Gardone Val Trompia, 29 June 2023 – After the first two editions of 2020 and 2021, with the third edition Beretta presents its first GRI certified sustainability report filed with the Chamber of Commerce, three years in advance of the obligation to law. Starting from 2025, in fact, the Sustainability Report will be a mandatory document for companies.
The sustainability report is for Beretta a strategic tool in which the company believes a lot as a form of synthetic and analytical communication towards its stakeholders to better understand the sustainable evolution that the company has been undertaking for years. It is not only a manifesto, but a guiding tool for spreading culture and encouraging initiatives in favor of the environment, customers, collaborators and suppliers within the industrial network.
The President of Fabbrica d'Armi Pietro Beretta SpA, Franco Gussalli Beretta, declared: “In the family, for generations, we have always been taught that to be entrepreneurs you must always look to the future, therefore be able to seize opportunities by anticipating the times. This sustainability report, the third one published by the Company, is an example of this: we have developed and filed it – albeit without legislative constraints – because we consider it a key tool for our business. Looking at the famous 3Ps (People, Planet and Prosperity), it is clear that, as far as People and the Planet are concerned, only by investing in human capital and in environmental transition can market challenges be overcome and therefore reach the third P, Prosperity. Our family has been investing resources in this direction for generations: today my brother and I are more than ever convinced that this is the way to go. And speaking of personal care, this year the company, in addition to all the new entries, is strengthened with a very important promotion: the engineer Carlo Ferlito, who has been with the company for 25 years, has taken on the role of Chief Executive Officer in addition to what he already held as General Manager: an award resulting from his loyalty and management ability given the exceptional achievement of the budget record achieved in 2022."
Beretta also takes the opportunity to update its 2022 balance sheet data, confirming the turnover record which exceeds 317 million euros thanks to +50% in the main European markets and 21 million achieved on the Italian market.
With 12 million investments allocated in 2022, including 8,6 in industrial machinery and 2,5 in digital projects, the Company continues to progress to make the Company and the Italian arms production chain increasingly competitive in the world. As for the current year, 9,7 million investments have already been committed, including 8,6 million for new industrial machinery and equipment for new products and 1,1 million in research and development projects. Also in the first half of 2023, we recorded a 7% increase in turnover compared to the same period of the past year. But a slowdown is forecast for the second half of the year, both in the European and American markets.
Carlo Ferlito, General Manager of the company and as of May 1st also Chief Executive Officer, said: “We are coming from a particularly positive period, but the new restrictive monetary and economic policies anticipate a slowdown on the market. In these moments there must be a strong communion of intent between business, management and politics. Many steps have been taken with a view to protecting the supply chains and we hope that investments to protect the competitiveness of our industry will be further strengthened. This theme is particularly felt because the competition is becoming very fierce especially from those countries with low labor costs that abuse very aggressive policies up to attacking the intellectual property of our Company. Thanks also to the strength of Beretta Holding of which we are part, we can reach all markets in the world and create synergies with other products within the group. Our international capability is a core value that differentiates us."
In this regard, the Lombardy Region has granted Beretta and its suppliers the status of "Filiera dell'Arma Sportiva", to strengthen partnerships with suppliers and access tenders for production chains. With a fund plan of 30 million and the expectation of further appropriations, the aim is to digitize processes, improve IT security, and encourage sustainability, personnel development and logistics integration initiatives.
400 thousand euros in grants have already been recognized for the project to adopt Cloud Computing, for the digitization of processes and investments in Cyber Security.
Innovation, supported since 2022 by the Innovation Board, continues to focus on topics such as Digital Twin, Servitization, Habitat, Experience and Training systems. These investments are also aimed at increasing the competitive advantage with respect to emerging arms markets and industries.
“This commitment to increasing the company's competitiveness would be in vain without the contribution of all the men and women of the company who put themselves on the line every day and try to go beyond the goals already achieved – explains Carlo Gussalli Beretta, Digital Innovation project manager – This is why the well-being of people and the surrounding environment have always been rooted in my family and in the work of the Company, which continues to introduce new initiatives to promote the environmental and personal well-being of its employees".
Safety and health initiatives continue, supported by public safety and environmental audits, health surveillance, preventive screening of employees for metabolic and oncological diseases and 2.200 hours of training courses.
The commitment to a sustainable future, under the umbrella of the BE Planet initiatives, continues in order to follow the UN Sustainable Development Goals 2030. The production of waste (per kg of weapons produced) is -4% of hazardous waste and -17 % on non-hazardous waste, while also reducing the use of chemicals by 9%. Clean-up oil contamination continues in the Oneto area and groundwater monitoring.
The realization of the projects in 2022 provides for the concrete start of the experiments to eliminate chrome plating from the production of gun barrels in favor of a green, safe and effective process, thanks to the arrival of new machinery. Areas contaminated by hexavalent chromium have already been closed to make room for excavation and land disposal operations.
Particular interest in the activation of the new Carpooling service for shared journeys between home and work which, in collaboration with the JOJOB platform, aims to reduce fuel consumption and CO2 emissions, as well as reduce pressure on traffic and parking available.
An important focus is on clean energy, with the recent installation of the new photovoltaic system, with an increase in the surface area of 1.900 m150 and with an expected yield of +2022% compared to 5, and a total increase in the production of energy from renewable sources by XNUMX%.
Let's associate all of this with the 10×10% project already announced in 2022 which aimed to raise awareness among the company population on energy waste, has already made it possible to save 125.000 euros compared to 2022 with the same hours of payment.
Attention to digital transformation remains very high, both industrially and in the relationship with the customer and in the daily life of the employees. The third edition of the Digital Olympics, created in partnership with Key2People, had the aim of developing digital skills and culture among Beretta employees, in line with the evolution of the technological scenario inside and outside the company . Each employee, followed by a Digital Champions, was thus able to explore issues related to the new digital mutations and acquire new knowledge in this sense.
The younger generations and training remain a fundamental element to ensure the continuity of know-how within the gun industry. The average age of the 57 new hires is in fact 31 years for blue collars and 29,5 years for white collars, with a female component of 19% of white collars and 14% of blue collars.
The “estivini” initiative continues, which has brought 31 young people from schools into the company for summer work.