For almost 10 years, COESIO has been supporting organizations in their strategic, tactical, and operational approach to sustainable development. This year, we're taking the time to talk to some of them to take stock of their achievements, the obstacles they've faced, and the opportunities they've seized. In this series of publications, you'll have the chance to discover the details of their sustainable development learnings, developments, and successes, so that you can be inspired to take action.
Festo Didactique designs, manufactures and distributes, in over 70 countries, didactic products to support the teaching of technical subjects requiring practical laboratory work. The company employs over 200 people in a plant located in the Charlesbourg industrial park in Quebec City. Founded in 1959 in the laboratories of Université Laval under the name Lab-Volt, Festo Didactique is now part of the German-based Festo Group, since its acquisition in 2014.
In 2020, Festo Didactique embarked on a sustainable development initiative with the support of the COESIO team and the Écoleader Fund. Two years later, the organization is demonstrating real leadership on the subject, having operationalized more than a dozen sustainable development strategies.
Michel graduated from HEC Montréal's Business Administration program in 2003, and went on to earn his CPA accounting designation in 2006. After working for the consulting firm Deloitte for nearly ten years, he joined the Festo Didactique management team in 2015, a few months after the company was acquired by the German multinational Festo. After managing the integration of accounting and governance systems with the new parent company, Michel then turned his attention to the "Operations and Innovation" component of local strategic planning. A new reorganization at the end of 2021 enabled him to devote himself to new challenges, notably in the quality system and sustainable development, two themes that are now at the heart of Festo Didactique's actions.
Jean-François joined Festo Didactique in 2009 following his college diploma in electrical engineering. He has contributed to the development of new teaching solutions within the engineering team, notably in the fields of renewable energies, motor control, automation and process control. In recent years, he has also been involved in a number of projects related to environmental management and process optimization, as well as playing a key role in the Unify project (ERP system replacement). He is now Product Manager in charge of the Industrial Electricity portfolio.
Jean-François
Iinitiated the first environmental discussions in the company. These discussions stemmed from my values and a desire to see Festo Didactique do more for the environment. I wanted to see what could be done within the company, but above all thanks to the company.
In 2019, I set up an environment committee with a few other employees with whom we met voluntarily over lunch hours. We started meeting to implement environmental actions, and then I presented a project to the management committee, asking them to commit to sustainable development, not just the environment. My presentation was very well received by the management team.
Michel
Jean-Françoiswas most certainly our spark plug, but I'd like to add that there was fertile ground back then. The management team was made up of highly experienced engineers with a career in education and a strong environmental conscience. On top of that, our corporate culture was, and still is, very much focused on social issues and the well-being of our employees. So when Jean-François presented us with his sustainable development project, we all wanted to support him, but the big challenge was that nobody knew how to go about it.
This is where I decided to support Jean-François in his project. When it comes to finance, I'm not as much in the thick of the day-to-day action as other members of management might be. And when we realized that sustainable development included a whole economic component, we decided that it would be ideal for me to be involved in this approach.
Jean-François
Itwas some time after Michel's involvement that I discovered the Sustainable Industries Council's ECOresponsibleTM certification, a continuous improvement certification in sustainable development that would allow us to really structure ourselves on the subject. Michel and I decided to begin our sustainable development process using the ECOresponsibleTM certification methodology, with the support of the COESIO team.
Jean-François
Iinitiated the first environmental discussions in the company. These discussions stemmed from my values and a desire to see Festo Didactique do more for the environment. I wanted to see what could be done within the company, but above all thanks to the company.
In 2019, I set up an environment committee with a few other employees with whom we met voluntarily over lunch hours. We started meeting to implement environmental actions, and then I presented a project to the management committee, asking them to commit to sustainable development, not just the environment. My presentation was very well received by the management team.
Michel
Jean-Françoiswas most certainly our spark plug, but I'd like to add that there was fertile ground back then. The management team was made up of highly experienced engineers with a career in education and a strong environmental conscience. On top of that, our corporate culture was, and still is, very much focused on social issues and the well-being of our employees. So when Jean-François presented us with his sustainable development project, we all wanted to support him, but the big challenge was that nobody knew how to go about it.
This is where I decided to support Jean-François in his project. When it comes to finance, I'm not as much in the thick of the day-to-day action as other members of management might be. And when we realized that sustainable development included a whole economic component, we decided that it would be ideal for me to be involved in this approach.
Jean-François
Itwas some time after Michel's involvement that I discovered the Sustainable Industries Council's ECOresponsibleTM certification, a continuous improvement certification in sustainable development that would allow us to really structure ourselves on the subject. Michel and I decided to begin our sustainable development process using the ECOresponsibleTM certification methodology, with the support of the COESIO team.
In recent months, Festo Didactique has implemented a four-phase approach to sustainable development:
Jean-François
Oneof the first obstacles we faced was the lack of knowledge we had on the subject. For many, sustainable development means protecting the environment. Initially, it was the management committee who had to educate themselves on the subject, as well as a few key members of the organization. We did this by doing our research, through workshops with COESIO, and above all by deploying our sustainable development approach throughout the organization. Today, we're at the stage of having to educate all our employees on the subject, but we also want to educate our customers in the future.
Michel
Totally. We already have learning solutions that directly target important aspects of sustainable development such as renewable energy production and energy efficiency, and we want to continue developing them. However, we want to do more by integrating sustainability concepts into more traditional technical courses to enable a more comprehensive teaching of technologies. But before that, we're going to concentrate on training our employees, and those of our parent company too.
