Protocol of intent signed by Pirelli, the Interior Ministry and the Ministry for Education and Research to jointly develop projects aimed at reducing traffic accidents.

The initiative was presented at the Chamber of Deputies before the Interior Minister, Roberto Maroni, the Education Minister, Mariastella Gelmini, the chairman of the Transport Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, Mario Valducci, and the director of the Italian highway patrol, Roberto Sgalla.

A video produced together with the national police force will teach secondary-school students the role that tyres play in safe driving.

The project is one of a number designed by Pirelli, within the scope of the European Road Safety Charter, aimed at improving road safety and reducing the number of accident victims.

Today, Pirelli signed a protocol of intent with the Interior Ministry and the Ministry for Education and Research in order to select and support joint projects and other initiatives aimed at increasing awareness among Italian drivers – especially secondary-school students and other young drivers – on the issue of road safety through education and other informational campaigns.

The signing of the protocol took place in Rome today at the Chamber of Deputies before the Interior Minister, Roberto Maroni, the Education Minister, Mariastella Gelmini, the chairman of the Pirelli group, Marco Tronchetti Provera, the director of the Italian highway patrol, Roberto Sgalla, and the chairman of the Transport Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, Mario Valducci. This agreement calls for the three parties to work together for at least three years on road-safety projects.

The protocol falls within the scope of the initiatives Pirelli has undertaken throughout Europe in order to help reduce traffic accidents in observance of the principles of the European Road Safety Charter, of which Pirelli is a signatory.

The signing of the agreement was accompanied by the presentation of the first promotional project born out of the collaboration between Pirelli and the Italian Polizia di Stato (national police force), which is in the form of an educational video explaining the central role that tyres play in driving safety. The video is to be shown in Italian secondary schools, published in the web site of the Interior Ministry, and used as teaching material for the national police force. In particular, police officers will be showing the video to young people during road safety courses held in schools. The high impact of the images and the direct language used underscore the importance that tyres play in road safety, while placing an emphasis on proper maintenance and the appropriate use of tyres and on the need to choose the right tyre for the car and for the usage conditions, such as using winter tyres in the colder months. The video is also to be used by the police force as an in-house training tool and in the numerous road-safety and accident-prevention campaigns of the Interior Ministry’s Department of Public Safety.

The video presented to the Chamber of Deputies was produced last April at the Pirelli track in Vizzola Ticino during a training exercise for the Polizia Stradale (Italian highway patrol).The training involved some 50 agents who, joined by the heads of Pirelli Experimentation, studied theory and also had the opportunity to experience first-hand the role that tyres play in passive safety, including in-vehicle stability, grip in curves, and braking. Another goal of the course was to learn to understand the structural and performance characteristics shown on the sidewall of all tyres and in the vehicle’s registration book, such assize, load index, speed code, homologation, tyre pressure, and tread depth.

Tyres and safety. The tyre is an essential component in the performance and safety of any vehicle, as confirmed by the central role tyres play in Formula One racing, where Pirelli is the sole manufacturer. This importance is even more evident in terms of the prevention of accidents. Here, tyre quality and proper maintenance are decisive factors in road safety. As the sole point of contact between the vehicle and the road surface, the tyre is crucial both in braking and in grip in all conditions –dry or wet, in a straight line or in a curve. A worn or improperly inflated tyre can extend braking distance by up to 70%, so it can be the cause of traffic accidents.

As many studies have shown, we tend to pay too little attention to our tyres. According to a study conducted last year by Federpneus and Assogomma, in collaboration with the Italian highway patrol, more than 50% of Italians drive on underinflated, worn, damaged, or even non-homologated tyres.

Pirelli Research. Throughout the world, Pirelli is synonymous with both performance and safety. Together with environmental protection, road safety is one of the key elements of the premium strategy at the heart of the group’s industrial and business decisions. Pirelli’s commitment to road safety comes in the form of a great many training and promotional activities and, above all, in research and the constant application of innovative technologies to promote sustainable mobility.

This means ecological materials and tyre structures developed to achieve the utmost in fuel savings and, at the same time, an increase in vehicle safety, particularly in braking and in curves.

Pirelli’s Research and Development unit, in which the group invests roughly 3% of its annual revenues, also works towards cutting-edge solutions such as the “cyber tyre”, which is a smart tyre that “reads” the road surface by way of an integrated microchip. Currently in final testing before actual commercialisation, this cyber tyre monitors the health and pressure of the tyre and provides important data regarding the state of the tyre and the conditions of the road surface.

