ARNHEM, the Netherlands — October 17, 2016 — Teijin has been honored with the EcoBalance Award for Best Business Practices at the 12th Biennial International Conference on EcoBalance in Kyoto for its Customer Benefit Model. This model makes it possible to show the intrinsic sustainable character of aramid in its function, providing a clear picture of the potential benefits across the entire value chain.

The EcoBalance Award for Best Business Practices honors the most outstanding practices in terms of scientific value and significance, as well as the practical significance of studies in business. The jury of the EcoBalance conference recognized the practical significance of Teijin Aramid’s Customer Benefit Model in business and as decision support. “The Customer Benefit Model of Teijin Aramid really supports sustainable decision making and communication in a reliable way and justifies sustainable business cases,” says Martin Baitz, member of the jury at the 12th Biennial International Conference on EcoBalance in Kyoto and Director of Thinkstep. “Teijin defined a function-related Customer Benefit Model over the life cycle and commissioned established verifiers to enable double checking. This enables them to identify hotspots, allowing suppliers and customers to focus on the relevant aspects without running the risk of greenwashing or ignoring aspects.”
With the tire case as an example of the Customer Benefit Model, Teijin presented the possibility to create a win-win situation for both tire manufacturers and customers/end users when reinforcement of the carcass of a tire is performed with an aramid/PET hybrid. Heidi Beers, eco efficiency specialist from Teijin Aramid: “Comparison of the function over the total value chain leads to fair comparisons. If you only compare the impact (eco profile) per kg of reinforcement material, you can draw the wrong conclusions. Functional thinking takes the whole life cycle into account. This approach is embedded in our TUV-certified Customer Benefit Model.” A reinforcement of the tire carcass with an aramid/PET hybrid is 33% better for the environment and is significantly cheaper than a carcass with rayon.

Teijin Aramid uses eco efficiency models to quantify the environmental value of applying aramid in applications. These models are translated into the ‘Customer Benefit Model’, which has been co-developed with Ecomatters, making it possible to calculate Twaron’s real contribution in a specific solution. The Customer Benefit Model provides a clear picture of the potential benefits – both financial and ecological – across the entire value chain.

Eco Efficiency at Teijin Aramid started in 2008 by building a network of sustainability frontrunners from universities and the industry. This soon led to several pilots together with BASF and Utrecht University.  The development started by using the financial and ecological added value of eco efficiency to support business cases at Teijin Aramid. This gradually led to the development of the Teijin-specific Customer Benefit Model, which is used within the Teijin Group to showcase the intrinsic sustainable character of, among other things, aramid-reinforced conveyor belts, reinforced thermoplastic pipes and carbon-fiber-reinforced concrete.

Posted October 18, 2016

Source: Teijin Aramid

BERGAMO, Italy — October 18, 2016 — The Group has published its Sustainability Report 2015: investments of over EUR 30 million to support Group company competitiveness. Commitment to improving production plant efficiency and environmental performance. Continuous communication with stakeholders. More hours of training and education for employees. Effort and action towards a sustainable supply chain. Parent company Radici Partecipazioni achieves ISO 9001:2015 certification.

A content rich Report that gives a faithful picture of RadiciGroup’s industrial activities by providing data, figures and results on economic, social and environmental sustainability. The 2015 Sustainability Report of Radici Partecipazioni SpA and associated companies was officially presented this past 10 October at the parent company’s Bergamo headquarters in the presence of some of the company’s main stakeholder groups.

The Report was draw up in accordance with the “Global Reporting Initiative – Version 4 Core Level”. External assurance was provided by the certification body Certiquality.

The reporting perimeter of this 2015 Report includes data from 21 companies. Seventy people were engaged in the preparation of the Report and 27 performance indicators (quantitative and qualitative) have been included.

In 2004, the Group published its first sustainability Report. In the years since then, many of the commitments taken on by RadiciGroup have been put into practice: in 2015, the Group generated sales revenues in excess of EUR 1 billion and net total value added (the amount redistributed to all the stakeholders) of over EUR 183 million.

“In these twelve years,” said Angelo Radici, president of RadiciGroup, “our Group has noticeably changed its strategic vision, progressively putting sustainability at the centre of its activities. Greater attention has been paid to both internal and external stakeholders, the environmental impact of products and processes has been reduced, industrial plants have become more advanced, and there is a more open attitude towards innovation and a strong commitment to employee training and
education. These have been our main success stories and they remain our ongoing challenges.”

As better explained in the Report, RadiciGroup has noticeably reduced the environmental impact of its activities: in the three-year period 2013-2015, the consumption of primary energy from fossil sources was reduced by 14.3%, while the use of renewable source energy increased by 4.2%. Seven Group companies (situated in Italy, Brazil and Germany) use 100% renewable source energy.

On the environmental performance front, during the same 2013-2015 period, the Group reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 21.6% and pollutant emissions by 60.5%, thus continuing its journey on the virtuous path of mitigating the environmental impact of its corporate activities – a journey the parent company and its subsidiaries started many years ago. Only in 2015, investments to support the competitiveness of RadiciGroup companies were EUR 30 million, of which EUR 2.5 million on environmental issues alone, specifically for the introduction of Best Available Techniques, energy efficiency improvement, emission reduction, research and development, and product and process improvement.

“The results achieved are certainly good reasons for satisfaction,” Angelo Radici continued. ”It is, however, opportune to look beyond our initial objectives and raise the bar to constantly keep up with a rapidly evolving world.”

Other key elements dealt with in depth in the Report are employee training (+15.8 %), which always constitutes a strategic asset for the development of human resources, and the constant commitment to realizing products with limited environmental impact, developed in accordance with the European Product Environmental Footprint guidelines, as well as the principles of eco-design and the circular economy.

Also important is the effort the Group is spending for the development of a sustainable supply chain, both upstream and downstream, which can be achieved by keeping two words in mind: knowledge and collaboration. Knowledge of its own business activities, its suppliers and customers, and constant communication and collaboration with both of these two stakeholder categories. Implementation of corporate procedures, monitoring of supplier selection criteria taking into consideration sustainability aspects, and signing of a Code of Conduct by suppliers and customers: these are the elements that have helped to give a clearer direction to RadiciGroup’s path towards a sustainable supply chain.

Finally, it is worth stressing that Radici Partecipazioni SpA, the Group parent company, obtained ISO 9001:2015 certification. It is the first of the Group companies to be certified in accordance with the new edition of the ISO standard, which includes key changes relating to the definition of the organization context and emphasis on risk-based management.

Posted October 18, 2016

Source: RadiciGroup