First ISO certified ESIndex® released to TFM Group
TFM Group also chooses Exsulting and its ESIndex® for sustainability.
The Veneto-based group, European leader in high-precision automotive components, has embarked on its path towards corporate sustainability by turning to Exsulting. We talk about this with Lamberto Cazzolato, Quality Manager of the TFM Group. Lamberto has more than 20 years of experience in quality, safety and environmental management in companies in various sectors (manufacturing, chemical, metallurgical, engineering). As well as Exsulting’s partner in guiding the company towards sustainability
It gave us great pleasure to interview him, beyond the excellent personal relationship that has been established over time, because TFM is the first company to obtain our certified ESIndex®. In fact, at the end of 2023 we completed the certification process of our ESIndex® assessment specification based on ISO 17065. This is a milestone achieved with commitment and also creativity by our team, of which we are proud. It was not easy to fit a completely original and sophisticated tool like ESIndex® within the strict parameters of a third-party validation on an ISO standard. But we did it. And TFM did it with us, being our final audit case.
We therefore see ourselves and our approach to corporate sustainability through the eyes of a client. We therefore put some questions to Lamberto Cazzolato
Let’s look at ourselves through the customer’s eyes
Q: What made you choose Exsulting to accompany you on your strategic and embedded sustainability journey?
A: The expertise and the 360° approach to sustainability that was presented to us in the first meeting, from which we then immediately moved on to the request to test ourselves with the Embedded Sustainability Index®.
As is customary, at the beginning of the course we offer a short training in self-assessment with ESIndex® and TFM Group also gladly accepted this invitation. So what later became the Sustainability Committee had a first contact with our tool. We ask Lamberto how the experience with our ESindex® was, starting with the formation of the first group to work with TFM’s Sustainability Committee.
A: Initially we were a bit taken aback as it also dealt with business topics of an economic/financial nature that we did not think were relevant to the meaning we gave at the time to the term ‘sustainability’. It was precisely from the first training, and then from the workshop where we were given the ESIndex® Analysis Report, that we began to realise that the topic of sustainability also covers aspects that we thought were unrelated.
The contribution of ESIndex® to corporate sustainability
Q: What has ESIndex® brought you compared to what you knew before about sustainability and TFM Group with respect to it?
A: As mentioned before, ESIndex opened our eyes to the fact that sustainability is an essential condition for the survival and success of a company, as economic sustainability is an essential prerequisite for social, environmental and ethical sustainability. The Analysis Report made us realise that we are only at the beginning of a journey. A path for which we need a guide that can synthesise the different ‘souls’ present within the Sustainability Committee.
The challenge of double materiality
Q: We then accompanied you through the materiality analysis, immediately posing the challenge of double materiality as required by European standards. How did you find it? What were the main difficulties? Did it help you understand the main challenges and opportunities facing TFM today?
A: Not being topics of daily discussion, we were certainly challenged for several reasons:
Firstly, the difficulty in distinguishing the relevance in itself of an aspect versus the criticality that we perceive based on how well we manage that aspect (e.g. recycling of scrap)
Secondly, the difficulty in seeing criticality outside the factory, particularly along the supply chain; e.g. discrimination and human rights issues
Finally, the difficulty in assessing how our stakeholders see these issues related to TFM. We realised that it is a fundamental assessment in order to be able to define critical aspects and plan appropriate actions.
All these difficulties were foreseeable at the beginning of a journey on an issue as new to us as sustainability. They were then transformed into new knowledge by Exsulting. This made us adopt a new, and more comprehensive, way of looking at things.
TFM’s ISO-certified ESIndex® for sustainability communication
Q: You were the first company to get our ESIndex® certified according to ISO 17065. Will you now use it to talk to your stakeholders about your journey towards sustainability?
A: This assessment was obtained at the beginning of the journey towards sustainability, so it still reflects a situation that can be improved. (And they will make big improvements, we add from Exsulting, having known the seriousness of TFM’s commitment to the path!). We will publish this label on the site and mention it in customer questionnaires, to testify to our commitment to a sustainable company.
Making the journey with ESIndex® through to certification gave us a detailed understanding of the breadth of issues that sustainability encompasses. Thus we were able to realise where we stand in relation to each of them. And from there we could move forward and improve effectively.
An excellent reference
Q: Do you think you would recommend the ESIndex® route to a colleague or another company that wants to strengthen its sustainability?
A: With Exsulting we realised that sustainability cannot be dealt with as just one of many topics in business management. It represents the very essence of business management. Sustainability encompasses all topics that must be considered (business, financial, environmental, social, ethical) in order to increase corporate value over time.
I would therefore recommend Exsulting to all companies that want to embark on a serious path towards sustainability,
Finally, a big thank you to TFM Group
At this point we would like to thank Lamberto Cazzolato for the words with which he described TFM Group’s experience in starting its sustainability journey with Exsulting. We would also like to thank him for his time: we know how full and intense his commitment is within a dimanic and fast-growing company.
It is pure joy for us to have been able to award the first ISO certified ESIndex® to this prestigious Italian group. And it was also much easier for us to work with a management of the level we found at TFM. Starting with CEO Giorgio Bertolina, a manager of great experience and humanity, to whom our thanks also go for his great commitment and strong cooperation.
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