Joinville, Santa Catarina, Brazil (May 24, 2017) – Today, May 23rd, Embraco released its 2015 and 2016 Sustainability Report that outlines important global achievements and events from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2016. Embraco is one of the largest and most innovative multinational manufacturers of compressors and refrigeration solutions. Key achievements noted in the report include: more than 35 thousand people benefited from Embraco’s social projects; there was more than 10.6 thousand tons of recycled materials; zero industrial waste was sent to landfills; and CO2 emission in the environment was reduced by seven thousand tons. The report is made up of information from all of the company’s business units – Brazil, China, Slovakia, Mexico, United States, Italy and Russia – and the full report can be accessed atwww.embraco.com.
The report presents information about actions and impacts generated by the company and for the community, reinforces Embraco's commitment to the Global Compact, which is renewed every year, and contemplates Sustainable Development goals established by the United Nations. The report also puts forth the strategy and steps that guide the company globally toward 2020. These strategies are driven by product development and the sustainable value chain of engaged employees.
“For us, sustainability goes beyond developing intelligent solutions and is present throughout the value chain,” emphasizes Ursula Angeli, Embraco’s Vice President of Sustainability, Human Resources and Communication. “In our view, relationships and processes also need to be sustainable and we believe in our potential to transform realities in the communities that live around our plants and offices around the world.”
Supply Chain
Following this commitment, in addition to offering products and solutions with greater energy efficiency and less raw material usage, Embraco’s supply chain offers increasingly less socio-environmental impacts. In the last two years, the company consolidated its Supplier Excellence Program, which offers workshops and multidisciplinary work in order to improve chain performance in service, quality, cost and sustainability. This program is aligned with the World Class Manufacturing methodology, which aims to achieve operational excellence.
The company also promotes Supplier Day, a global relationship event that seeks to engage and recognize the public. Between 2015 and 2016, more than 160 suppliers participated in the events held in China, Brazil, Slovakia and Mexico, where they were able to discuss relevant topics such as efficiency in using natural resources, utilizing natural refrigerants and developing increasingly sustainable products. On this day, companies are judged on criteria such as quality, cooperation, logistics and sustainability, and the top companies of the year are awarded.
Product and Innovation
According to the report, Embraco currently has an annual production capacity of 40 million compressor units, the technology responsible for preserving one fifth of the food consumed worldwide. The company relies on 47 research laboratories on four continents that are responsible for developing and launching solutions focused on energy efficiency, using natural refrigerants – which have negligible contribution to global warming when compared to other fluids – reducing costs and optimizing space. Additionally, Embraco invests three to four of its net revenue in R&D to transform technology into innovation.
“This is what challenges us to go beyond and keeps us at the global benchmark in the refrigeration market,” emphasizes Luis Felipe Dau, CEO of Embraco. The report also shows that 59 percent of the company's revenue over the last 5 years comes from innovative solutions launched in this same timeframe.
“We have intensified the company's cultural transformation in order to become even simpler, more innovative and customer-centric,” concludes Dau. “Our mission is to provide innovative solutions for a better quality of life. We’re proud of the path we’ve traveled so far and this was only possible because we have an engaged team of the highest caliber, a reference in the industry.”
Energy Efficiency
The Sustainability Report provides information on Fullmotion compressors, which consume 40 percent less energy compared to conventional technologies, and Wisemotion. Wisemotion is the only oil-free compressor in the market, has 20 percent more energy efficiency when compared to the most efficient traditional compressors, and takes up less space in the equipment, helping to improve logistics and food preservation. If all Fullmotion compressors sold in the last ten years were added together, the energy savings would be equivalent to nine billion KWh, which would be enough to supply Croatia’s energy for six months.
Saving energy is a constant concern in manufacturing Embraco products. Implementation of the World Class Manufacturing (WCM) methodology, especially the Energy Pillar, has boosted energy efficiency initiatives across all plants. WCM also seeks to achieve zero accidents, zero losses and zero defects, focusing on operational excellence.
Reuse, Recycling and Cost Reduction
In 2015, the Brazil plant zeroed out sending industrial waste to landfills. This demonstrates that Embraco is on track to meet its goal of not sending waste to landfills by 2018 and the Foundry by 2022. Last year, the company generated 116,200 tons of waste globally. Of this total, 86.3 percent was recycled and 13.4 percent was destined for landfills.
Of all the water Embraco consumed globally in 2016, 27 percent was reused, which was made possible by the compressor plants in Brazil, China and Mexico.
Another important initiative related to sustainability is the Nat.Genius operations. Nat.Genius transformed the reverse logistics process for electro-electronic waste and initiated recycling at several product lines, thus creating a waste management collaboration between Embraco and other customers in Brazil, Europe and North America. In two years, according to the report, Nat.Genius recycled 5,656 tons of steel, enough to produce 4,000 cars; and another 3,000 tons of iron, a volume that could construct 42 percent of the Eiffel Tower. The numbers are overwhelming and prove the importance of the program, which has become a world reference recognized by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.
Communities and People
Numerous projects and voluntary activities in the communities of Brazil, China, Slovakia, Italy and Mexico have already contributed to the well-being of over 35,000 people. The Embraco Ecology Award, held since 1992 in schools in Joinville (SC), has received 823 projects in its 24 editions, and 106 of those projects were selected and implemented through Embraco sponsorships. With more than 100,000 beneficiaries, the award program was ranked among the best practices of the UN Global Compact.
In the last biennium, close to five thousand hours of volunteer work were carried out by more than 500 employees at events such as Global Volunteer Day. Additionally, the company has the Embraco Sports Association, located in Joinville/Santa Catarina, which is open every day to the community.
But nothing moves the company more than the hands of its nearly 11,000 employees. That’s why the company invests in internal programs, quality benefits, scholarships and training.
About Embraco
Embraco is a Brazilian multinational company focused on innovation and one of the world's largest manufacturers of hermetic compressors and cooling solutions for refrigeration. With global operations and an annual production capacity of 40 million units, the company holds over 1,700 patents in force and offers solutions that are differentiated for their innovation and low energy consumption. Embraco directly employs 11,000 employees worldwide, with 11 business units located in Brazil, China, Italy, Mexico, Slovakia, USA and Russia, and is present in more than 80 countries. To learn more about Embraco visit www.embraco.com.
