Processing and packaging technology provider Syntegon Group on 20 July published its first sustainability report – creating more transparency and affording stakeholders greater insight into its sustainability management practices. Syntegon prepared the report for fiscal year 2022 with reference to the recognized sustainability reporting standard of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI).
The document lists the company’s environmental, social, and responsible corporate governance practices. Syntegon says it is already meeting future compliance requirements by publishing a sustainability report, which will now be an annual affair.
Sustainability as part of the corporate strategy
“With the publication of this first report, we are underscoring the significance of sustainability as part of our corporate strategy and demonstrating our commitment to environmental, social, and responsible corporate governance practices,” says Michael Grosse, chief executive officer of the Syntegon Group. “Our strategy is centered on our products: With our resource-sparing machines, we are doing our part to shrink the ecological footprint of pharmaceuticals and food production. And we are helping to make packaging more sustainable with our technologies and services,” Grosse says.
“What’s more, we are working hard to reduce our carbon footprint. To this end, we are increasing our energy efficiency, sourcing more electricity from renewables, and reducing our emissions,” says Peter Hackel, chief financial officer of the Syntegon Group. “Sustainability is not just a moral obligation; it is also a business imperative. With our strategy, we are laying the foundation for sustainable corporate management while also securing our financial development,” adds Hackel.
Syntegon has also set clear social priorities, as Michael Grosse points out: “We are committed to greater diversity in the company. With our training and professional development program, we are supporting our employees with their individual needs in mind. And we are taking responsibility in the community.”
Responsible corporate governance
Syntegon, as a partner to the pharmaceutical and food industries, says it did its part to make foods and pharmaceuticals safe in 2022, contributing to several of the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals, such as ending hunger and ensuring healthy lives for all.
Syntegon’s packaging solutions effectively protect products from dehydration and humidity to preserve their nutritional value, freshness, and flavor. The company’s technologies help ensure medicines are produced and packaged to the highest safety standards. This is how Syntegon contributes to the global supply of medicines and vaccines to people, it says.
Environmental
Sustainable packaging solutions
A renewed focal point of Syntegon’s efforts in 2022 was transitioning from conventional plastic packaging to paper and more recyclable mono-materials. The new PMX packaging machine for ground coffee and whole beans is a case in point: It processes recyclable mono-materials and enables condition monitoring to save energy and conserve materials. Syntegon integrated lock-style technology in its proven Sigpack TTM cartoner platform in 2022. This tech serves to curb energy and material consumption.
Shrinking the carbon footprint of pharmaceuticals and food production
Syntegon’s intelligent, sustainable processing and packaging solutions help boost energy efficiency and conserve resources in food and pharmaceutical industry manufacturing processes. In 2022, as part of a life-cycle assessment, the company developed a method of calculating the carbon emissions of equipment in its portfolio. Now Syntegon can offer to food and pharmaceutical manufacturers a totally transparent view of the deployed technologies’ carbon footprint.
Reduced emissions
Syntegon says it is aligned with the 1.5-degree target of the Paris Agreement on climate change. In 2022, the company reduced its total energy consumption by 11 percent and its emissions by 17% compared to the previous year. Syntegon intends to increase the share of renewables in its total energy consumption from 41 percent in 2019 to 55 percent by 2025. Renewables had already accounted for a 49%share in 2022. The company installed new photovoltaic systems at five sites that same year.
Social
Diversity
Syntegon values diverse teams and sees the greatest potential for growth in terms of gender representation. In 2022, the share of women in the workforce came to around 19 percent. Syntegon aims to pursue recruiting and personnel development initiatives to increase this figure to 25 percent by 2025. The company is striving for a gender ratio of 20 percent women and 80 percent men among managers.
Lifelong learning as the key to success
Syntegon is committed to high-quality training and professional development for all its employees. With the Syntegon Learning World, the company offers its workforce a demand-driven training portfolio currently consisting of more than 300 courses and over 6,500 digital training opportunities. Employees devoted eleven hours on average to training and professional development in 2022. Syntegon aims to increase per-employee training hours to 35 a year by 2025.
Engaged in society
Syntegon says it puts its social responsibility into practice by contributing to the communities in which its sites are located. The company donated 80,000 Euros to charitable causes in 2022 to the benefit of food banks, hospitals, and educational institutions. In 2022, Syntegon provided renewed financial support to CARE Deutschland, an organization that furnishes food and medicine to people in need.
