CSR strategies

In recent years, automotive suppliers have been adopting a product life cycle approach, paying attention to CSR issues at all stages of their supply chain.

From an environmental point of view, the key issue is the reduction of the carbon footprint and the relatively long service life of the industry's products. The very use of a car has the greatest impact on the environment. This clearly shows that improvements are worth making, especially during the design phase (e.g. using light materials, improving fuel efficiency, inventing new energy sources).

One of the effective CSR initiatives is, for example, the implementation of management in line with the idea of a green supply chain (GSCM), which refers to the integration of environmental aspects into the entire value chain.

Therefore, being aware of the potential of sustainable business (e.g. the possibility of increasing economic, social and environmental results) many companies from the automotive sector try to implement CSR programs to integrate environmental and social aspects not only into their supply chain but also into the business strategy and directly into the organizational culture of the company.

See how we do it at Knauf Group!

The Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy is a comprehensive plan that modern companies use to design, implement and analyze their corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Knauf Industries designs and manufactures packaging solutions and technical parts based on polymers, creating value for our industrial customers, our employees, and our stakeholders generally.

For an industrial company operating in several countries, taking a CSR initiative is no longer an option - in strategic planning and successful business performance, it is necessary to reconcile short-term and long-term perspectives.

Being aware of all the changes in the world that can affect our activities opens up our horizons, promotes discussion, and improves our company values and practices. We want to remain flexible and we work with our stakeholders so that our plastics expertise can develop, to better adapt to their expectations and those of the market.

As Kurt Münder, CEO of Knauf Industries said:
“We express our social responsibility in our company strategy, culture, everyday operations, and in our area of influence”.

After undertaking a CSR diagnosis, we applied the principles of the United Nations Global Compact to carry our initiative through into the long term.

In 2020, despite the context of the Covid-19 pandemic which was a big challenge of corporate social responsibility for lots of industries, we did not review our CSR plans and budgets. We continued to structure our CSR approach, define our priority issues, and involve our teams and stakeholders. But this is still just the beginning of our CSR efforts. We want to anchor this strategy to give life to new ideas, to innovate, and to continue to create shared value together in our territories.

The corporate social responsibility issues and challenges that we took into account were:

• Integrating CSR strategy into our activities and businesses
• Guaranteeing health, safety and well-being at work
• Recovering materials at the end of their life
• Protecting the health and safety of consumers and local communities
• Reducing our consumption and emissions

Let’s read how our responsibility applies to our teams, our markets, our territories, and our environment, all at the same time.

• Creating social initiatives like Internal Visibility Program which included:
  • Training around 30 volunteers from different departments who were taught about CSR and participated in creating a roadmap of the company's purposes and CSR programs to plan actions according to their skills and motivation.
  • “Mission CSR” newsletters which are published regularly, in English and French, to publicize the responsible actions in progress and to encourage all the teams to become involved.
• Signing the United Nations Global Compact
  Since 2019, Knauf Industries has been committed, via the United Nations Global Compact, to the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals to transform the world, collected in the 2030 Agenda.
• Performing a CSR diagnosis
  Guided by an external expert, we performed the CSR diagnosis of Knauf Industries based on the main benchmarks in force. The recommendations were used as the basis for drawing up a CSR roadmap for key performance indicators of our CSR programs in 2021-2025.

“We will continue our efforts so that every Knauf Industries employee everywhere takes this CSR approach on board and brings it to life every day through concrete actions.”
Gilles Istin, Sales, Marketing and innovation director, Knauf Industries

In partnership with our customers and suppliers, Knauf Industries developed NEOPS®, a foam material obtained from biomass (green waste), which is REDcert²-certified. NEOPS® is available in various grades (thermal performance, fire resistance, shock absorption characteristics, and food contact). At end of life, NEOPS® products will be sorted and recycled via the existing EPS processes.

• Materials: PE, PP, PS, EPS, EPP, PET
• Alternative materials obtained from recycling or biomass: NEOPS®, CELOOPS®, R’KAP®
• Technologies: foam moulding, cutting, injection moulding, extrusion, and thermoforming.

