France Fermetures, which specializes in custom-made bay closures, has been ISO 14001 certified since 2013. Its environmental action translates a number of standards and requirements, with the company being frequently audited. Management gets very involved in the certification process - but staff members are the main drivers. They do this because they see the benefits.
Everything starts with a unifying ambition: certification processes need input from everyone in the company, in a joint effort to reduce its carbon footprint.
Then comes the virtues attached to certain prioritizations. Certification structures work and gets people to focus on “good” things – including, for instance, when sales staff use customer relationship management systems in a way that optimizes their sales travel.
Lastly, France Fermetures gets great value from outside auditors offering many ideas that are useful for future development. It was, for example, following a suggestion made by auditors in 2018 that the company’s environmental action began featuring in its external communications.
True to its creed of industrial responsibility, in May 2019 France Fermetures started representing the ecological imperative as a key strategic axis. The effects have been very concrete – every time France Fermetures undertakes a major investment, it now studies the consequences in carbon footprint terms. The goal is simple: achieving carbon-neutral operations.
Another illustration is the “paper-free” agenda. Production sites and offices now have screens enabling staff to communicate directly without paper. A similarly concrete example has been the Paris Region sales force’s proposed introduction of an electric car transportation policy.
France Fermetures can rightly claim that management and staff are very much on-board with the company’s environmental objectives. The topic is now part of its process culture, with achievements in this area being communicated both internally and externally, an ecological focus that younger colleagues find particularly motivating.
The company has also added the term “Environment” to its Quality Director’s title, converting a supposed handicap into a very real advantage.
