Gilardoni’s Roberta Perego receiving a sustainability award at the
Sustainability Award 2024 – TOP ESG LEADERS FOR PEACE
Gilardoni: sustainability Comes Naturally
Air Tech Italy recently caught up with Gilardoni, a leading security solutions supplier and an Air Tech Italy Member from the start. The company designs, develops, and produces a wide portfolio of products for the security market, both X-ray scanners for Aviation and Non-Aviation businesses, as well as Tray Movement Systems and other complementary solutions.
Roberta Perego – on the picture on the top – is Gilardoni’s Quality & Sustainability System Coordinator and is in charge of the company’s sustainability approach. We spoke with her and colleagues Cinzia Tropenscovino, After Sales & Marketing Manager and Elisa Elia, Communication Marketing Specialist.
Hi Roberta, can you tell us more about how Gilardoni started approaching its sustainability strategy?
Roberta: “Actually, Gilardoni started focusing on sustainability a long time ago. However, in 2021, we began adopting a more official ESG – Environmental, Social, and Governance – approach within the company. We started cross-checking how ESG principles were already being practiced across all activities at Gilardoni. The main idea was to document all activities that aligned with ESG principles and then take it one step further. Our president wanted to genuinely implement a full sustainability approach—not just put it on paper but also set targets to further improve.”
Was that a difficult exercise?
Roberta: “We discovered that we had been sustainable for a long time, as many activities, including a focus on the well-being of our employees, had already been in place. This was also true for many other areas. We had a solid foundation to build on, so we didn’t need to reinvent everything from scratch. The plan was to go all the way: describe what we were already doing and identify any gaps to create a comprehensive ESG approach in practice. This year, we published our third ESG report. Every year brings improvements over the previous one.”
Your continued efforts paid off?
Roberta: “Yes. On October 17th, we received a sustainability award (see picture above) that recognized our efforts to support young talent (see related picture below), including apprenticeships designed to teach them about Gilardoni and our products, as well as our focus on building relationships with universities. We won the Sustainability Award based on this approach. The Sustainability Award is organized annually by the organization of the same name and is supported by institutions such as Politecnico Milan.”
What I found interesting is that you mentioned Gilardoni was already engaged in many activities classified under ESG. Can you name a few examples?
Roberta: “Indeed, and that is likely true for many companies. Some examples include:
– Environmental: We initiated a re-lamping project where we transitioned from neon to LED lighting across all our facilities. The results were clear: a significant decrease in energy consumption and CO2 emissions. Besides reducing our energy consumption, we have also focused on reducing water usage and limiting the use of plastics. We have a system that calculates emissions from all our activities, allowing us to immediately see the impact of our actions. This is further supported by efforts to inform our employees on how they can contribute.
– Governance: In 2020, we implemented a system focused on the prevention of corruption and the establishment of an ethical code.
– Well-being: As mentioned before, this goes beyond mere ‘community thinking.’ We strive to improve overall working conditions, including remote (smart) working, flexible hours and numerous other initiatives aimed at enhancing work-life balance and employee well-being. In 2025 we also want to obtain our certification for gender equality.
– Products: Since we produce a lot of machinery, including X-ray systems, we have always prioritized minimizing the use of dangerous materials, reducing emissions during production, and recycling materials. All of our new products aim to reduce energy consumption and minimize their environmental impact.”
So a lot of work has been done, but it doesn’t stop there?
Roberta: “Correct. ESG is an ongoing process; it doesn’t stop. We have to continuously foster a culture of change within the company. This is strongly supported by our management, as well as by regulations in Italy. Moving forward, there will always be new goals, more concrete actions to implement, and additional ways to enhance our impact on overall sustainability targets.”
Many thanks, Roberta and team. Gilardoni’s most recent Sustainability Report can be found under this link.
To find out more about Gilardoni’s and its offering, check out this link.