Henkel's environment mgmt centre by Oct

The Centre for Excellence in Environment Management at Ghaziabad, being set up by Henkel India in collaboration with Institute of Management Technology (IMT) at an investment of Rs 50 lakh, is expected to be launched in October.

Henkel India signed a memorandum of understanding with IMT, one of the leading business schools, in last November to work together in the area of environment management.

IMT has been chosen for this initiative as it has a module on environment management in its curriculum.

Addressing mediapersons, A Satish Kumar, managing director, Henkel India, said that the centre would promote environmental awareness among the corporates and society.

The centre will contribute to the development of environmental sustainability and will include faculty of IMT, Henkel's technical support team and other environment activists. The centre will work on developing cutting-edge technologies and make the student managers in IMT aware of environment management issues.

An international symposium will be organised in October as the first step in this initiative. The launch of the centre is expected to be announced at the event.

Kumar said that SHEQ (safety, health, environment, and quality) audit, an internal audit by Henkel headquarters at Germany, was being implemented at all levels in the Henkel India's corporate office and research and development centre to assess quality standards. Henkel India's plants in Karaikal and Kolkata have already been certified to have the SHEQ compliance.

Martin Krepart, head - SHEQ, Asia Pacific, said that Henkel's internal SHEQ audit parameters were more stringent than those quality and management audits prevalent in the industry. Henkel has a code of corporate sustainability in the areas of safety, health and environment protection.

On Henkel India's performance, Kumar said that the company reported a growth of 20-25 per cent in the first four months. The company was working on consolidating its existing portfolio, he added.

Asked about setting up plants in states like Uttaranchal, which offers fiscal sops, Kumar said it would not be cost-effective for detergents manufacturing. However, it has tied-up with a third part unit for sourcing products.