, construction and printing.

Novelis is globally positioned, operating in 11 countries with approximately 12,500 employees. The company was formed as a Canadian corporation in January 2005. Its executive offices are located in Atlanta, GA, and its shares are traded on the Toronto and New York Stock Exchanges under the symbol NVL.

Challenges

In January 2005, Novelis spun off from Alcan Inc. Prior to the spin off, its internal environmental, health and safety (EH&S) staff was generating material safety data sheets (MSDS). As management of the newly formed Novelis began to examine EH&S operations, they quickly realized that limited resources prohibited the creation of a team of technical experts. The management team was also wary of the financial implications of purchasing and maintaining an in-house technology solution to properly author and manage their product MSDSs.

"One of our biggest EH&S challenges is ensuring that we're on top of product development. Any time our technology leaders develop a new product, detailed information about the composition needs to be forwarded to the necessary personnel ahead of time in order to make sure that all of the appropriate hazards are represented. Given the company's intent to regularly develop new products based on customer needs, the task of authoring timely and accurate data sheets can be overwhelming. I want my team to focus on supporting our innovation and customer demands, and less on compliance oriented tasks like authoring data sheets. However, we recognize that MSDS authoring is critical to our compliance efforts and to our customer's compliance efforts," said Jim Fear, Manager, Corporate Toxicology & Occupational Health, Novelis Corporation.

With these challenges in mind, Novelis established an internal team to research third party vendors to assist in MSDS authoring and distribution. After reviewing solutions from several other vendors, Fear selected 3E Company's Ariel™ MSDS Authoring and Ariel MSDS Distribution services because of 3E's industry-leading reputation for top quality services and solutions. Fear also cited the convenience of working with a company with the depth and breadth of 3E's solution offering. 3E is a "one-stop shop" with the data, rules, templates, phrases, authoring expertise, emergency response – all available to the customer under one roof.

"3E has the best combination of resources," said Fear. "In comparison to their competitors, we felt they offered the best package."

Solutions

Novelis strategically relies on 3E's Ariel MSDS authoring service to produce MSDSs/SDSs for its worldwide product line. 3E's Ariel MSDS authoring service helps Novelis fulfill their regulatory obligations and provide the necessary information to both their employees and customers, in accordance with global regulatory requirements, such as the United Nations' Globally Harmonized Systems of Classification and Labeling for Chemicals (GHS), an international standard aimed at establishing a harmonized approach to the classification of chemicals based on their health, environmental and physical hazards.

Novelis has been extremely proactive in addressing GHS. The Company has been aggressively working with 3E Company during the last few years to modify its MSDSs and SDSs to reflect GHS' requirements.

"As a result of our aggressive efforts to understand and prepare for GHS," said Fear, "We are confident that we are well prepared to comply with this new standard when it takes effect.

"We have relied on 3E Company throughout this entire process," continued Fear, "to help us understand the GHS framework, along with how the requirements will convey, and what level of information we will need to have in our MSDSs/SDSs as a result." The 3E team ensures all MSDSs/SDSs are kept up-to-date with global regulatory changes by leveraging Ariel's unparalleled chemical regulatory data, which contains more than 700 complete regulatory lists covering thousands of data elements spanning more than 70 countries around the world.

3E is able to attract and retain a highly capable team of authors, who are 3E employees, not sub-contractors or consultants, and are accessible to customers throughout the MSDS authoring process. 3E is responsible for all of its content, the underlying technology and the people who deliver the ultimate product. This stands in stark contrast to other vendors who may buy the bulk of their content from a third party, and then simply repackage and resell it. Additionally, all MSDSs authored by 3E are the property of the customer. 3E will make these MSDSs available or keep them confidential, in conformance with the client's policy.

As with most manufacturers, Novelis sends its MSDSs to customers in accordance with regulatory requirements. This entails forwarding new or updated MSDSs when a product is first introduced and each time there is a revision. The Company also posts MSDSs on its Intranet for all employees to internally access and use for workplace safety hazard communication purposes. Novelis also posts its MSDSs on the Internet for its customers and any other stakeholders.

"3E's Ariel MSDS authoring has enabled us to outsource a critical component of our regulatory compliance strategy, which would have otherwise consumed many hours of several other EHS internal resources," said Fear. "We are more confident that the information on our datasheets is accurate and our risk is lowered. Additionally, outsourcing the distribution of MSDSs to 3E has resulted in greater cost efficiencies, improved compliance and reduced risk."

Results

Using 3E has greatly simplified MSDS authoring and management and allowed Novelis to focus on more strategic functions.

"We are very happy with both 3E's Ariel MSDS Authoring and Ariel MSDS Push Distribution services," said Fear. "Both services have a wide range of strong technical resources behind them and we're confident that we're providing our employees and customers with the most accurate MSDSs in a timely manner. Employee and customer feedback has been extremely positive."

Novelis has also appreciated the convenience and flexibility of working with a "one-stop shop." Since Ariel MSDS Authoring services are provided by its own team of EH&S experts, Novelis has been able to rely on 3E's unparalleled team of multi-lingual professionals to provide only the most up-to-date and accurate MSDSs available. Outsourcing this critical component of their EH&S program has enabled Novelis to improve liability/risk management, increase cost efficiency and control and increase productivity.

Location:  Atlanta, Georgia
3E Services: Ariel MSDS Authoring, Ariel MSDS Distribution
Industry/Market: Manufacturing and Recycling