The eco-social dimension

Each business activity generates an economic chain with effects on the various categories of stakeholders distributed predominantly in the region where the business is located. Company performance is measured on the basis of the income statement which expresses the added value generated and distributed to stakeholders in various forms.

• Remuneration to employees (staff costs).
• Remuneration to suppliers for goods and services (operating costs for purchase of goods and services).
• Remuneration to financial institutions (interest and commission to banks and other lenders).
• Remuneration to Public Administration (social charges, taxes and duties).
• Remuneration to investors (dividends).

From this point of view, the contribution of the Carraro Group to the development of the region relates particularly to the employment, within the parameters of possibility offered by the local labour market, of people living close to the site, who constitute the majority of the workforce of each company both in terms of operational and managerial roles. 

The presence in different areas of the Group’s business units, mostly industrial sites, has a significant impact on the surrounding region due to a number of factors:

• LOCAL WORKFORCE: the need for a direct and indirect workforce able to adequately cover the required work shifts, which can only be satisfied by local resources, including resources in coordination, supervision and control roles;
• LOCAL INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY CHAIN: the need to support a supply chain centred, where possible, on local suppliers both for raw materials and direct and indirect production components;
• LOCAL SERVICE SUPPLY CHAIN: the need to engage local suppliers to provide a series of continuous services to support the operation of the machines and the plant itself (maintenance, controls, fuel, cleaning and similar services); 
• LOCAL PROFESSIONAL SUPPORT: the need to rely on a network of specialist technical, administrative, legal and fiscal consultancy services with specific local expertise able to support the Group's activities and ensure compliance with local regulations.

The economic impact of these elements on the region is clearly represented in the value added income statement of the Group, which indicates that approximately 76% of the economic value generated is distributed to suppliers of goods and services while 13% is distributed to the workforce in the form of remuneration and social contributions.        

Except in specific cases, a preference is generally afforded to members of the local community in the recruitment and
selection of new employees, including for managerial positions. Over time, this approach has led to the creation of an
organisational structure that, particularly in terms of managerial positions in foreign companies, has a significant
representation of local personnel balanced by certain resources from the Parent Company or other Associated Companies in Italy, strengthening the links within the Group and promoting the integration of its members.

In the definition of its procurement and investment practices, the supplier selection process and the establishment of purchasing conditions for the goods and services of the Group are regulated by the values and criteria of competitiveness, objectivity, respectability, correctness, impartiality, fair pricing and quality of the goods or services, assessing the service guarantees and the range of offers in general.

In order to achieve its strategic objectives, the Group operates as part of a complex supply chain in which every component meets the same requirements of technological capacity, quality, efficiency and ethics upon which the Group bases its business activities.

The suppliers of goods and services are an essential component of this supply chain; their contractual relations with the Carraro Group are subject to an initial assessment at the time of purchase and are regularly monitored. The commercial relationship is based on a shared understanding of fundamental principles and client-supplier dialogue, supported by specific tools.

The assessment is carried out through the analysis of a series of suitability requirements in relation to:

• technological and production capacity;
• overall quality of processes and products;
• possession of quality certificates according to ISO standards;
• corporate and financial position;
• respect for the Code of Ethics of the Carraro Group.

To perform the analysis, data and documents are collected and a direct audit is carried out at the supplier’s offices. 

The quality guidelines are defined by the Supplier Quality Manual, which aims to provide the criteria, expectations and quality characteristics required by the Group and indicate the methods and tools required for the production of products that meet the standards of the Carraro Group.

In terms of communication, an IT platform and relative procedures have been adopted and made available to suppliers, enabling the efficient exchange of data, information and documents; the data flow takes place through an online system (Carraro Private Network) developed specifically for the online management of purchases and relations with counterparties.

Finally, when assessing a supplier the Group also considers its willingness to subscribe to the principles of the Carraro Code of Ethics, including compliance with existing laws, loyalty, professional rigour and correctness and, more specifically, respect for the environment, human rights and workers’ rights.

The Carraro Group has shaped the history of Italy’s Veneto region, where the production plants of the parent company Carraro S.p.A. are located, since the 1950s, thanks to its significant presence initially in the agricultural sector and later as a major industrial enterprise.

Beyond the purely economic perspective and from the point of view of social initiatives in the region, for a number of years Carraro S.p.A. and Carraro Drivetech S.p.A. have promoted initiatives which aim to support:

• training and education, with the launch of educational plant visits organised with some of the leading technical and professional institutions of the region;
• the arts, with financial support provided to the annual concert programmes of the Associazione Amici della Musica di Padova;
• social benefit projects by sponsoring sport, cultural and volunteering activities in local areas.