In 2011, Hitachi Rail STS set up the Internal Sustainability Committee, made up of the managers of the company’s main departments.
The Committee’s mission is to define the company’s strategic guidelines for sustainable development and the promotion of social responsibility initiatives and see that they are implemented. The Internal Sustainability Committee reports directly to the CEO of Hitachi Rail and collaborates and coordinates with the company’s organisational units.
The Committee is responsible for:
The new development plan for the sustainability topics (2018/19 CSR Plan), formulated for the first time in the company, was presented to the Sustainability Committee and to Top Management in January 2018. Its implementation started immediately afterwards.
In 2018 the Internal Sustainability Committee met on two occasions:
Hitachi Rail STS considers the behaviour of an organisation that contributes to sustainable development, grown out of a shared and concrete commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), as a crucial element to improve its performance, enhance its reputation, increase its ability to attract talent and strengthen its relationships with customers, business partners, suppliers and local communities.
Hitachi Rail STS wants to develop a coordinated CSR corporate strategy, with an action plan that aims to:
Inspired by these principles, our 2018/19 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) plan has identified the following action areas for the two-year period:
Commitment to the Global Compact
Once again, this year Hitachi Rail STS has signed up to the Global Compact, a voluntary United Nations initiative that encourages respect for human rights, labour, the environment and fights against anti-corruption through a series of 10 principles. The Group’s membership in the initiative reiterates its commitment to the Global Compact and its main principles as an integral part of the Company’s strategies and workplace culture.
Global Compact Network Italy Foundation
Global Compact Network Italy (GCNI) was founded in 2002 to contribute to the development of the “Global Pact” in Italy. In June 2013, the GCNI created the Global Compact Network Italy Foundation, with Hitachi Rail STS as Founding Member and Sponsor, along with 17 other organisations, private companies, universities and research institutes, non-profit foundations and civil society organisations.
CSR Manger Network
Hitachi Rail STS participates in the CSR Manager Network, the National Association that unites the professionals of the main Italian companies committed to sustainability issues. The Association is a place to discuss Italian and foreign best practices and acts as a representative body and communicates with the world of politics, business associations, trade unions, environmental associations and other NGOs. It also promotes and tests sustainability and actively participates in national and international discussions. It is the Italian network hub for similar associations that are being set up around the world. The CSR Network is Italy’s official representative in the Global Network of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).
Industry Associations
Hitachi Rail STS actively participates in UNIFE projects (association of European railway builders), UNISIG (association of European railway signalling companies) and UITP (international public transportation association), ANIE (National Federation of Electrotechnical and Electronic Companies), AICQ (Italian Association for a Quality Culture), the Italian partner of EFQM (European Foundation for Quality Management), Cosila (consortium for safety in the workplace) and Unione degli Industriali/Confindustria (Industrialists’ Union/Italy’s main organisation representing Italian manufacturing and service companies), in Naples and Genoa, specifically.
In the scope of UNIFE, Hitachi Rail STS collaborates to promote the extension of the use of railway transportation through the implementation of technological standards (ERTMS and TSI) and by proposing European research projects to improve safety, energy efficiency and environmental protection in the field of railway transportation. Specifically, this project, proposed as a Joint Undertaking in the railway sector, SHIFT2RAIL, aims to reduce emissions and promote for a modal shift in transportation, in line with the indications of the transportation white book published by the EU Commission. Furthermore, also as part of UNIFE, Hitachi Rail STS sits on the Sustainable Transport Committee, which aims to define a common, consistent and effective consensus in the railway industry with respect to environmental issues and, particularly, energy efficiency (reliable standards to measure energy consumption), the evaluation of the life cycle as one of the main criteria in the decision-making process, eco-procurement and noise and emission reduction.
Taxonomy and green finance
Taxonomy and green finance: four fundamental documents were recently presented referring to the European Commission’s Action Plan for a greener and cleaner economy. The project that was initiated in March 2018, aims to channel capital towards a low-intensity carbon economy.
In May 2018, the European Commission began implementing the first measures contained in the Action Plan, by introducing three regulatory proposals related to:
The European Commission subsequently appointed the Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (TEG), comprising a multi-stakeholder group of experts brought together by the Commission to establish the guidelines for sustainable finance in Europe and to provide consulting on four specific issues referring to: taxonomy, prioritising environmental issues and more specifically, on the mitigation and adaptation to climate change; improving the guidelines on reporting information related to climate; the introduction of a European Green Bond Standard; common criteria to build low-carbon benchmarks and a positive-carbon impact.
