Century Rayon takes vital STeP ahead

The fabric and yarn manufacturer Century Rayon, Shahad (a division of Century Textiles & Industries Limited, the flagship company of B. K. Birla Group of companies), has become the first textile company in India to be awarded with the STeP by OEKO-TEX« Certificate for Sustainable Textile Production.

The foundation of Century Rayon, Shahad (a division of Century Textiles & Industries Limited, the flagship company of B. K. Birla Group of companies) was laid by BK Birla in early fifties and over the years, the company has established itself as one of the largest viscose filament yarn manufacturers in the country producing top quality products. Long before, the term ´Responsible and Sustainable Manufacturing´ came on the screen of global business activities, the company maintained deep rooted philosophy of ´Care & Concern´ for the environment, resources and the society. Ever since its inception, the company adopted this philosophy and always believed that business activity must be carried out in ethical and socially responsible manner called ´The Birla Way´ which as per Century Rayon´s CEO OR Chitlange is an un-compromisable principal from which everyone at Century Rayon draws a great pride.

The testimony to this is the fact that in August 2014, the company was awarded with the STeP certificate (Sustainable Textile Production), a first company in India for complying sustainable textile production criteria´s. The certificate was awarded by Hohenstein textile Testing Institute Germany for Oeko Tex compliance on 20 August, 2014.

The STeP certificate is recognition of the company´s commitments to customer, employees and society. The company is proud of its excellence in sustainable and eco-friendly quality production.

Jacob Kutty, Managing Director of Hohenstein India Pvt Ltd, presented the STeP certificate to OR Chitlange and his team on behalf of the OEKO-TEX« Association. He said, ´With this certification, Century Rayon once again demonstrates its full commitment to the issues of environmental protection, sustainability and social responsibility. Furthermore, the company is also now in the position to communicate its achievements in these areas to the public in a credible and transparent manner.ö With this in mind, OR Chitlange is certain that the STeP certification represents a major added value to both the company and its customers: ´Nowadays, sustainability is the key to safeguarding a company´s position as a responsible operator on a global scale. For over two decades now, Century Rayon has remained committed to achieving proven quality and sustainability based on international standards – we feel we owe that to our customers and employees.´ Thus, the company has been certified in compliance with the Quality Management System ISO 9001-9008 since 1995 and the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System has been implemented in its operations since 2007. Also in 2007, the Standard OHSAS 18001 was introduced in the company as the basis for an efficient occupational health and safety management system. These existing company certificates were recognised in the process of the company´s STeP certification and were incorporated into the assessment of the individual modules.

The basis of the STeP certification is the successful completion of the STeP assessment including an evaluation through Hohenstein Institute, Germany. The procedure involved three days auditing of production facilities, corporate social responsibilities and demonstration of company for compliance with safety, health, environmental performance and management systems.

Century Rayon meets the requirements for the chemical management systems. The company has an environment policy, which serves as a basis for each task. All environmental relevant areas have been taken care in the frame work of management system. The company has been investing for continuously improving the environmental balance and for p