The central buyers, located in France, Poland, and Brazil, are aware of competition law, and two of them are “Mission CSR” ambassadors. In each country, the sites are responsible for groups of additional purchases, in compliance with the principles of business ethics. To be clear with our suppliers, to make them aware of our expectations and to build mutual trust, we have implemented a “Responsible Purchasing Charter” covering environmental, social, and ethical issues.

Our suppliers are also obliged to observe a Code of Conduct. We carry out regular qualification audits, we respect payment deadlines, and we favor suppliers located in Europe for our European sites, for example.

What is more, early in 2020, Knauf Industries launched a consultation with its internal and external stakeholders. To enrich its thought process and offer stakeholders the opportunity to make their expectations, inspirations, and proposals for the future, a questionnaire was posted online, and interviews were conducted. These allowed everyone to get to know each other better and build trust, share expertise, consider synergies, identify weak signals, define the most relevant CSR issues, and build a solid action plan. The external stakeholders and employee feedback, which is very important for every CSR project, enable us to implement better sustainability initiatives and make additional value for our clients.

It starts with attentive listening, understanding expressed and potential needs, taking regulatory and legal requirements into account. Very soon, all the departments in the company become involved, to provide the relevant information throughout the customer’s journey. Because Knauf Industries is the specialist partner for custom products and solutions, co-development is often key in this collaboration.

One of the major social challenges at Knauf Industries, as a socially responsible company, is to protect the health and safety of consumers. We work to protect the health and safety of the final consumers and users of our products. We eco-design our products, working closely with our customers, and give clear user instructions to guarantee the end-users that we have taken every possible precaution to protect their health and safety.

The Knauf Industries health and safety policy concerns all company activities and all persons present on all sites. All QHSE (Quality, Health, Safety and Environment) managers refer to it. The unique risk evaluation document (URED) is drawn up in consultation with the teams; it incorporates a risk evaluation and a procedure for the prevention of psycho-social risks.

Below, we describe some of the CSR activities which we develop in this sector.

• ISO 14001
  Compliance of our management system with the environmental regulatory requirements in each country.
• REDcert² and ISCC PLUS
  Compliance of our management system and our products obtained from biomass with the requirements related to renewable energy sources and the circular economy.
• ICPE classification
  Compliance of our French factories with the requirements of the French environmental code.

See more: Quality systems certification for 0 defects

That is why every Knauf Industries site creates an annual improvement plan, which also focuses on the teams, customer satisfaction, quality, and costs. Not only CSR leaders but all the participants are the drivers of the continuous improvement processes, supported by the QHSE Managers. Regular management reviews help to ensure that our management system remains relevant, adequate, and efficient.

The continuous improvement process consists of regular efforts to improve products, services, internal processes and CSR initiatives. Knauf Industries relies on a benchmark common to all divisions of the Knauf Group. It describes the behaviors that are required for the continuous improvement framework to succeed.

The collection and consolidation of data already take place on the French sites and will be gradually deployed worldwide to make competitive advantage in social and environmental challenges. The reduction of material in both weight and volume is one of our eco-design rules. Waste is shredded to the desired particle size and then reintroduced into our production stream.

From 2012 to 2019, we reduced our electricity consumption by 15% on all our sites in France. This improvement was possible thanks to many actions including modification of our facilities, the purchase of more energy-efficient equipment (compressors, refrigeration units, motors), as well as the renewal of our computer hardware, reducing the number of printers, and printing less.

Knauf Industries has made also made other successful CSR initiatives like a voluntary commitment to Operation Clean Sweep, whose aim is to prevent plastic particles from being lost in the environment or contaminating the aquatic environment. This action is deployed on all twenty Knauf Industries French sites, where they have been fully integrated into the organization; especially into their “5S” approach.

The industrial facilities, tools and methods have been adapted to contain the plastic pellets and polystyrene beads within the boundaries of the production sites. In parallel, employees and external partners have been trained and given responsibility for the prevention, cleaning, and elimination of losses during processing and transportation operations.

The Executive Committee, the Steering Committee, and the 31 Ambassadors of Knauf Industries actively participated in the strategic analysis and drafting of the CSR approach described in this Report. They were supported by external experts from Stepping Stones and Atelier Christelle Paris, who ensured observance of the CSR and reporting laws and the principles of responsible communication.