Siegwerk Supports Oliver Wyman Analysis on Corporate Programs

Volatile raw material prices, stricter environmental regulations and rising demands by consumers and investors make it imperative for companies to address the topic of sustainability intensely. Long gone are the days when a bit of greenwashing was deemed sufficient. If you take sustainable action seriously and want to contribute to a positive result, you need to define concrete measures and implement them consistently.
 
That is the result of the analysis “From Green to Sustainable” by the management consultancy Oliver Wyman, which was presented to the public in Munich on Feb. 4, 2014.
 
“Sustainability is a strategically important topic for Siegwerk,” said Dr. Jörg-Peter Langhammer, vice president global HSE + sustainability. “That is why we gladly contributed some concrete examples to the report.”
 
As the report by Oliver Wyman shows, developments on the raw materials markets are becoming increasingly urgent. Continuously growing demand leads to further price rises. Additionally, we can expect huge price fluctuation on the global markets, which will make reliable production planning more difficult.
 
“Secure access to resources combined with increasing resource efficiency is becoming a decisive success factor,” said Michael Lierow, a partner at Oliver Wyman. “Companies that handle resources much more efficiently and can additionally react to fluctuations by securing prices or using alternatives will be right at the top of the market in the long term.”
 
Customers, investors and other stakeholders also attach increasing importance to sustainability. Consumers specifically ask for ecologically sound products and are more and more willing to pay extra for them. It is also becoming increasingly frequent for labels to contain information on energy consumption or a product’s carbon footprint. New product segments are developing and there is no way around cost-efficient and environmentally responsible technologies. These change production processes and transform entire company and industry structures. Last but not least, sustainability is playing an increasingly important role in the recruitment of young executives or expert employees: Only sustainability-aware companies will be attractive employers in the future.
 
In this light, the focus of printing-ink manufacturer Siegwerk’s sustainability program is on process optimization and cooperation with business partners.
 
“We have many solution approaches that contribute to more safety, for instance in the food segment, and to better resource efficiency for ourselves and our customers,” said Dr. Langhammer. For instance, Siegwerk’s on-site consulting team cooperated with Bischof+Klein GmbH to implement resource savings and make production leaner. This reduced B+K’s ecological footprint by 264 tons of CO2, leading to savings of €250,000 annually.