Sustainability Channel

Pirelli wins BMW innovation award

PIRELLI rewarded by BMW as most innovative supplier in the “quality” category

Pirelli has been presented with the 2014 BMW Supplier Innovation Award, a prize that the German manufacturer gives to its most innovative suppliers every year. The Italian tyre firm was awarded the ‘best innovation in quality’ prize at a ceremony held yesterday in Amsterdam, for its Real Dynamic Curing technology: used in the tyre vulcanisation process. This technology, adopted by Pirelli throughout its factories, allows the optimal degree of vulcanisation to be calculated for each tyre via the use of a thermal sensor. Vulcanisation, or in other words the process in which a tyre’s characteristics are ‘set’ by heat, is the final phase in the tyre production process and a determining factor in the quality of the finished product.

The prize was collected Pirelli’s General Manager Technology, Maurizio Boiocchi.

Pirelli is also one of the key suppliers to BMW worldwide also in terms of the amount of product provided. Thanks to research centres and production facilities located in areas where premium and top of the range cars are frequently sold, including Brazil, China, Europe and the USA, Pirelli is able to develop tyres that are perfectly suited to BMW models in every corner of the world.

In particular, Pirelli produces made to measure run-flat tyres in close collaboration with BMW’s engineers, specifically designed for each model. These tyres can be distinguished by a special star marking on the sidewall, which indicates that the tyres have been made especially. As a result, safety is improved and the driveability of the vehicle is maximised.

Pirelli has more than 200 homologations for the BMW Group, in sizes from 16 to 21 inches. The long list of models equippped with Pirelli tyres include SUVs such as the X1, X3, X5 and X6 as well as the 1 Series, 2 Series, 2 Series Active Tourer, 3 Series, 3 Series GT, 4 Series, 5 Series, 6 Series Gran Coupé, and 7 Series. Also included is the MINI Paceman and Countryman.

OPERATION CLEAN BEACHES

For the fourth year in a row Pirelli Venezuela takes part in “World Beach Day”

San Esteban National Park, state of Carabobo, Patanemo bay, Venezuela. This is where Pirelli celebrated the day dedicated to the care and protection of beaches, organised by the Department of Safety and the Environment. Gustavo Naked, LatAm HSE manager, and Rafael Schio from Gravataí (Brazil) both made important contributions in promoting this event.

Sixty colleagues took part, collecting 1.2 tonnes of rubbish, including metal, glass and plastic waste. This was then sent to specialised waste-processing plants, with complete respect for health and hygiene. This experience, certainly a change from the standard working day, gave our colleagues first-hand experience of just how important it is to safeguard the future health and well-being of the country’s natural heritage, with the goal of increasing environmental awareness.

PIRELLI: RE-CONFIRMED AS THE ONLY TYRE COMPANY IN THE GLOBAL COMPACT 100 SUSTAINABILITY INDEX

Pirelli is again confirmed, for the second consecutive year, as the only tyre company present in the ”Global Compact 100” sustainability index, launched last year by UN  Global Compact in collaboration with Sustainalytics. The “Global Compact 100” index is composed of 100 companies chosen on the basis of their alignment with the ten principles that guide the UN Global Compact, their management’s commitment to sustainability issues and their level of profitability. These companies recorded a yield in one year – expressed in terms of Total Investment Return – 21.8% higher than the S&P global mid and large-cap index.