IDS Imaging Development Systems GmbH has been awarded the prestigious ISO 14001 environmental management certification on March 1st, 2010. The certification is proof that the German machine vision specialist has implemented an efficient environmental management system and complies with all applicable requirements and regulations. The ISO 14001 international standard provides the most important accreditation of environmental management in the manufacturing industry. Certification is voluntary. Currently, only about 4,000 companies in Germany have achieved certification.
IDS is a leading manufacturer of high-quality cameras and frame grabbers for industrial and non-industrial machine vision applications. Founded as a two-man enterprise in 1997, the company today has more than 70 employees in the development, production, sales, marketing and support departments at the Obersulm headquarters. IDS is internationally represented by a subsidiary in the USA and through a network of distributors in almost all European and Asian countries.
The machine vision specialist has been ISO 9001 certified since 2005. Certification to the ISO 14001 environmental standard was thus the next logical step for IDS, which had introduced a resource-saving production and sustainable economic management system long before the eco audit. “Environmental protection has always been a very important issue for us. In concrete terms, this means that we aim at developing and manufacturing products with minimal impact on our environment and workplace throughout the product lifecycle,” explains Eric Zimmermann, Quality and Environment Manager at IDS.
The new production and office building, which was finished in 2008, is powered by geothermal and solar energy. The building is carbon neutral on the annual average. In the nine-month preparatory phase leading up to the eco audit, additional measures were implemented, including lead-free electronics production and reusable packaging. In addition, software is no longer provided on CD. The next improvements of the environmental management system have already been defined: Maximum reduction of paper consumption and further optimization of the building's energy balance.
IDS is a leading manufacturer of high-quality cameras and frame grabbers for industrial and non-industrial machine vision applications. Founded as a two-man enterprise in 1997, the company today has more than 70 employees in the development, production, sales, marketing and support departments at the Obersulm headquarters. IDS is internationally represented by a subsidiary in the USA and through a network of distributors in almost all European and Asian countries.
The machine vision specialist has been ISO 9001 certified since 2005. Certification to the ISO 14001 environmental standard was thus the next logical step for IDS, which had introduced a resource-saving production and sustainable economic management system long before the eco audit. “Environmental protection has always been a very important issue for us. In concrete terms, this means that we aim at developing and manufacturing products with minimal impact on our environment and workplace throughout the product lifecycle,” explains Eric Zimmermann, Quality and Environment Manager at IDS.
The new production and office building, which was finished in 2008, is powered by geothermal and solar energy. The building is carbon neutral on the annual average. In the nine-month preparatory phase leading up to the eco audit, additional measures were implemented, including lead-free electronics production and reusable packaging. In addition, software is no longer provided on CD. The next improvements of the environmental management system have already been defined: Maximum reduction of paper consumption and further optimization of the building's energy balance.
