Month: July 2024

Originally published on HARMAN Newsroom

At HARMAN, our unwavering commitment to quality and delivery ensures we consistently meet the high expectations of our customers, partners, and employees. This dedication has been recognized through numerous awards from our Automotive customers, showcasing our excellence in both quality and delivery. These accolades not only honor our achievements but also inspire us to continually strive for innovation and improvement in everything we do. Let’s take a closer look at the prestigious quality and delivery awards we’ve earned in the last year:

Geely Motors Best Delivery Performance Supplier Award: Out of more than 2,600 suppliers, HARMAN was selected as one of the ten outstanding suppliers of the year by Geely Motors, an achievement earned through the unremitting efforts and outstanding delivery performance of the Lynk & Co 08 vehicle in 2023 by our manufacturing team in Suzhou, China.

Geely Motors Supplier Excellence Award: Selected out of 100 suppliers, leading automotive manufacturer Geely Motors awarded our manufacturing team in Suzhou, China as an “Excellence Supplier” based on the launch and on-time delivery performance of Volvo’s EX30 vehicle.

Geely Quality Excellence Award: Geely Motors also awarded our manufacturing team in Dandong, China its Quality Excellence Award for outstanding zero-kilometer and after-sales quality performance.

GM Infotainment Supplier of the Year: General Motors (GM) recognized HARMAN as a 2023 Supplier of the Year for a third time, thanks to our cross-functional teams. Evaluation criteria included performance, innovation, cultural alignment with GM’s values, and commitment to achieving GM’s ambitious goals.

GM Supplier Quality Excellence Award: GM recently awarded HARMAN with two Supplier Quality Excellence Awards in Suzhou and Queretaro. This award recognizes GM’s top performing supplier manufacturing locations that have met or exceeded stringent quality performance criteria for the 2023 calendar year.

Golden Peacock Business Excellence Award: Our manufacturing team in Pune, India was honored with the Golden Peacock Business Excellence Award, which recognizes the best management practices that drive organizational improvement.

Great Wall Motors Best Partner Award: HARMAN was selected out of more than 1,500 suppliers for Great Wall Motors’ “Best Partner” award based on quality, delivery performance and professional problem-solving capabilities in Suzhou, China.

Harley Davidson Quality Award: Harley Davidson awarded HARMAN with this exclusive recognition for maintaining a flawless quality record throughout 2023 in Queretaro, Mexico.

Kia 5-Star Quality Award: Kia’s 5-Star System quantitatively evaluates suppliers’ level of quality, technology, and delivery level and HARMAN was awarded for outstanding quality in Queretaro, Mexico.

Maruti Suzuki Limited Performance Award: In Pune, India, HARMAN received this honor for the third consecutive year, a tremendous milestone which speaks volumes of our enduring partnership and mutual trust with our customer of more than five years.

Volvo Cars Quality Best Performance Award: HARMAN was honored with Volvo Cars’ prestigious award for its outstanding support and commitment to delivering exceptional quality and services in Dandong, China.

These accolades reflect our relentless pursuit of excellence, the hard work of our team, and the trust our stakeholders place in us. We proudly highlight these awards and recognitions, which inspire us to aim for even greater achievements. Congratulations to our global HARMAN team for their impressive contributions—we look forward to continuing this journey of excellence together!

The data center sector is witnessing unprecedented growth. Valued at $301.8 billion in 2023, the data center market is expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 10.1% until 2030, reaching a staggering $622.4 billion by then. Additionally, the global colocation market, where companies rent space and resources in data centers, is projected to reach a value of $131.8 billion by 2030, a significant increase from $57.2 billion in 2022. This surge is driven by the rising demand for data processing and storage, leading to the rapid expansion of both existing and new data center providers.

With a multitude of new companies entering the field each year, the landscape is rapidly changing, and the need for standardized safety practices has become increasingly apparent.

Data centers present a diverse array of hazards. From high voltage electrical risks and fall hazards to hazardous materials and heat stress, workers face numerous dangers in both the infrastructure (building shell, power, cooling systems) and data halls (racks housing data equipment).

Further complicating the situation, modern data centers often involve employees from multiple companies working within the same facility. Employees performing operations and maintenance activities may work under the direction of various stakeholders, leading to increased complexity of activities within the data center. Ensuring consistent safety training and protocols across different companies is a significant challenge, compounded by the 24/7 operational demands of these facilities.

Formation of the Data Center Safety Council

Recognizing the urgent need for a standardized safety approach, a group of companies came together in December 2023 to form the Data Center Safety Council, an initiative dedicated to developing and implementing collaborative safety solutions. Composed of both data center operators and cloud technology service providers, the council’s mission is to enhance safety protocols, improve knowledge sharing, and provide robust training resources, ultimately fostering a safer and more efficient industry.

“Our data center engineering teams operate in different facilities all over the world, each with a unique set of processes, requirements and safety considerations. I’m excited for the consistency and efficiency the Data Center Safety Council brings to the industry,” shares Scott Bystrek, Director of Health and Safety at Salesforce, one of the founding members of the Data Center Safety Council. “The expertise, reach, and collaboration of this group are critical in driving the industry to a consistent approach to safety which will enhance our ability to protect our employees and critical infrastructure.”

Read more about “Why” this consortium was formed in this article.

