The release of the ESG report celebrates a new stage in the company’s history
Taurus, a strategic defense company, will release its first Annual Sustainability Report, in which it communicates its efforts and achievements in relation to social, environmental and governance management, that is, in the consolidation of its actions on the ESG (environmental, social and governance) agenda.
The ESG report celebrates a new stage in the company’s history, in which Taurus consolidates itself as a strategic ESG defense company in the market. The document will be presented at an event on May 2, however, Taurus’ Global CEO, Salesio Nuhs, anticipates some important points, such as the pillars listed by the company to consolidate the ESG themes: development of people, investment in technology and innovation and engagement in a collaborative environment.
Taurus increased actions related to the ESG agenda in its projects, processes and strategic decisions after a survey was conducted last year of its positioning in ESG terms by the technical advisory services of Ernst & Young (E&Y). According to the assessment, Taurus had already been adopting an ESG posture in various actions, such as those carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic, in which it began to produce the face-shields (face shield to protect against contagion by the coronavirus), in partnership with the Brazilian Army, and carried out distribution throughout Brazil. The company was also responsible for doubling the capacity of ICUs in the city of São Leopoldo with respirators and infusion pumps.
To aggregate the ESG process in new actions and in management as a whole, Taurus created a specific sector to implement the ESG culture, formed a multidisciplinary work team to work on mapping ESG opportunities and improvements, and created the ESG Committee, constituted by the company’s top management. “We are not interested in simply issuing a sustainability report, but in dealing with the subject formally in the company, incorporating this concept into the culture at Taurus,” emphasizes Salesio Nuhs.
The company has two global protocols used to measure ESG practices, the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB). These protocols assist in the issuance of standardized reports that facilitate the analysis and tracking of ESG indicators in financial statements.
National security, public safety and people safety are issues related to social stability and sustainability, through the defense of freedom, human rights and ethics. Therefore, the defense industry has an essential role, both in relation to security and in the economy and in the development of new technologies, which are extremely relevant themes when it comes to the ESG pillars.
Taurus’ ESG Pillars
In the first pillar, we highlight the Taurus for Good project, which aims to promote the inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities in the workplace, enabling their personal and professional development through technical training. The first class graduated in December 2022, with 11 students, and three of them were hired by the company as apprentices.
Taurus also seeks the professional development of its employees and their academic qualification, through the Trilhar Project and the Educational Program for Excellence in Research and Innovation (PROET), respectively. The Young Apprentice program has the objective of including adolescents in the labor market; and the Leadership Development program has the purpose of training leaders aligned with Taurus’ strategic expectations.
The technology and innovation pillar guarantees important studies in projects for innovation in materials, in which the use of graphene in products, considered a revolutionary technology in the market, stands out. The initiative placed Taurus in the limelight in the world industry and highlighted Brazil as a pioneer in this innovation.
Other projects also stand out in technology and innovation, such as the study for the use of Diamond Like Carbon (DLC) for finishing various components, which, besides increasing resistance, employs cleaner technology and generates a small volume of solid residues of low impact, which facilitates their disposal and recycling. Taurus also promotes research with components manufactured with new, latest generation structural polymers, relying on extralong glass fiber technology; and studies for the addition of niobium to low carbon steels.
These are some of the projects promoted by Taurus’ Integrated Technology and Engineering Center Brazil-United States (CITE), which has more than 200 engineers dedicated to the research and development of new products, technologies and processes, which reduce the emission of pollutant gases, the consumption of electric energy and water, among others.
In relation to sustainability and mitigation of environmental impacts, Taurus also carries out the mapping of greenhouse gases; treatment of effluents; reverse logistics for most of its chemical product packaging; monitoring and management of waste for better use and disposal, both for internal reuse and for recycling, co-processing, re-refining and composting, which represents 94.76% detour from landfills in the disposal of its waste.
In the pillar of engagement in a collaborative environment, Taurus seeks to establish partnerships with companies and educational institutions, in order to promote research, innovation and the development of its employees. Taurus has a fully automated production line project in partnership with Auttom (one of the companies of the Randon Group) for the development of a robotic cell for machining the bolt. Based on the concepts of Industry 4.0, the project allows quality control, traceability, productivity, and several other variables of the process.
Among the partnerships with universities, we highlight the agreement with the University of Caxias do Sul (UCS) to conduct research and development with graphene, through the UCSGRAPHENE, the first and largest graphene production plant on an industrial scale in Latin America installed by a university and that is part of TecnoUCS – Science, Technology and Innovation Park. The structure – together with the other research, innovation and technological development laboratories throughout the university, as well as the performance of the technology center and technical team of the partner company ZextecNano – allows for rapid testing and development of prototypes.
Besides UCS, Taurus also has unprecedented partnerships with other educational institutions, such as the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), the University of Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS) and the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC).
In the view of Taurus’ Global CEO, Salesio Nuhs, the ESG agenda is a strategic action that brings positive impacts for society, for the environment and for business, and will add to the company’s results, with gains such as a reduction in waste, in energy and water consumption, in costs, an increase in productivity through the training of professionals and revitalized environments.