Pirelli’s commitment to safety and sustainable mobility is being repeatedly acknowledged in tests conducted around the world by the most prestigious certifying bodies and by the industry press, as well as by international sustainability indexes. In 2011 in particular, and for the fifth year in a row, Pirelli was named the world leader in sustainability in the Auto Parts & Tyres section of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.

European Road Safety Charter. As part of the company’s commitment to road safety, Pirelli has signed the European Road Safety Charter promoted by the European Commission. As a signatory of this charter, Pirelli is bound to intensify its efforts already under way internationally in order to help reduce traffic accidents. Promoted by the European Commission, the charter aims to support all projects that can help to increase road safety. The activities that Pirelli has planned meet the standards of feasibility, utility and verifiability required by the European Road Safety Charter, which has been signed by more than 1,900 companies and other organisations throughout Europe, and they also work towards the targets for 2020 regarding the development of safety technologies and the planning of actions to increase awareness internationally.

Pirelli’s many initiatives also include those that seek to increase driver awareness of the key role played by tyre quality and maintenance in preventing traffic accidents. These activities involve both extensive promotional and prevention efforts and training programmes for customers and resellers. This includes the 2010 “Safe & Go” campaign conducted in collaboration with Autostrade per l’Italia. As part of this campaign, mobile workshops were set up along the Italian motorways where Pirelli technicians conducted tyre-condition tests free of charge. Pirelli has also recently launched the online contest “Dai voce alla sicurezza” (Give voice to safety) in order to increase awareness of road safety issues among truck drivers. In addition, Pirelli organises on-track activities for young people and organisations, and the company is also partnering with a number of leading safe-driving schools for drivers around the world.

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The acquisition of an already existing factory in addition to building a new industrial plant

In addition to the plan already announced by the Parties to build a new industrial plant in the Russian region of Samara in the second half of 2010, the new agreement foresees the acquisition of an already existing factory, which is currently being identified among some potentially interesting Russian enterprises. It is foreseen that the acquisition will take place in 2010.

The agreement was signed today in Rome in the presence of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, by the Director General of Russian Technologies Sergey Chemezov and the Chairman of the Pirelli Group Marco Tronchetti Provera.

 The new industrial hub will be established on the territory of Togliatti industrial technology park (Samara region).

 The hub establishment will begin as soon as the Russian authorities make the decision on the area for production of automotive components, which is expected in the second half of 2010. The new factory will be built in two phases. In the first phase a factory for radial tyres for industrial vehicles will be built. The second phase foresees a factory to manufacture steelcord. At full capacity, the industrial hub will employ about 1500 workers.

 In the five-year period, the new factories together with the expected acquisition will guarantee manufacturing capacity of more than 4 million pieces, as foreseen by the initial plans. Total resources to be committed by the joint venture, in line with what has already been announced, will amount to about 300 million euros. 
Download the Press Release (PDF Version)

The awards scheme, launched by Confindustria (the Confederation of Italian Industry) in collaboration with APQI – Associazione Premio Qualità Italia (the Quality Award Association of Italy) and a number of experts of the sector, has as its objective to make known and diffuse organisational and strategic models oriented toward growth through innovation.

The Premio was received on behalf of Pirelli Tyre by Maurizio Boiocchi, head of the company’s Product Development. The ceremony was attended by the President of the Italian Republic Giorgio Napolitano, the president of Confindustria Emma Marcegaglia, the vice-president for Research&Innovation Diana Bracco and Mariastella Gelmini, Minister of Education, as a testimony to the authorititativeness of this initiative, now in its third year.

To know more and to listen to the interview to M. Boiocchi (available in Italian only):

http://www.confindustriaixi.it

Yesterday (10 November) at Slatina the Sports Lyceum of Inter Campus Romania was inaugurated, the programme that uses the game of football as an instrument of social integration, developed by FC Internazionale in collaboration with Pirelli and the New Community Association. 

Those attending the ceremony included Enrico Malerba, CEO of Pirelli Tyre Romania, Darius Diaclov, Mayor of Slatina, Aldo Montinaro, technical director of Inter Campus and Don Gino Rigoldi, president of the New Community.

“For Pirelli, after substantial investments in the Slatina production centre, to participate in the improvement of the local community’s social situation is a moral duty. The people who work for Pirelli live in Slatina, so it is right that we contribute to the development of their city. Through this project, we wanted to help all the children, both those who are well-off and those less so”, declared Enrico Malerba, CEO of Pirelli Tyres Romania.