Jean-François
Anothervery important obstacle for us is definitely time. There are a lot of people who want to get involved in the organization's sustainability projects, but when it comes to finding the time to move projects forward, it's a different kettle of fish.
Michel
Yes, that's a good point, time is a very big challenge for us. We have a very action-oriented corporate culture, which means it's often difficult to prioritize what's not operational. We're in the process of giving ourselves the means to prioritize sustainable development within the organization. For example, a few months ago, we made my position of vice president of Finance, Quality, and Sustainable Development official. I am also supported in my activities by a Quality and Sustainable Development Coordinator.
Jean-François
There's also the Sustainable Development Committee, which meets monthly to ensure that our sustainable development action plan is moving forward and to propose new initiatives.
Michel
Bref, it's a question of prioritization.
Jean-François
Wequickly realized that if we wanted to improve in terms of environmental management, we had to be able to measure ourselves year after year. So we had to do some assessments. As I was saying earlier, it's much easier for us to measure ourselves in social terms, because we've been working on this aspect for several years now. But the environmental aspect is brand new.
To this end, we have decided to carry out an initial assessment of our greenhouse gas emissions at the end of 2021, in collaboration with COESIO and Fonds Écoleader. This assessment is aligned with the GHG Protocol standard and includes our Scope 1, 2, and even 3 emissions (partially). We are now working on our greenhouse gas emission reduction plan.
Michel
Thelast obstacle I'd like to discuss, which ultimately became an opportunity for us, is the fact that we're part of a group. When we started, we weren't sure that our parent company would have the same interest in investing time and money in this as we did. However, we quickly realized that the group shared the same values as we did and that it was also keen to take responsibility. This gave us the confidence we needed to structure ourselves, gain maturity, and deploy our approach across the organization through numerous projects.
Jean-François
Totally, we feel supported by the Festo group in our approach. What I would add on the subject is that the fact that we started this process some time ago already helps us to have a good understanding of the concepts when we exchange with the group on sustainable development. It allows us to demonstrate our leadership and shine a spotlight on them.
Jean-François
We'll be submitting our application in a few days for ECOresponsibleTM Level 2 - Performance certification. It's certainly a source of great pride because this certification process has enabled us to structure ourselves and implement more than a dozen eco-responsible projects in recent months.
We now have a clear sustainable development governance structure, we're working on a major project to redefine our organizational culture and, what's more, we carried out our first greenhouse gas inventory a few months ago.
Michel
Theimminent submission of our dossier to Ecocert is a source of pride for me too. At the start, Jean-François and I honestly saw this certification project as a mountain, so I'm delighted that we've reached the filing stage.
Michel
Beyondthe certification, the greatest pride I have is the commitment to the company it has generated. The process enabled me to work with people from other functions, to get to know them, and to have deep conversations, not just about operational technicalities, but really to get to the heart of my colleagues' values. And that created a bond between us that for me is even more important than the certification. The connection we've created will stay with us forever, and it'll be a strength for the company too.
Jean-François
Anothersuccess for me is the fact that now sustainable development and the environment are topics that are talked about everywhere in the organization and practically every day. When I first felt like starting the environment committee, it was because we never talked about it. We didn't talk about it at work, and we didn't talk about it at lunchtime with colleagues either. Now, people bring me their ideas and solutions. I can see that employees are starting to think about it, without being involved in the environment committee or the sustainable development committee. I find it really gratifying to have helped create this commitment.
Michel
Finally, on a more personal level, the people involved in this sustainable development approach have most certainly demonstrated their leadership to the management committee, but also to the organization as a whole. In the case of Jean-François' recent promotion to Product Manager, no one was surprised by the news. Through his involvement in our sustainable development process, and in other areas, he has proved that he is capable of navigating the unknown and developing new skills.
Jean-François
Yesmy involvement in this certainly helped me get my new job.
Michel
Presently, we're looking into the possibility of expanding our building. If this project comes to fruition, it's clear that we'll be integrating a whole host of environmental and social considerations, so I can imagine that Jean-François and I will be involved in this project.
As far as ECOresponsibleTM certification is concerned, we're getting ready to apply for level 2, but levels 3 and 4 are looking increasingly attainable. I'm confident that one day we'll be able to reach level 4.
Also, in the coming year, we will be working to lay the foundations for obtaining ISO14001 (environmental management system) and ISO50001 (energy management system). These certifications will help us put in place the means to better manage our environmental impact.
Jean-François
WhatI see from my side is that we definitely need to explore the eco-design avenue for our products.
And finally, as I said earlier, we've just completed our first greenhouse gas inventory. For me, the next step will be to validate our science-based reduction target and implement our reduction plan.
Jean-François
Ihave a good one that will please you, but it's being accompanied (laughs). It's very serious though. Being accompanied by COESIO helped me a lot. Michel said earlier that I was the spark plug in our process, but if that spark plug hadn't been lit, it would have been difficult. COESIO came to support me with a structure and knowledge that enabled me to take my project to management and present them with a credible project.
Michel
I would add that very quickly in the literature that Jean-François skimmed over, it talked a lot about the importance of management commitment. If Jean-François hadn't called on the management committee from the outset, we'd probably still be carrying out one-off eco-responsible initiatives, with no real structure. It definitely wouldn't have had the same impact. By seeking the commitment of management, Jean-François ensured that he had the free rein, the moral authority, the necessary tools and the time to carry out this initiative. Management commitment was certainly a key success factor in our case.
Written by :
Chloé T. Bergeron, Consultant