Collective Action that Focuses on Impact

Designed to be an action-oriented group, the members participated in a day-long workshop in December 2023 to identify critical safety gaps that were observed across the data center industry and prioritize actions for greatest impact.

The first initiative focuses on the following identified “Problem”:

Data centers are multi-employer worksites comprised of a workforce made up of people with varying levels of data center health and safety awareness, knowledge, and training.

Currently, there is no standardized process to verify minimum training expectations for employees working in a data center. One founding member and leading global data center operator described a scenario where a technician could visit up to four data center facilities in one day. In one data center facility, the company requires all service providers to demonstrate they have received adequate training (e.g. OSHA 10 certification or equivalent). This first data center company also provides a site-specific safety awareness training prior to permitting the technician on-site. That same technician later visits a second data center company that does not provide, nor require, any safety training for technicians that routinely service their site. The wide range of training requirements with little transparency amongst companies, coupled with a growing industry that includes a steady stream of new data center companies and workplaces, has resulted in a situation that poses a significant risk to data center workers and companies.

These gaps also lead to significant operational inefficiencies because data center tenants must anticipate and prepare their workers for a variety of safety requirements when entering data centers managed by different providers. For example, if a data center worker arrives at a planned time and then finds out that they do not have the specific safety equipment or training required by the provider, they may not be able to enter the facility, leading to rescheduling and frustration for both the tenant and the provider.

Having identified the above “Problem,” the Data Center Safety Council is exploring options to address this gap, including developing a Data Center Worker Health and Safety Awareness Certification that would ensure an industry baseline level of health and safety competency for workers prior to being permitted to work in an operational data center environment. The group is identifying and prioritizing what requirements should be included in this certification, as well as evaluating existing standards and criteria that could be leveraged. Work is expected to be completed later this year and will be shared with data center industry health and safety professionals.

Raising the Bar for Safety

In the fast-evolving data center industry, prioritizing safety is essential. The rapid growth and unique hazards inherent in data center operations necessitate a collaborative approach to standardize best practices and protect workers across multi-employer sites.

By proactively addressing health and safety concerns, the industry can better manage operational complexities and ensure the well-being of its workforce. The establishment of minimum baseline expectations for health and safety competency will prioritize worker safety and facilitate more efficient data center operations. Through the Data Center Safety Council, the industry is taking a collective step towards standardizing safety expectations, improving the work environment for data center professionals, and encouraging a robust culture of safety.

The commitment to collaboration and proactive safety measures through worker certifications will not only safeguard workers but also contribute to the sustained success and growth of the data center industry.

About the Data Center Safety Council

Established by founding members Edgecore, Salesforce, STACK Infrastructure, Vantage, and Yondr, the Data Center Safety Council was created to establish a unified approach towards ensuring safety and wellbeing of personnel in data center operations. The vision is to create a forum where health and safety professionals work collaboratively as an industry group to improve data center worker safety wholistically. Together, member companies will address common issues and seek long-term solutions with vendors and suppliers for the benefit and safety of data center workers. For more information, please contact Kate Asleson at kate.asleson@anteagroup.us

BEDFORD COUNTY, Va., July 16, 2024 /3BL/ – Georgia-Pacific’s Big Island containerboard facility in Virginia earned its first EPA ENERGY STAR® Certification for energy efficiency this year. The facility joins two other Georgia-Pacific facilities – Brewton containerboard in Brewton, Alabama, and Leaf River Cellulose in New Augusta, Mississippi in earning this prestigious recognition for environmental stewardship.

Select manufacturing plants located in the U.S. and its territories and Canada can earn ENERGY STAR® certification by achieving an ENERGY STAR® score of 75 or higher using an industry-specific ENERGY STAR® Energy Performance Indicator (EPI) benchmarking tool. The EPIs measure a plant’s energy performance and compare it to that of similar plants nationwide, generating an ENERGY STAR® score on an EPA scale of 1 to 100. The program, launched in 1992, encourages organizations to improve energy efficiency, which not only helps the bottom line, but also the environment.

The Big Island mill scored higher than 80 on the EPA scale, placing itself in the top percentile. The team at the facility have instituted a disciplined approach to energy management. This approach includes continuous monitoring of the operation to evaluate energy efficiency, reducing its energy use by 10% over five years, and eliminating waste.

“We’re very proud of the team in earning the EPA’s ENERGY STAR® certification,” said Eldon Brammer, vice president and general manager at the Big Island mill. “We recognize the importance of starting with renewable materials, utilizing recycled materials, minimizing waste in our operations, and improving our efficiency and environmental performance. We’re glad to see the EPA recognize these efforts.”

Georgia-Pacific’s Environmental Stewardship framework focuses on improving efficiencies, eliminating waste, and driving conservation activities that leave more resources available to satisfy other needs in society. The Big Island team used this framework in establishing its environmental stewardship initiatives, and relied on its employees, who used their comparative advantage to create and maintain disciplined processes at the facility.

In 2023, the Big Island facility also earned its Wildlife Habitat Conservation Certification® from The Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) for two additional years. Certified by WHC since 2011, the facility has facilitated research efforts on the American chestnut tree and maintained pollinator gardens and a food plot for white tailed deer. Its conservation efforts have increased growth in the number of white tailed deer, bear, wild turkey, and bobcats because of the plentiful nutrients available.

Learn more about Georgia-Pacific’s approach to environmental stewardship. Visit energystar.gov to learn more about energy efficiency and ENERGY STAR®.

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