“Pirelli is an example of commitment in the social and sporting life of Slatina”, said Darius Dialcov, Mayor of the city. “They train and educate the young generation, help them to develop themselves. I am pleased to see that 50 children from Slatina have been rewarded in this way”.

It was Christian Chivu who opened the 2009-2010 season of Inter Campus Romania, the Inter champion and Rumanian national player who is the star testimonial of this initiative, which aims at the social integration of boys from eight to 14 years-old through the activity and values of the sport.

Promoted by the Sodalitas Foundation, AIAF (Associazione Italiana Imprese Familiari), AIDDA (Associazione Imprenditrici Donne Dirigenti d’Azienda), Impronta Etica, UCID (Unione Cristiana Imprenditori Dirigenti), the Ufficio Nazionale Consigliera di Parità with the support of the Ministry of Work, Health and Social Policies and the Ministry for Equal Opportunity, the Document provides a picture of reference evaluation to guide companies adherent to its application, containing non-detailed regulations but few programmatic commitments based on the principals and key elements of effective programmes of change, tested with success by committed companies that have been associated with the subject for some time.

Sixteen Italian companies voluntarily signed the document on the conclusion of a convention that took place, among the speakers at which were Maurizio Sacconi, Minister of Work, Health and Social Policies and Simonetta Matone, Head of the Cabinet at the Ministry for Equal Opportunity. Among the companies were Abb, Bpm, Bracco, IBM, Nestlé, l’Oréal Italia and Unipol. After having illustrated the commitment of the Group in drafting the Document and the diffusion of a culture of equal opportunity, Antonio Calabrò, director of Institutional and Cultural Affairs and a member of the Presidential Committee of Assolombarda for culture and social responsibility in business, signed the Document for Pirelli, a commitment for the diffusion of policies and resources free of discrimination and prejudice, also contributing in that way to the competitiveness and success of  the company.

To learn more go to pirelli.com

The ship that begins this journey on the web flies the Italian flag. A tyre-narrator welcomes visitors and accompanies them through the years and in the areas built up by Pirelli, while sound effects and music recall the most significant stages, together with a video and multi-media material that mark the road, going deeper into the principal stages. In short, a young and entertaining account of a story that has become 80 years old, but which conserves the flavour and freshness of “being Brazilian in Brazil”.

The reorganization will allow for significant downsizing of the corporate level structures, with savings, once the reorganization is completed, of at least 10 million euros on an annual basis starting in 2010, and regrouping of operating activities necessary for growth of the core business: tyres (Pirelli Tyre) and filters (Pirelli Eco Technology) within the new Department, thus ensuring one single management of corporate processes. This Department will incorporate the activities of Purchasing, Administration and Control, Pirelli Labs, Advertising and Events, Human Resources, Health, Safety & Environment (which also reports to the Group General Counsel), and the Service Centers for information technology and administrative activities.

In addition to the new Department, the following will report directly to the Chairman:

• the Group General Counsel, Francesco Chiappetta, who will be in charge of, in addition to Legal and Corporate Affairs, Group Compliance, the Risk Officer, Industrial Property, and Security;
• the Finance Department, led by Francesco Tanzi, who joins the Group and who will be in charge of Finance, Tax, Budget, Risk Management and M&A. Francesco Tanzi was also appointed by the Board of Directors to be the Manager mandated to draft corporate accounting documents;
• the Institutional and Cultural Affairs Department, headed by Antonio Calabrò;
• the Image and Brand Extension Department, headed by Andrea Imperiali;
• the Investor Relations Department, headed by Valeria Leone;
• the Media Communications Department, headed by Maurizio Abet.

The following will also report directly to the Chairman: Maurizio Sala, as Group Controller (also in charge of Administration and Control for Pirelli Tyre); Human Resources, headed by Fabrizio Rutschmann, for HR strategy and senior management HR; Internal Audit, headed by Maurizio Bonzi; Pirelli Broadband Solutions; Pirelli Ambiente and PZero.

In line with the focus on industrial activities, the reorganization includes closing the Operations Department, headed by Claudio De Conto, who managed with skill and authority the roles and functions assigned to him in recent years. Claudio De Conto, who participated in mapping out the above-indicated Group reorganization, will now focus his activity, as CEO Finance, on Pirelli Real Estate. Together with the other CEO of Pirelli RE, Giulio Malfatto, Claudio De Conto will continue to manage the positive turnaround process underway.

To download the .pdf document, please access Press Release section of our site.