Within this European initiative, Hitachi Rail STS contributes to the work required of the group of experts (TEG) in its sector, both through the European association (UNIFE), and in the context of Hitachi, providing their own evaluations and experiences to identify the metrics that the European Community will use to assess the performance and possible financial support.
EcoVadis
EcoVadis is a company that aims to improve the environmental and social practices of businesses by leveraging the influence of the global logistics chain. It has defined a methodology to assess Corporate Social Responsibility through the analysis of policies, their implementation and the results achieved. The assessment focuses on 21 topics divided into four categories: Environment, Employment and Human Rights, Ethics, Sustainable procurement.
Hitachi Rail STS undertakes this assessment on an annual basis and in 2018 confirmed its Gold Medal award and increased its rating by 6 percentage points (from 63/100 to 69/100).
As well as recognising the company’s vision and efforts in the field of CSR, the certification also helps customers to achieve their sustainability and environmental targets.
Innovation never begins with an idea or an instrument. To the contrary, it begins with a need, the discovery of an opportunity. Hitachi meets these needs with new technologies for designing solutions that can create a tangible and positive social impact, and a visible and persistent change. This is how it manages its projects, by analysing them as plans or proposals able to display solutions that can work. It creates a prototype with the project, and demonstrates how to implement the idea and attain the expected results. This “scientific” approach allows it to assess the feasibility, costs, market and value of the solutions.
Therefore, Social Innovation for Hitachi is the way to:
In January 2019, Hitachi Rail STS has created a group explicitly and exclusively dedicated to the theme of innovation, to be developed over the next few years with dedicated budgets and resources.
The first objective was to give a clear definition of the concept of innovation by choosing the one given in The Little Black Book of Innovation by Scott D. Anthony “Blueprinting is an idea to seize that opportunity, and implementing that idea to achieve results: no impact, no innovation.”
This definition highlights how, for Hitachi Rail STS, innovation is a structured process that requires a rigorous approach and a well-defined set of activities. Starting from a need, a business opportunity is identified to satisfy it.
The best solutions (ideas) are identified, eventually resulting in new technologies and competences, according to the logic of ‘open innovation,’ and, finally the prototypes of these new solutions are created to demonstrate their effectiveness in satisfying the need. This creates a positive impact on the business and the community.
The second clearly-defined objective was the role and purpose of the new team’s work. The following figure summarizes the domain of the innovation team and where it is located — away from current solutions and business. As a result, it becomes a collector of opportunities, ideas and skills, delving into new technologies. The final objective is to create prototypes of new products and solutions that, transferred to the engineering and development bodies together with the related new skills, can enrich the Company’s product portfolio of tomorrow. Methods used by Hitachi Rail STS to eliminate and simplify hardware.
Over the years, its development of products and solutions (Development and Engineering) has enabled Hitachi Rail STS to seize a leading position in the Signalling Systems and Railway and Mass Transit Sectors.
The research and development expense ascribed directly to profit or loss, net of grants, shows significant growth and is broken down in the following table:
The majority of investments regarded the on-board systems product line aimed at facilitating alignment to the ERTMS standards and improving the performance of CBTC applications; furthermore, the new platform for automation products was launched, aimed at promoting the digital development of technology.
Hitachi Rail STS implements RAMS (Reliability, Availability, Maintainability and Safety) activities to ensure that it develops and delivers products, applications and systems that are safe, in compliance with Italian and international laws applicable to railway systems, reliable and in line with its customers’ needs and its internal quality standards.
These activities are performed on all Hitachi Rail STS projects in which safety and reliability are relevant, which constitute over 90% of total business activities.
Safety and reliability are achieved through hazard analysis, a structured process in line with sector standards. It begins with the identification of hazards based on previous experience, the assessment of specifications for the various processes stages and Hazard workshops during which experts from the Company and from the customer discuss the various issues. Potential hazards are then included in a Hazard log, which is constantly updated over the life cycle of the project. For each hazard mapped, the log also includes the mitigation measures, activities to check that they were effectively implemented and an assessment of the residual hazard. The residual hazard level is assessed and accepted only if it is below the limits established by standards and customer requirements.
Hitachi Rail STS’s unwavering commitment to providing its customers and end users (passengers and freight) with the best products and system solutions, the use of the best design methodologies and procedures and the best existing construction methods and processes contributes to increasing safety and reducing direct and indirect impacts on the environment.
