Siegwerk, one of the leading international providers of printing inks for packaging applications and labels, has taken its commitment to sustainability to a new level. Sustainable management has been deeply rooted in the family-owned business’ corporate culture since the very beginning – Siegwerk always bears the environmental, economic and social consequences of its actions in mind. The printing ink manufacturer has now published its first-ever Sustainability Report, based on the international GRI standard, which lays a new basis for evaluating its sustainable actions.
“We want to become the world’s leading manufacturer of packaging inks and are doing our utmost every day to attain this status. To achieve this objective, we have committed to a process of permanent evolution, which always factors in the needs of current and future generations”, is how Herbert Forker, CEO of Siegwerk, summarizes the company’s vision. Up till now Siegwerk has publicized its sustainability approach in the form of information brochures provided to anybody interested in this topic. “By launching the Sustainability Report we want to provide even greater transparency and enter into an open dialog with our stakeholders. That is the only way to boost the company’s future viability and to improve our performance even more”, Forker adds.
The sustainability program described in the report is based on a materiality analysis of relevant fields of activity conducted by an international team of Siegwerk executives together with Chemie³, the German chemical industry’s sustainability initiative. A new mission statement, which in turn will align with Siegwerk’s sustainability strategy in future, was drafted based on the results of the analysis. The mission statement incorporates four dimensions: 1) customers as partners, innovation as driver, 2) employees as the key to success, 3) sustainable economic success and 4) responsibility for environment and society. The company views dealing in extensive depth with these issues as vital for lasting profitable growth. At Siegwerk sustainability is interpreted as an attitude in line with the company’s “Ink, Heart & Soul” philosophy and is put into practice every day. Siegwerk has already won many awards for its social commitment and sustainable corporate management.
“We want to continue to promote sustainability at Siegwerk and make it measurable. For that reason we keep on adding tangible goals to our program. They apply to all our subsidiaries worldwide and are a benchmark for the sustainability of our actions. This is the only way we can regularly check whether we are maintaining our course or whether we have to readjust”, says Forker. Continuous enhancement of the sustainability strategy is clearly driven by the company’s owners and management to get Siegwerk fit to face the future. New targets and key figures are continuously being added to the sustainability program. As one of the world’s leading printing ink manufacturers Siegwerk is laying additional foundations to further on support customers and business partners as innovative and forward-looking partner in realizing new trends in their businesses and to provide its employees with an attractive and stable working environment.
