Environment.
Raw materials
Raw materials and their sourcing are the starting point of our industrial supply chain. We are directly involved in searching, selecting, and transporting materials from the extraction areas to the factories, always maintaining the utmost respect for places and people.
Our mining activities
Our mining activities
Mining done by the Gruppo’s companies mainly involve Italian sands and clays from quarries in Sardinia, with treatment and logistics methods agreed with local institutions and organized to minimize travel distances.
When mining is completed, the Gruppo Concorde restores the mined areas to their original state by regenerating the landscape and planting local flora.
The search for raw materials in the world
The Gruppo Concorde is directly involved in searching out and sourcing the best raw materials.
The Gruppo Concorde is directly involved in searching out and sourcing the best raw materials.
The raw materials transportation
The transport
of raw materials
Raw materials are brought to the factories by sea and land. To optimize these multimodal logistics, we try to minimize transshipments and use rail as an important resource with a reduced environmental impact.
In Italy we are among the leading users of rail services for the transportation of raw materials. About 50% of the raw materials rail traffic from the port of Ravenna is used by the Gruppo Concorde. These are supplemented by regular rail flows from ports on the Tyrrhenian Sea. This effort reduces heavy truck traffic on local highways by at least 16,000 trips per year. This alone avoids the release of about 3,500 tons/year of CO2 into the atmosphere.
(Source of the average CO2/km figure: logisticanews.it).
Production process
Ceramic surfaces “Made in Gruppo Concorde” are the result of the integration of an automated and technologically advanced industrial process, the selection of the best raw materials, and the professional expertise of skilled operators.
The Gruppo’s factories are designed with the utmost attention to the healthiness of each working environment, with high standards of respect for the surrounding environment.
From water reclamation to the reuse of ceramic scrap from the production cycle, every area of the factories is designed to optimize efficiency and minimize impact on the environment and people.
Commitment, efficiency, and responsibility.
We believe that manufacturing involves the privilege and responsibility of protecting the land and people. Therefore, in our companies we aim to continuously improve in the area of efficiency, translating the concepts of “energy recovery,” “resource reuse,” and “organizational efficiency” into practical actions.
Autonomous energy production
In its Italian plants the Gruppo Concorde is able to self-produce more than 80% of its electricity for its own internal consumption through photovoltaic and cogeneration plants.
Furthermore, the Gruppo has more than 60,000 m2 of solar panels with a current capacity of about 4 MW, with an additional 9 MW being installed.
100% scrap recovery
Gruppo Concorde companies recover 100% of non-conforming product before it undergoes the final stage of thermal processing.
Similarly, the Gruppo Concorde ships over ceramic scrap from the firing process to companies that process it and subsequently returns it to the production plant for new use.
Emission reduction
We pay attention to emissions into the environment, operating well below legal limits and BAT (Best Available Technology) benchmarks. Currently the Gruppo’s plants are able to reduce dust and fluorine emissions with an efficiency of 99%.
Despite the absence of regulatory constraints, the Gruppo Concorde has voluntarily decided to install nine post-combustion plants – commonly called RTOs (Regenerative Thermal Oxidizers) – in its companies. These represent the best available technology to further reduce any odorous substances and to preserve the already high level of healthiness of the surrounding areas.
100%
water recovery
The Gruppo Concorde companies have efficient purification devices that allow them to recover all the water used for production, about 500 million liters per year.
Heat recovery
Gruppo Concorde companies are able to recover heat from their industrial operations and reuse it in production processes. This allows for annual avoided emissions of about 55,000 t CO2 into the atmosphere.
Waste disposal and recycling
The collection of waste – including iron, copper, and plastic – in the Gruppo Concorde’s factories is sorted, enabling its recycle and reuse, with rates of about 99%.
A certified commitment
Warehouse and logistics
Gruppo Concorde proactively commits to electric forklifts in the warehouses, whenever that is possible. In recent years, we have gradually decreased the diesel/powered forklifts, which are now only 50% of the entire fleet. In addition, in several companies we’ve invested in logistics automation and process efficiency. A fully automated large warehouse, wire driven pallets transport systems and a more efficient goods flow have allowed to reduce by approx 400 Tons the yearly plastics PET consumption for packaging, equals to approx. 10 millions 1.5 litres capacity bottles.
