Accueil — Continuous improvement and certifications
To strive for excellence on a day-to-day basis, the Group relies on its approach to continuous development to improve safety, workplace conditions and process/skills performance.
“Together Towards Excellence”, our performance improvement program
Resolutely collaborative, the Cristal Union approach to performance improvement has been rolled out since 2014 at all levels of the cooperative. It is based on our excellence benchmark set by the members of the Management Committee, company directors, operations directors and technical experts.
Michel Mangion Director of Corporate Social Responsibility
As improving industrial performance is not just the preserve of engineers and technical or IT investors, we need everybody to contribute their very best so we can progress even more quickly. It is not possible to separate performance from the quality of the workplace environment.
Our employees are asked regularly to identify ways in which their daily work life can be improved. This monitoring, along with performance indicators and ratios, means that our sites can establish their own roadmaps based on six performance targets.
Each roadmap contains transverse working groups which cover the improvement areas identified for each site and can implement operational solutions.
Un Groupe de travail EvE en pleine action
Le Management visuel à Sainte-Emilie
Methods recognized for their effectiveness were deployed:
Optimization of the workplace environment through 5S practices
Visual management: dynamic noticeboards set up by employees to encourage dialog and communication on the factory floor.
Feedback and benchmarking were made routine in order to enhance our approach.
CRISTAL VISION, our approach to continuous agricultural improvement
We are constantly adapting our agricultural practices and are always on the lookout for any improvements. Cristal Vision smart sugar beet is a progressive approach for everyone, employees and cooperative members.
It is the first approach of its kind in France and is now recognized by our main customers who have formed a group called the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative (SAI).
In October 2015, the SAI platform recognized the “CRISTAL VISION” approach and declared it 100% compatible with its FSA (Farm Sustainability Assessment) benchmark.
What are the advantages for beet farmers?
CRISTAL VISION smart sugar beet provides:
Sustainability of our sugar, alcohol and bioethanol production in line with our customers’ demands
Recognition of the sustainability of our cooperative members’ production systems.
Currently, 78% of our producers are Gold or Silver SAI certified and we are also closely monitoring innovative agri-environmental initiatives.
Certifications provide a guarantee of our commitment
Platinum ECOVADIS medal
In 2020, Cristal Union was placed in the top 1% of the most compliant companies in terms of sustainable development of all of the companies assessed.
This result underlined the daily commitment shown by Cristal Union to sustainable development and corporate social responsibility, aims which have been at the heart of our policies since the organization was founded.
This is also an indicator of quality for our exacting customers as regards CSR.
Ecovadis, the platform which evaluates companies’ CSR performance, assesses a panel of companies every year against 4 criteria (Environment, Social, Ethical, Responsible Procurement) broken down into 91 criteria.
Cristal Union Group has also been awarded an A- rating by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP)
Cristal Union has been a member of CDP since it was founded in 2013. This international platform annually assesses and shares the environmental impact of its 8,000 member companies. This is awarded on the basis of the relevance of environmental policies, actions and projects undertaken to combat climate change. This rating places the Group amongst the leaders in implementing specific and effective measures to combat climate change.
Committed to the United Nations Global Compact
Every year since 2016, Cristal Union has renewed its commitment to the United Nations Global Compact. This global pact offers a simple, universal and voluntary framework around respect for human rights, international workplace standards, the environment and combating corruption.
Since 2015, the Group has implemented appropriate certifications for each production site. Today, CristalCo can offer the following to its customers:
• alcohol for pharmacy use certified GMP Pharmacy from the Dislaub and Cristanol distilleries • sugar certified IPEC for Pharmacy (Excipients) from the Bazancourt and Erstein sugar factories • organic ethyl alcohol for cosmetics, certified ECOCERT and COSMOS.
Food safety certifications
To guarantee to our customers that our products meet food safety standards, Cristal Union had the entirety of its sugar factories certified according to FSCC 22000 standards (food safety certification benchmark).
Code of conduct
we must anticipate and address the challenges presented to us and show our ability to overcome these and plan for future developments by capitalizing on our areas of expertise and know-how in conjunction with all of our stakeholders (employees, members, financial and institutional partners).
While it is important to reach our objectives, the way in which we do this is also just as important. CRISTAL UNION employees are expected to comply with the law and regulations when performing their duties and must take precautions when engaging in any activities where there is any risk involved.
This charter is addressed to all suppliers of the Cristal Union Group and, by extension, to all their suppliers and subcontractors who, in the course of their business, are called upon to deal with the Cristal Union Group. It aims to share Cristal Union’s values, particularly in terms of corporate social responsibility. It also aims to describe the guidelines of these relationships for practical day-to-day application, without seeking to cover all possible situations.
Michel Mangion Director of Corporate Social Responsibility
Currently, 78% of our producers are Gold or Silver SAI certified and we are also closely monitoring innovative agri-environmental initiatives.
