Commitment to Sustainable Business Practices

Our vision is to enable technologies that transform our world. How we do that is important to us, and that is why Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an integral part of how we manage and operate the company.


MKS ESG Management System

Our MKS CSR Management System helps guide how we deliver on our objectives in an ethical and sustainable way,

Our MKS ESG Management System helps guide how we deliver on our objectives in an ethical and sustainable way, for our employees, customers, suppliers and shareholders. It outlines our ESG governance structure, how we manage our ESG program, our high-level focus areas, and our annual ESG strategy process.

Environmental issues relevant to MKS are managed by our cross-functional ESG Steering Committee that meets throughout the year. This Committee reviews progress on our global ESG initiatives, including environmental initiatives, and provides updates and recommendations to the executive leadership team and the Board of Directors' Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. MKS management holds the responsibility and leadership role in providing training, enforcement, and direct support for our internal MKS efforts to ensure that environmental concerns are identified, openly communicated, and addressed in a timely manner as part of our overall business strategy.

MKS ESG Management System

Environment, Health and Safety

Environmental health and safety considerations are fundamental to our business practices, and we are compliant with the applicable regulations wherever we operate.

MKS provides mandatory EHS training to all employees, so that we ensure employees are provided with the knowledge to perform their jobs safely.

Quality Policy

MKS develops differentiated innovative products, solutions, and services that consistently meet or exceed customer requirements.

MKS is committed to continuous improvement by fostering a world-class Quality culture that:

  • Solves problems with data-driven solutions
  • Drives accountability and ownership by all employees
  • Collaborates with our Colleagues, Supplier Partners and Customers

MKS Quality Policy

Product Environmental Compliance

MKS is committed to comply with all applicable product environmental laws and regulations as per the application of the following council directives:

Product Safety and Certifications

MKS products are designed, manufactured and tested for safety to conform with essential requirements of relevant directives and standards, customer requirements, product-specific regulations, and/or other applicable safety testing standards, such as:

  • Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive (EMCD) - 2014/30/EU
  • Low Voltage Directive (LVD) - 2014/35/EU
  • European Pressure Equipment Directive (PED) - 2014/68/EU
  • Machinery Directive - 2006/42/EC
  • UK Conformity Assessed (UKCA) Marking
    • MKS UKCA/CE Mark Position Statement
      MKS Instruments, Inc. and its subsidiary products have determined that products in compliance for CE marking are deemed compliant for the UKCA marking. Products will show the UKCA mark co-located with the CE mark to ensure ease of movement through out Europe.
  • Customer requirements and product-specific regulations (NRTL, ETL, UL, CSA, Semi)
  • And/or other applicable safety testing standards (OSHA/CDRH)

ISO Standards

  • The MKS Quality Management System is compliant with the ISO 9001-2015 Standard. This registration demonstrates our continued commitment to ensuring customer trust and to improving our product, service quality and quality management system.
  • MKS continuous improvement program aims to help drive quality management system maturity that results in high and consistent levels of business process performance and customer satisfaction. There are 26 MKS sites that are certified to ISO 9001-2015. Learn more about MKS Standards Compliance.
  • MKS is also committed to reducing our environmental impact and continually improving our environmental performance as part of our operating methods. There are five MKS sites that are certified to ISO 14001-2015. (Power Solutions Korea, Shenzhen China, Nogales Mexico, Wuxi China and Ophir Optics Israel)

RBA Code of Conduct

MKS has adopted the industry standard Responsible Business Alliance ("RBA") Code of Conduct as its Supplier Code of Conduct. The Supplier Code of Conduct provides standards and guidelines of conduct for all suppliers doing business with any MKS company worldwide. Our reputation is built on honesty, integrity, quality and trust. We therefore expect our supply chain partners to conduct themselves in the same manner, regardless of local business practices or social customs. The Supplier Code of Conduct sets out the minimum standard of business behavior expected so that suppliers act in ways that are ethical, corporately responsible and ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Materials Sourcing

MKS Instruments, Inc. relies on a broad, multi-tier supplier network to deliver material, components and sub-systems to our wide range of finished products. We work for full transparency with our direct suppliers to provide required declarations and disclosures relative to sourced materials. We also expect our suppliers to pass this requirement on to their suppliers as well. This is specifically emphasized for Conflict Materials as defined under Section 1502 of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Conflict Minerals Rule”). These materials are a subset of the larger group of Critical Materials defined by the National Research Council.

Several of the elements identified in the Critical Materials list are used in foundational electronic components, as well as in specialty metal formulations. Additionally, trace amounts of the rare earth elements are used in components that serve our Light & Motion product families. However, we do not currently see significant risk to our overall operations due to the use of these materials. For those materials that carry some risk, or risk that changes as a result of our ongoing monitoring or new product introductions, we apply necessary risk mitigation steps, including but not limited to – securing safety stock at multiple levels in the supply chain, securing second sources of impacted parts or materials, hedging for price protection, etc. We conduct annual sourcing reviews to regularly assess the overall health and resiliency of our global supply base.