• with the the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, the Ministry of Environmental Protection of the People’s Republic of China in the presence of the Italian Minister, Stefania Prestigiacomo, Chinese authorities, and the Chairman of the Pirelli Group, Marco Tronchetti Provera. The agreement foresees collaboration among the three parties in development of projects for distribution of filter systems for reduction of particulate emissions from diesel vehicles already in circulation (‘retrofit’) and introduction of technologies and advanced products, as the Pirelli products have been shown to be following tests and pilot projects already completed. Part of the environmental cooperation program launched by the two ministries in 2000, the agreement  focuses on the five provinces recently singled out by the Chinese government for adoption of measures to limit circulation of polluting vehicles, among which Shandong (the location of the Pirelli plant).

   

• between the Italian Ministry for the Environment, Land and Sea, the Municipality of Beijing and Pirelli Eco Technology to support installation of filters on polluting vehicles circulating in Beijing, is part of this commitment. The agreement follows the completion of a pilot project launched in 2008, which brought homologation of the filters produced by the Pirelli Group, thanks to their particular technological characteristics. The city of Beijing has already ordered a significant quantity of  Pirelli Eco Technology filter systems which will be fitted on buses in the capital city.

   

•  with Hixih Group (previously the Yinhe Group), already a partner of Pirelli since 2005 in tyre manufacturing, to build a plant for manufacturing of filters in Yanzhou, in the province of Shandong.

   

The new factory, whose construction is expected to begin in the first quarter of  2010, will be located in the same area where the manufacturing sites developed by the two partners for production of truck and car tyres were built, and will thus create a diversified industrial hub able to profit from synergies in manufacturing and distribution of the two products. The investment, already included in the 2009-2011 industrial plan, will take into account the evolution of the market and could reach 50 million euros in three years, with manufacturing capacity of around 100,000 filters per year and approximately 1200 employees. The industrial site currently uses advanced manufacturing technology and represents a manufacturing, logistics and commercial hub for the entire Asia-Pacific region for the Pirelli Group. Today about 60% of Pirelli’s overall production in China is for the local market, while the remaining 40% is exported to other Asia-Pacific markets.

The Agency has run an annual European Campaign since 2000. With more than 30 countries participating, and some 4 million information materials distributed in all official community languages, the European Campaign has become one of Europe’s largest annual awareness-raising campaigns.

The Campaign faces a different theme each two years and, for 2008 and 2009 the subject is “Risk Assessment”. The two-year risk assessment campaign seeks to promote the idea of a participatory approach to risk assessment. It is essential for the workforce to be consulted and involved in the risk assessment to ensure that hazards are identified not only from principles of knowledge but also by knowledge of working conditions and patterns of adverse effects upon workers.

Pirelli’s engagement within this Campaign range from spreading of a risk prevention “culture” through both internal and external company communication channels, to organizing ad hoc meetings by Pirelli sites with the participation of Representatives form the Agency.

The spirit with which Pirelli adheres to the Campaign has been clearly expressed by Francesco Gori, CEO and Managing Director Pirelli Tyre:  “Attention to health and safety in the workplace has always been an important part of the culture of Pirelli, in all our factories and offices throughout the world. Knowledge, understanding and above all internal sharing of the concept of risk are key elements that we focus on, with the goal of raising the general awareness of the Company on a theme which, more than a collection of rules to respect, is a matter of culture. It is with this spirit that we adhere to the EU-OSHA campaign.”

More on the Campaign and on Pirelli’s engagements in the dedicated web page of the Agency’s site http://osha.europa.eu/en/campaigns/hw2008/partners/Pirelli

This is the outcome of the 2009 review by the SAM Group of the Dow Jones sustainability indices, in which Pirelli continues to be included both in the DJSI WORLD index and in the European DJSI STOXX index.

Within its segment, the Bicocca Group – the only Italian group that has achieved worldwide leadership – obtained a global rating of 88% (+ 11% with respect to 2008) compared with a segment average of 48%.

Exactly as in previous years, for the Autoparts & Tyres segment, only 4 companies were featured in the DJSI World index: Pirelli & C, Denso Corp, Michelin, and Johnson Control Inc., while only two are included in the DJSI STOXX: Pirelli and Michelin.

SAM (Sustainable Asset Management) is the Swiss ethical rating agency that carries out the process of selection of companies for admission to the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, a global index that brings together the best companies in the field of economic, financial, environmental and social sustainability, the result of collaboration between the Dow Jones New York stock exchange index, STOXX Ltd. and the SAM Group. Pirelli was selected and added to the Dow Jones Sustainability STOXX (DJSI STOXX) index for the first time in 2002 and has been included for years now also in the global Dow Jones Sustainability World Index