ESG: A journey not a destination 

Pictured: TR VIC Italy

Customers’ needs and requirements have also changed over the last 5 years. ESG is high on multinational’s agendas, and the reporting of CO2 emissions is a key factor. Their questionnaires, and those of industry bodies such as SAQ 5.0 focussed on supply chain sustainability are also driving change and decisions on where they place business is depending on fulfilling and meeting the criteria. The pandemic added another dimension as companies re assessed their dependence on Asia with increased lead times and the disruption to supply chains that had been created. As a result, there has been a concerted drive by customers to ‘near shore’ to reduce lead times, the high cost of transportation and the need to be able to demonstrate Co2 reductions. It will be interesting however to see how the European cost of product versus anticipated Co2 savings will play out. We are however poised for further growth as we see that this desire to near shore is gathering momentum.

This year we are celebrating TR’s 50th anniversary and our last major milestone was when we hosted a Group event for the 45th anniversary in TR VIC in Italy. We had 50 key personnel visit us from around the organisation including the Main Board of Trifast. This gave us an opportunity to completely revamp the offices, and all reception areas creating a modern environment prior to the event. Further investment followed and a roll out program of refurbishment of the main manufacturing location began, and investment in new Italian machinery. We were keen to diversify and had gained the IATF 16949 accreditation a few years before which has enabled us to attract and secure business with Tier 1s supporting the major OEMs. As a result, we invested in cold forging machines capable of making more complex and larger diameters, and in automatic packaging machinery. We have a conscious Industry 4.0 philosophy where feasible.

 

Pictured: A Nuttall and the European leadership team

 

This investment continued with a recently opened extension to the manufacturing floor space creating an additional 33% capacity and injecting an additional 500-700 million pcs of new capacity. The last of the new machines are being installed during February. New efficient ventilation systems and power plants within manufacturing have been installed and major changes to the finished goods warehouse have been completed. This included infrastructure changes as we created a new road into the revamped and re-racked warehouse that are Microsoft D365 compliant and operate electric tugs between both buildings. We have had an increased number of successful automotive customer audits since the pandemic and a high percentage of our new business wins have increased the sector diversification that we anticipated following the IATF 16949 accreditation.

I have a Sustainability Project Team in TR VIC headed up by Stefano Pisoni the Managing Director. We have initiatives underway including changes in the way we clean the product after forging to reclaim the oil for reuse and eliminate waste. Most of the domestic appliance manufacturers prefer their product in plastic woven sacks as they are easier to handle and tip into automatic feeders on the production line. We are working on alternative sack material that is organic and have two products on trial at the moment.