December 2006: triple ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and OHSAS 18001 certification for Armor Industrial Coding & Printing

ISO Quality, Safety and Environment certification was awarded by AFAQ in December 2006, rewarding the company's efforts just a few months after the creation of the Industrial and Expertise Centre at La Chevrolière. Armor thus became one of just five chemical sector companies in France to have earned this triple certification.

June 2008: Armor, the first company to be awarded the AFAQ 1000NR with an 'exemplarity' mention

AFAQ 1000NR - an assessment of the degree to which your organization has integrated the tenets of sustainable development – has awarded Armor the 'exemplary' mention (for its La Chevrolière site), with a score of 785 points out of 1,000. Armor is the first, of the twenty or so companies evaluated since 2006, to attain this level. Exemplarity is the highest possible award, coming ahead of commitment, progress and maturity.

The assessors - experts in the field of sustainable development – were unanimous in saluting the excellence of the La Chevrolière site and the innovative, high-performance Décaplan approach.

In December 2008: 1st Regional Management Prize

Armor put forth its candidature to be evaluated on the basis of the EFQM Excellence Model (European Foundation for Quality Management), which takes into account both the company's practice and the results achieved. The assessors hailed "the maturity of the Armor company" and its determination to develop "the culture of excellence".

The Regional Management Prize is organised by the French Quality Management Movement (MFQM ), a regional association whose mission is to promote and develop best practice in management.

Armor Office Printing: extension of the NF environment standard

Since August 2008, Armor has adopted an NF environment certification approach for its laser cartridges. Today, Armor has more than 48 references bearing the stamp of official approval, and is involved in a continuous process of obtaining this label for its flagship cartridges.

Created in 1991 by AFNOR Certification, this official French label distinguishes products which guarantee a quality similar to that of original cartridges, and which limit their environmental impact throughout their lifecycle.

Armor Office Printing: Nordic Ecolabelling

This Scandinavian environmental label was created in 1989, and its objective is to certify products which make an effective contribution to the reduction of waste whilst producing a standardized quality product. Today, Armor has more than 61 laser references certified with this standard of excellence, recognised throughout Europe.

The projects

Armor aims to be awarded EN 16001 certification. This is a European standard on energy management systems (future ISO 50001, to be published in 2011) and on energy efficiency, published in July 2009. This standard is based on an energy diagnosis, and presents an 'accountability' approach to energy. Few companies in France are currently certified, and Armor could be one of the first to do so.