Continental Structural Plastics Recognizes Two Facilities for Excellence in Environmental, Health & Safety Practices

Auburn Hills, Michigan – April 1, 2019 — Continental Structural Plastics, a world leader in light weight composite technologies to the automotive industry, today announced the winners of its 2018 Environmental Health and Safety (EH&S) Awards program. For the second year in a row, the  company’s facility in Lenoir, North Carolina, was named Best EH&S Program; while the facility in Tijuana, Mexico, was named the Most Improved EH&S program.

CSP’s EH&S Awards Program is an elite, behavioral-based recognition program to acknowledge thriving CSP facilities for their commitment and contributions to employee safety, the environment, the community in which they reside and overall EH&S program excellence.  Led by the Corporate Director of Health and Safety, Dina Graham, the program recognizes and celebrates the outstanding contributions of employees to the achievement of the mission and vision of CSP. To be eligible for the awards, the nominees must demonstrate:

• Reduction in workplace hazards
• Increase in near miss reporting
• No significant injuries
• Exceptional Environmental and Safety Audits
• Implementation of job safety improvements
• No chemical spills or releases to the environment
• No enforcement actions during the year to the time of the award announcement

Congratulations to this year’s winners:

Lenoir, North Carolina – Best EH&S Program

This award recognizes the facility that has developed superb EH&S programs and processes:

• Regional Director:                   Mike Bishop
• Plant Manager:                        Tracy Gray
• EH&S Manager:                      Kelli Daniels

This is the third year in a row that Lenoir has been recognized for its EH&S programs.  The facility received the Best EH&S program for 2017, and in 2016 received CSP’s Most Improved EH&S Program Award. Over the course of the past year, the Lenoir team has continued to make improvements to its EH&S programs, including enhancing safety training programs, making facility improvements, creating work instruction videos, and implementing and enforcing near miss reporting. The facility has not had a lost time incident since September 2014.

“At CSP Lenoir, we pride ourselves in the manufacture of injection and compression molded composite components for automotive and non-automotive applications. Technology combined with team work, the skill sets of all associates and continuous improvement initiatives drive our business from all aspects,” said Plant Manager Tracy Gray.

“I believe that if you take care of your team, and they feel that you are dedicated and sincere in your actions, they will embrace change in a much more positive manner,” explained EH&S Manager Kelli Daniels. “As a manager I always remember that without our employees, I would not be here.  We really are like a family, and we’re putting safety first.”

Tijuana, Mexico – Most Improved EH&S Program Award

Earned by the facility that has shown major improvement in its EH&S program year-over-year:

• Regional Director:                     Rob Espich
• Plant Manager:                          Jorge Alvarez
• EH&S Manager:                        Victor Aguayo

Tijuana has implemented a number of programs to instill a culture of safety at the facility. Keys to their success include team-based training activities that continually reinforce the culture of safety.  Daily, weekly and monthly safety-focused efforts include:

• Daily staff meeting opened with safety related issues
• Every Monday review the safety open items
• Monthly safety talks to all employees
• Four hours of safety orientation training (2 sessions, 2 hours each)
• EHS Weekly work orders; each EHS team member can track their duties/activities per week
• Monthly safety review with all managers and supervisors
• Monthly safety review with all group leader

“We are striving to make safety a key part of our facility’s culture. It is something we evaluate and talk about every day. It’s not viewed as something we have to do, it is just the way we do business,” said Jorge Alvarez, Tijuana plant manager.  “By using activities like races and competitions, we make safety team-based and fun, yet are teaching employees how it applies to their daily activities in the plant.”

“Our goal at CSP is to have a 100 percent safe working environment.  These recognized facilities have made great strides toward this vision, and we truly appreciate their efforts,” said Steve Rooney, CEO of CSP.  “Both facilities have shown that leadership-driven, employee-embraced safety programs can lead to a safety-focused culture that results in fewer to zero accidents and incidents.”

Each of the winning facilities will celebrate with a formal, on-site awards luncheon with Rooney and Graham, and will receive an engraved award to showcase at their facility.

About Continental Structural Plastics

Continental Structural Plastics, a Teijin Group company, has provided leading-edge technologies in lightweight materials and composite solutions for the automotive, heavy truck, HVAC and construction industries for 50 years. Headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan, CSP provides full-service engineering support, and holds multiple patents covering materials development and manufacturing processes. The company has operations on three continents and more than 4,200 employees. For more information, visit cspplastics.com.

About the Teijin Group

Teijin (TSE: 3401) is a technology-driven global group offering advanced solutions in the areas of environmental value; safety, security and disaster mitigation; and demographic change and increased health consciousness. Its main fields of operation are high-performance fibers such as aramid, carbon fibers & composites, healthcare, films, resin & plastic processing, polyester fibers, products converting and IT. The group has over 170 companies and around 20,000 employees spread out over 20 countries worldwide. It posted consolidated sales of JPY888.6 billion (USD 8.1 billion) and total assets of JPY1020.7 billion (USD 9.3 billion) in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2019.  Please visit www.teijin.com.