Sustainability, continuous innovation, competitiveness, quality of raw materials and services: these key themes are fundamental pillars for Pirelli and took centre stage at the 2024 Supplier Day. The traditional annual event staged by Pirelli for its suppliers took place yesterday at the company’s headquarters in Milan, in the presence of Executive Vice President Marco Tronchetti Provera and Chief Executive Officer Andrea Casaluci.
Selected from among the large, medium, and small companies that partner with Pirelli worldwide, 80 suppliers participated in the 2024 Supplier Day. These ‘strategic suppliers’ came from 22 countries, representing around 40% of the Group’s annual global purchases. The seven that stood out during the last year were presented with awards by Pirelli’s Chief Purchasing Officer and Head of Supply Chain, Luca Galantina.
Marco Tronchetti Provera, Pirelli’s Executive Vice President, said: “Working with partners that share Pirelli’s vision is crucial to maintaining our leadership in the high-perfomance tyre offer. Behind these ambitious challenges there always lies teamwork, particularly when it comes to our objectives of technological innovation and sustainability. That’s why each year we are very glad to reward the suppliers that truly stand out.”
Collaboration with suppliers is an integral part of Pirelli’s road to sustainability, particularly when it comes to tackling challenging objectives such as reducing CO2 emissions across the supply chain (Scope 3) . In September 2024, the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) approved Pirelli’s Net Zero goals for 2040 as well as its near-term goals, which foresee an 80% reduction in total greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 compared to 2018 (Scopes 1 and 2), and a 30% reduction in emissions resulting from the purchase of raw materials, services and transport by 2030 (compared to the base year 2018).
In addition to sustainability, two other key themes emerged at the Supplier Day: innovation and quality. Innovation is particularly reflected in Pirelli’s work in research and development, as well as throughout the broader digital transformation programme involving all process and products (Cyber Tyre, to mention an example). When it comes to quality, excellence includes both the product and service level.
The companies recognised at the 2024 Pirelli Supplier Awards were:
- Sustainability Award: PIBRA TRASPORTI, a logistics supplier that has started to use trucks running on alternative fuels – namely battery electric and biomethane – for the activities related to Pirelli.
- Process Innovation: VMI HOLLAND B.V., a supplier of machinery used in tyre manufacturing.
- Material Innovation: ASAHI KASEI CORPORATION, a supplier of synthetic rubber, as well as a research partner in the development of new tyre production materials.
- Quality Award: SHANDONG YANGGU HUATAI CHEMICAL CO, a supplier of chemicals used in tyre compounds.
- Service Level Award: SHANGHAI INOAC POLYMER PRODUCTS CO, a supplier of polyurethane foams used in tyre production.
- Digital Transformation: SALESFORCE.COM, a provider of innovative CRM solutions for processes and platforms.
- Excellence: JIANGSU XINGDA STEEL TYRE CORD GROUP CORP, a supplier of metal reinforcements.
The ceremony was also attended by Mario Isola, Pirelli’s Motorsport Director, who highlighted Pirelli’s leadership in motorsport, starting with Formula 1 – where teamwork is the recipe for success. Pirelli has introduced further innovation into Formula 1 this year by exclusively using competition tyres that contain FSC™-certified natural rubber.
Scope 3: indirect emissions linked to activities upstream or downstream from company operations, calculated according to the GHG Protocol and in line with SBTi requirements.
Where natural rubber represents approx 15% of the tyre weight.
SOURCE: Pirelli
