Sustainability as Part of the Corporate Strategy
As a holding company with investments in manufacturing companies in the medical technology and industrial sectors, as well as increasing real estate activities in the Tech Cluster Zug, Metall Zug has been addressing questions related to reducing the burden on people, society and the environment for many years. Based on its own structure of values anchored in the Group, this understanding of sustainability is part of the strategy definition. Further progress was made in the four specified strategic focus areas. In addition, the ESG (Environment, Social and Governance) key data set was recorded for all Metall Zug Group sites worldwide for the first time
Definition of Success
Metall Zug views sustainability as a strategic, intrinsically motivated priority. For many years, this claim has been defined thus: any success can only really be counted as such if it has been achieved in a fair and honest way and does not tarnish the reputation of the company concerned and the Metall Zug Group as a whole. It is becoming increasingly clear that success can only be spoken of in the context of strengthening people, society and the environment. Metall Zug therefore aims to make a measurable contribution to reducing harmful burdens on people, society and the environment in the long term.
The company follows the basic principle of acting with a long-term view and with a broad system boundary in order to achieve the success defined in this way for all stakeholders, including customers, employees and shareholders. This means that short-term profit maximization is not the first priority. Metall Zug considers its corporate responsibility to secure the future of the company for the next generation by consistently relieving the burden on people, society and the environment.
Metall Zug is therefore following strategies toward resilient energy supply, durable and resource-saving products, environmentally friendly and material-efficient production, as well as responsible procurement and logistics. As an appreciative employer, the group aims to focus on the people and enable them to contribute meaningfully and effectively through their work.
Embraced by the Organization
In pursuing this ESG objective, the Metall Zug Group has defined specific targets in the four strategic focus areas of Climate & Resources, Employees, Products & Services and Society & Value Creation. Metall Zug supports its Business Units in embracing these targets, firming up their strategies and implementing, measuring and communicating the corresponding measures in a more focused manner. The Business Units, for their part, have each appointed a member of Senior Management and a team to define, coordinate, implement, communicate and monitor specific targets and measures. The Sustainability Steering Committee, consisting of the CEOs of the Business Units, the CEO and the Head of Sustainability of Metall Zug, met twice in 2022 to agree on measures to achieve the targets and to review progress in implementing them.
In addition, the “Perspectives on Sustainability” committee also met twice in 2022. This comprises representatives of the Board of Directors of Metall Zug AG as well as internal and external experts. Its aim is to further develop the focus areas and priorities in the ESG strategy on an ongoing basis through mutual exchange.
These aspects are increasingly taken into account in the budget process too. The Business Units each include a separate “Sustainability” section in their budget documentation, which outlines specific initiatives, investments and expenditure. This also includes the internal CO2 levy of CHF 120 per ton of CO2 for the account of the CO2 fund, which is to be paid by all sites from the current financial year 2023 onwards. For the first time, the survey of ESG indicators covers all companies and sites of the Metall Zug Group worldwide for the 2022 financial year.
Key Performance Indicator Set
The ESG targets and measures are assessed based on a set of key performance indicators (KPIs) and are regularly reviewed by the steering committee, consisting of the CEOs of the Business Units and the senior management of Metall Zug Group. In 2022, the targets were systematically linked to measurable key figures for each focus topic.
In the 2022 financial year, the KPI set was expanded to include all companies of the Metall Zug Group. The Wire Processing Business Unit (Schleuniger Group) has been excluded from the survey due to the combination with Komax that took place on August 30, 2022. The KPIs for Corporate are not disclosed separately, but are included in the total for the Metall Zug Group. After key figures for the Swiss sites of the Infection Control, Medical Devices, Wire Processing and Belimed Life Science Business Units were recorded for the first time in 2020, the main European sites and Gehrig Group were added in 2021. Due to the ongoing expansion of the scope of the key figures survey, no comparison with the previous year has been made. The 2022 financial year represents the first base year for the future measurement of progress.