Bacardi Limited Achieves “Triple Crown” of Certifications

HAMILTON, Bermuda--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bacardi Limited, the largest privately held spirits company in the world, has been certified to be operating in accordance with the world’s most recognized standards for quality, environment, and health and safety. Bacardi is the only major spirits company to achieve certification under ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 for all its production facilities globally, putting the company among an elite group of the world’s best-run companies.

“Questioning accepted ways of doing things and finding innovative solutions are consistent with Bacardi’s long-held value to strive for excellence in everything we do”

The “Triple Crown” of certification goes to the heart of Bacardi’s commitment to its consumers, employees and trade partners to deliver the finest quality brands available, the safest working conditions and reduce its impact on the environment.

“As the only major spirits company to be awarded these certifications globally, I believe this underlines our commitment to excellence in world-class operations. We are in constant pursuit of greater benefits for our consumers, customers, employees and the environment and work continuously to build trust in the Company,” said Séamus McBride, President and Chief Executive Officer of Bacardi Limited.

Bacardi began its quest to achieve “Triple Crown” certification just three years ago for its production facilities and embraced the concept of “continuous improvement” which lies at the heart of the ISO and OHSAS systems.

Each management and operational process is audited, cross-checked and certified annually by independent auditors accredited to certify to the ISO and OHSAS standards. In addition, Bacardi implemented cross-functional review teams to assess actions globally to maintain and improve upon the standards.

“Questioning accepted ways of doing things and finding innovative solutions are consistent with Bacardi’s long-held value to strive for excellence in everything we do,” said Jon Grey, Vice President of Global Operations for Bacardi. “With these certifications, consumers can be even more confident they are enjoying the highest quality spirits brands available from a Company which measurably shows it cares both about its employees and a cleaner environment.”

ISO and OHSAS Bacardi Limited Examples of Achievements

The processes in place under the ISO 9001 (quality), ISO 14001 (environmental) and OHSAS 18001 (health and safety) management systems have delivered, and continue to deliver, many product, consumer, employee and operational benefits and advancements including:

QUALITY BENEFITS:

Bacardi utilizes best practice in quality by routinely working with an independent third-party to measure the quality of its products in 24 cities in 12 different countries around the world — believed to be some of the most extensive quality studies in the industry. Audit results show continuous improvement in package quality, which is supported by ISO 9000, in Bacardi’s key markets over the last three years.
Bacardi’s commitment to perfection and quality has led to a significant decrease in routine customer queries. In the last three years, Bacardi has seen a 12% reduction in consumer inquiries relating to packaging quality and continues to see improvement in this area.
In its last audit, SGS, an independent auditing agency on the ISO 9000 Quality Management System, certified Bacardi’s system with zero non-conformances globally, an extremely rare occurrence.

ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS:

WATER REDUCTION

4% reduction in total water used to manufacture our products from the previous year.
19.3% reduction in total water used over the past three years – enough to fill 250 Olympic swimming pools.
2.8% improvement in water use efficiency (per unit of product) over the previous year, and improved by 9.5% over the past three years.
Clean-in-Place — The La Galarza facility in Mexico installed a Clean-in-Place (CIP) system on its fermentation tank, improving the water efficiency of tank wash-out. The site’s overall water use has improved by nearly 30% in three years. The facility in Arandas, Mexico, made similar improvements, installing high-pressure hydro-cleaners for tank cleaning to significantly reduce the water needed for this operation. The site’s distillery operations have cut water use by 50% in the last three years.

ENERGY IMPROVEMENTS

In fiscal 2009, Bacardi reduced its total energy used by 6.1% from the previous year; overall energy use has reduced by 9.2% over the past three years.
Energy efficiency (i.e., renewable energy investments) was 7.2% better in fiscal 2009 than in the previous year and has improved by 11.2% over the past three years.
12.6% of direct energy requirements were provided from renewable sources in fiscal 2009.
Puerto Rico generates biogas from its wastewater and generates enough steam and electricity to meet about half its energy needs while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

GREENHOUSE GAS REDUCTION

In fiscal 2009, we reduced our greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) by 9.2% over the previous year and have achieved a three-year reduction of 14.5%.
PET Bottles — In Canada, Bacardi has reduced the environmental footprint of BACARDI BREEZER. The entire brand portfolio has now been switched over to PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic bottles, reducing the weight of a filled case of BACARDI BREEZER by 33% to 9.9 Kg. Using lighter weight bottles cuts fuel use and, in a year, this initiative will save 1,232 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions generated in transporting the product from bottling plant to retailers – as well as saving Bacardi money on fuel costs. BACARDI BREEZER was one of the first in the low proof ready-to-drink category to switch packaging, and research also showed that consumers welcomed the convenience and functionality of the lightweight, shatter-resistant bottles.
Carbon footprint implications are reviewed as part of the standard packaging development process.

