In late 2014, Brother International began their search for an EHS management software platform. They recognized the need to move from spreadsheets and home-grown systems and sought out a web-based tool that required little or no IT support. While compliance was their key driver, they also wanted a system that could manage their ISO 14001 activities and track sustainability initiatives at 12 sites throughout the Americas.
Vickie Berry joined Brother International Corporation in 1999. Her career began in human resources and she moved into EH&S compliance in 2014. As Senior Specialist, EHS she is responsible for the Brother America’s Environmental Management System (EMS) which includes 11 sites in North, Central, and South America. Additionally, she is responsible for Health & Safety program at the company’s Bartlett, Tennessee facility.
Vickie worked with Dakota Software’s Compliance Services team to centralize their global compliance and environmental management programs using the ProActivity suite. They used Profiler’s applicability analysis tools to build site-specific compliance profiles and then created tasks for all their locations. Vickie stated that in-product alerts as applicable regulations change and the human-translated regulatory database provides them with confidence that their regulatory compliance is always up to date and that site leaders have improved visibility using the calendar and task reminders.
Using the ISO 14001 module, they established a consistent framework for their management system plans and activities. They also implemented Dakota Scout to track incidents, non-conformities, and analyze root causes. The final step was consolidating Brother’s Waste, Energy and GHG data which established Dakota as the central location for their key EHS management data.