For the second year in a row, Whirlpool Corporation’s Integrated Supply Chain (ISC) is honored with a SmartWay Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The award recognizes industry leaders in supply chain environmental performance and energy efficiency. Each year, the SmartWay Excellence awards program recognizes just one percent of the top 3,000 supply-chain partners of the EPA. This year, the Whirlpool Corporation ISC is one of the 9 companies to receive this distinction. Whirlpool Corporation was recognized in the large shipper category, which represents companies that move goods more than 500 million miles annually. As communicated by Whirlpool in a official note, the selection process for the award considers factors such as environmental leadership through effective collaboration, advanced technology and operational practices, robust SmartWay data validation and reporting, communication and public outreach and implementation of sustainability practices in local communities. “It’s an honor to receive this prestigious award from the EPA and a tremendous accomplishment to win it in back-to-back years – said Alison Jones, Senior Director of North American Logistics at Whirlpool Corporation -. We’re proud of our commitment to the environment, which is driven by our conscious decision to ship our products with environmental efficiency”. Launched in 2004, SmartWay is an EPA program that aims to accelerate advanced fuel efficient technologies and operational practices in transportation, while helping partners save fuel, lower costs and reduce negative environmental impacts. Whirlpool Corporation requires contracted carriers to be SmartWay certified. Currently, 99.79 percent of North American shipments are moved with SmartWay carriers. In 2015, Whirlpool Corporation reduced fuel consumption by more than 250,000 gallons by increasing rail transportation. This reduced more than 2,700 metric tons of CO2 emissions for the year.
