Visottica Group launches three-year sustainability plan
February 6, 2024
Visottica Group, a leading producer of eyewear components headquartered in Susegana, Italy, has launched its first three-year sustainability plan. The plan identifies strategic areas, objectives and actions aimed at enhancing its commitment to developing a responsible business from an economic, social and environmental point of view along the entire value chain.
The plan – called The Visible Journey – was created with the support of Deloitte and identifies a series of areas of intervention consistent with the company’s business model and with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined by the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Specifically, the document focuses on some areas of action, such as progressive reduction of environmental impact, enhancement of labour resources and protection of human capital, consolidation of governance, product innovation.
“Visottica Group reinforces its commitment to sustainability and chooses to do so with a transparent and concrete approach,” underlined Rinaldo Montalban, chairman. “In the last year, we have embarked on an important process of study and evaluation of our impact, identifying areas for medium-long term improvement and defining the objectives that will guide us from here on out, in a manner consistent with the standards that the sector requires today worldwide.
“We have already made significant progress in the implementation of some projects, while others are in the early stages and in development,” he continued. “Through this plan, we are even more committed to reducing our ecological footprint, promoting ethical working practices, and actively contributing to the well-being of the communities in which we operate. We firmly believe in these values, which have always been part of the company’s DNA, and we are convinced that these aspects are essential for the sustainable growth of the Group and society as a whole.”
The three-year programme will be developed in stages under the supervision of the ESG Committee of Visottica Group, established in 2023 to verify the progress of the projects envisaged in the plan, which will operate together with a new working group dedicated to sustainability distributed between the company’s Italian and Asian offices.
The company has recently established an energy manager to oversee the handling of environmental impacts. As a result, it has outlined a path to gradually decrease its Scope 1 and 2 emissions with the aim of reducing its carbon footprint.
Visottica Group added that it is committed to using sustainable materials in production and packaging while also managing water resources efficiently. To achieve this, the company has implemented accurate monitoring systems to assess and manage water consumption and recycling during production operations. Its plants in Visottica and Susegana, Ethos in San Zenone degli Ezzelini, and Comotec in Dongguan, China, are equipped with an internal system that recovers almost all the wastewater used during production. After adequate treatment, it is reintegrated into the industrial cycle.
The company intends to continue with the investment programme aimed at the gradual conversion to photovoltaics at the various sites of the group.
With regard to human resources and the protection of the individual, initiatives are planned to implement health and safety protection beyond the guaranteed level, enhance the talents and professional growth of employees, encourage the physical and mental well-being of workers, and spread a culture focused on sustainability. Particular attention is given to the issue of equal opportunities: the number of female employees in the group is already higher than that of men.
In the third area of intervention, The Visible Journey considers products as the first ambassadors of the values of excellence and sustainability. The commitment defined by the document is to always work with customer service, attention to all stakeholders, ethics and respect for intellectual property, the sustainable use of materials, and the promotion of responsible business practices throughout the supply chain as pillars.
In terms of governance, the primary objective is the creation of a model that strengthens the group’s growing structure and development processes, also to the benefit of sustainability. In addition, Visottica confirms its support for social, sporting and cultural initiatives.
Interested in learning more about Visottica’s use of Metal Injection Moulding, and how the process became an industry standard? We did a deep dive into the subject in the Spring 2023 edition of PIM International:
‘Visottica Group: Integrated workflows and the value of Metal Injection Moulding in eyewear and beyond’, reported by Luca van der Heide, is available to read here, for free and in full
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