WASTE REDUCTION

92.5% of operational waste at the Pessione, Italy, facility is recycled, including solids such as paper, wood, glass, cartons, metal and plastic.

HEALTH & SAFETY BENEFITS:

SAFER WORKPLACES

Lost time accident rate has been reduced from 13.1 to 4.9 per million worked hours – a 63% decrease over the past three and half years.
Fire Risk and Emergency Planning — To ensure the risk from fires inherent with the manufacture and storage of alcohol is reduced to as low a level as is reasonably practicable, Bacardi has implemented a robust Code of Practice for Fire Safety and Emergency Planning. These procedures require sites to implement the highest standards of fire safety and are supported by a series of loss control audits conducted by an external specialist fire technician. In addition, many of our facilities have implemented significant capital improvements to their alcohol containment facilities, as well as upgrades to fire detection, prevention and control systems.

Bacardi is a member of the Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER), a beverage industry association of leading global beverage companies, to define a common framework for stewardship, drive continuous improvement in industry practices and performance, and inform public policy in the areas of Water Conservation and Resource Protection, Energy Efficiency and Climate Change Mitigation; United Nation Global Compact, an initiative to encourage businesses worldwide to adopt sustainable and socially responsible policies and to report on their implementation; and Better Sugarcane Initiative (BSI), whose mission is to ensure that current and new sugarcane is produced sustainably.

About Bacardi Limited

Bacardi Limited is the largest privately held spirits company in the world and produces and markets a variety of internationally recognized spirits. The Bacardi brand portfolio consists of more than 200 brands and labels, including: BACARDI® rum, the world’s favorite and best-selling premium rum, as well as the world’s most awarded premium rum; GREY GOOSE® vodka, the world-leader in super-premium vodka; DEWAR’S® Scotch whisky, the number-one selling blended Scotch whisky in the United States; BOMBAY SAPPHIRE® gin, the top-valued premium gin in the world; CAZADORES® blue agave tequila, the top-selling premium tequila worldwide; MARTINI® vermouth, the world-leader in vermouth; and other leading brands. For additional information, please visit www.bacardilimited.com.

To learn more about Bacardi Limited Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) best practices, please visit http://www.bacardilimited.com/resp_corp.html or read its Corporate Responsibility Report at http://www.bacardilimited.com/pdf/corp_resp_report.pdf.

About International Organization for Standardization (ISO)

International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is the world's largest developer and publisher of International Standards. ISO is a network of the national standards institutes of 162 countries, one member per country, with a Central Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland, that coordinates the system. ISO is a non-governmental organization that forms a bridge between the public and private sectors. On the one hand, many of its member institutes are part of the governmental structure of their countries, or are mandated by their government. On the other hand, other members have their roots uniquely in the private sector, having been set up by national partnerships of industry associations. Therefore, ISO enables a consensus to be reached on solutions that meet both the requirements of business and the broader needs of society. For additional information, please visit http://www.iso.org/.

About Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series (OHSAS)

OHSAS 18001 is an internationally recognized assessment specification for occupational health and safety management systems developed by the British Standards Institute (BSI). It was developed by a consortium of leading trade bodies, and international standards and certification bodies to address a gap where no third-party certifiable international standard exists. OHSAS 18001 has been designed to be compatible with ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 in order to help organizations meet their health and safety obligations in an efficient manner. BSI is the National Standards Body of the United Kingdom, with a globally recognized reputation for independence, integrity and innovation in the production of standards that promote best practice. It develops and sells standards and standardization solutions to meet the needs of business and society. For additional information, please visit http://www.bsigroup.com/en/About-BSI/.