Akrochem Corporation

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Akrochem Corporation Selects 3E Generate Authoring Software to Replace Commercial SDS System and Enable Rapid Development of Accurate and Compliant Hazard Communication Documentation

Background

As a leading provider of compounding materials and color concentrates, Akrochem Corporation is steadfastly committed to improving customer productivity. This includes safety and environmental regulatory compliance. The common thread between these three goals is safety data sheets (SDSs). Effective, compliant and up-to-date SDSs are not only a global requirement, but serve as the critical centerpiece for enabling effective product stewardship practices throughout a product's lifecycle. In today's environment, merely producing an SDS is not enough. Quality, accuracy, and currency are critical components to fulfilling the original intentions for requiring documentation in the first place.

Challenges

Akrochem has always been committed to producing reliable and accurate hazard communication documentation, including SDSs, often relying on third party solutions to help develop these documents. Several years ago, Akrochem was working with another provider of SDS authoring software and services, but found the automated system was unable to generate consistent and accurate information for product SDSs and labels.

“Our old system was very slow and cumbersome. SDS development was managed on a one to one basis. Hazardous information was not based upon information at a database level, but at the higher product level,” said Scott Fleming, regulatory manager at Akrochem. “SDSs were generated in an unfriendly, ‘word-processing’ style and regulatory data was manually researched and stored for future use.”

Solutions

Frustrated by the platform’s inability to meet Akrochem’s needs, the regulatory team began searching for an alternative and quickly learned of 3E’s 3E Generate SDS authoring platform. They were drawn to 3E Generate’s ability to generate accurate and compliant SDSs and labels in a timely and efficient manner, especially since the team was tasked with re-authoring more than 4,000 SDSs and labels for existing products.

“We left our first demonstration being extremely impressed with 3E Generate. It is simply more powerful than our previous software, and it has the added benefit of being scalable,” said Mr. Fleming. “It was very important to us to choose a system that isn’t time intensive and cumbersome to manage. 3E Generate fulfilled all of these requirements in one robust package.”

Benefits

The Akrochem team now uses 3E Generate to develop and update all of its hazard communication documents, including shipping labels.

“In addition to using 3E Generate to author our SDSs, we also rely on it to develop and print our dangerous goods UN number and proper shipping name labels. Doing this has eliminated errors when shipping hazardous materials,” said Mr. Fleming. “3E Generate’s integration with the 3E Ariel Global Regulatory database allows us to have accurate regulatory data automatically added to our safety documents, which dramatically reduces the amount of time required to develop or update documents.”

Since deploying 3E Generate, the regulatory team has successfully transitioned more than 4,000 existing product SDSs and labels from its old system into the 3E Generate platform, all while simultaneously creating and generating more than 1,000 new product SDSs and labels. 

“We have transitioned 95% of our products from our old system to 3E Generate – with great success,” said Mr. Fleming. “We now have consistent information on labels and SDSs. In one division, we generate between 10 and 30 samples or products on a weekly basis, all of which require accurate hazard communication documentation – we simply could not keep up with demand without a reliable platform. Using 3E Generate enables us to generate SDS and labels in an extremely timely manner. We have the ability to generate an SDS and label on a rush order within an hour.”

Mr. Fleming especially appreciates that he can supplement the standard Rules within 3E Generate. “3E Generate is very accommodating to Akrochem’s custom rules. Customizing the logic of the platform has eliminated the need for me to review every single document. I have confidence in 3E Generate documents as the rules are so robust and comprehensive,” said Mr. Fleming.

3E Generate has also been a critical component of Akrochem’s strategy for conforming to OSHA’s Hazard Communication Standard 2012. “Almost all of our documents need to be re-authored to conform to OSHA GHS,” said Mr. Fleming. “Thankfully, 3E Generate features strong support for not only OSHA’s GHS adaptation but many other national implementations as well.” 

3E Generate has many algorithms to accommodate the requirements outlined in the GHS. This consists of the classification of substances and mixtures according to their health, environmental and physical hazards, and HazCom requirements for labeling and SDSs.

Mr. Fleming also appreciates the strong level of support he receives from the 3E Generate team. “The support at 3E is top notch – I know if I have a question, I can just pick up the phone and call anyone on the 3E Generate team, and I’ll have an answer very quickly,” said Mr. Fleming. “The user conferences have also been very helpful – hearing how other users are leveraging the system is extremely beneficial. The user conferences also afford us the opportunity to influence future versions of 3E Generate.”

Location:  Headquartered in Akron, OH
3E Services: 3E Generate
Industry/Market: Chemical
Company Web Site:   http://www.akrochem.com








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