Luzenac - Rio Tinto

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Building quality relationships with our customers Driven by innovation: the front wing of the Audi A2 contains 17% of talc. It’s not only stronger, it’s lighter and easy to recycle. Every year, we perform over one thousand formulation studies for our customers. 2003 goals and targets Objectives for 2003 include: - continuing dialogue with customers selected from our Business Units in Europe and the USA on such matters as product stewardship and HSEC; - incorporating HSE provisions into all outsourcing contracts. 4 Luzenac has been around for over a hundred years. Not everyone can claim this kind of track record. Today we are the world’s leading talc producer, selling in excess of 1.4 million tons of talc to over 10,000 customers in 70 countries around the globe. Our spread of over 30 ore-bodies, mines and processing plants worldwide means we have a unique position in the talc business. With the widest product range and unsurpassed applications expertise, we are the only talc producer that can meet all customer requirements worldwide. Luzenac wouldn’t be in this unique position if it weren’t for the excellent relationships we have built up with our customers over the years. Translating what the customer wants into how it can happen is the role of our R&D centres and Business Units created in early 2000 to serve the coatings, paper, polymers, and specialities (ceramics, personal care, agriculture and foodstuffs, and wastewater treatment) markets. Good understanding of each of these markets is fundamental to developing the right talc for the right application. Luzenac’s Business Units employ specialists from the markets we serve, and our sales and technical support teams work closely with customers, combining their mineral experience with the customer’s product expertise. Every customer has a designated Luzenac advisor who can work directly with them on their formulations. And every year, we perform more than one thousand formulation studies at our laboratories in Denver, Gent, Graz, Singapore, and Toulouse. Our mission has always been innovation driven. Year after year, we seek new solutions for existing markets and develop new applications for new customers. We do this through groundbreaking, performance-enhancing and cost-effective solutions for our customers. Indeed, every year, Luzenac invests over 3.5% of revenues in research and development. As a resolutely customer-oriented business, our customers are at the heart of our SD work as well, and we strive continually to improve the service package we provide to them. Indeed, the Luzenac brand is made up of a series of customer benefits of which total quality control of the products’ specification, reliability of supply, development of new applications and full service back-up are the four corner stones. Our SD policy brings other important benefits to the package including improved reliability of supply. Luzenac customers have the assur- Last year, as part of a company-wide Crisis Management Plan, we devoted much time to examining the sources of business interruption (fire, equipment breakdown, spares backup, electric power failure, flooding, etc) and making changes to reduce these risks. For the customer, this means increased peace of mind. ance that their talc supplier will contribute to enhancing their own reputation in areas such as health, safety, environment, community relations, supply-chain responsibility and business ethics. This is backed up by our internal Compliance Assurance System–our guarantee to our customers that we not only act in accordance with the law but with our own corporate policies too. Moreover, Luzenac is willing to assist customers in their Life Cycle Assessment and we are working on programmes to reduce energy and water use as well as exploring the potential for renewable energy at our sites.■ In 2002,Luzenac established dialogue with two paper manufacturing customers on the subject of sustainable development. We presented our SD Assessment Report and discussed the benefit to the customer of having suppliers who can deliver this level of assurance. We continue to keep them informed of significant developments in the implementation of this programme. To strengthen our brand image, in 2002 we introduced a single logo and slogan for all our operations worldwide. One of our most recent innovations in Personal Care is a Talc Stick concept that has the same qualities and performance of talcum powder in a no-mess, no-dust, solid stick form.
Implementing fair and safe employee practices Our approach to safety is focused on encouraging safe behaviour at work. This goes hand in hand with improving equipment and working conditions. One example of this is the more fashionable and comfortable, baseball-style, safety hats our employees now wear. As set out in our Code of Conduct for Ethical Business Behaviour, “Luzenac provides its people with a fair remuneration in return for their best efforts and loyalty... We strive to create a safe and healthy workplace for our employees and contractors, provide freedom of choice on collective representation and train and develop our people consistent with the needs of our business. Luzenac people treat each other, and those they deal with outside the company, with respect.” Some of our operations have been mining talc for over a hundred years and have at least another hundred years’ worth of proven reserves. Here, talc forms the basis of social continuity. The extraction, selection, processing and delivery of talc for its various uses are commercially complex. Consequently, the talc industry, and Luzenac in particular as the market leader, provides high-quality career opportunities in our mines, process plants, logistics, customer service, R&D, HSEC and other departments. Talent pool Luzenac is an integral part of the Rio Tinto Group and as such we are actively participating in their fresh approach to Human Resources management. This is an evolution from succession planning to the notion of “talent pool“. It entails looking at the skills, qualifications and experience of staff in all parts of Rio Tinto and seeing what opportunities exist, so as to match people’s ambitions with company needs. This enables management to think “outside the box” and conceive of new roles that are not constrained by fixed structures. This new approach not only opens up a wealth of new opportunities for Luzenac people, it directs new sources of talent into our company. This is an aspect of globalisation that is rarely spoken of but which brings real positive change to people’s lives. Luzenac has an active programme of seeking opportunities for staff to live and work in different countries and experience other cultures. For example, in 2002, seven international placements were organised across the Group: two from Europe to Asia, one from the US to Europe and another four within our European operations. Transferable skills With 1,550 people in over 30 sites in 14 countries covering the Americas, Europe and Asia-Pacific and operating in diverse industries such as polymers, paper, coatings, ceramics, personal care, wastewater treatment and many others, Luzenac can be considered a medium-sized group with a global spread. As such, many of our people need to acquire a broad set of skills, enabling them to progress by taking up responsibilities wherever opportunities are present. Indeed, many of our employees speak several languages, which is a considerable asset in a multicultural environment. Since 1995, Luzenac has been introducing training programmes covering generic competencies which enhance performance in people’s daily work and which are transferable to other roles and regions. Participants come from all over the Group and from different backgrounds. This encourages the development of additional competencies which are not specifically addressed in the course content but which form part of those skill sets which can be used in different occupations and in different cultural contexts. The types of generic training provided at international level over the past seven years include management and leadership, oral and written communication and persuasive skills, foreign language skills, computer applications, marketing, interpersonal relations, finance and induction to the organisation and roles within all functional areas. Two new courses, project leadership and creativity / innovation, will be introduced in 2003. There are four prerequisites to encouraging the acquisition of transferable skills: identification of individual skills; knowledge of what Luzenac is seeking; communication of competencies to the organisation, and their ongoing development. Luzenac supports active career management strategies in a number of ways: • Over the past year we have been identifying the competencies required by our staff which are used for recruitment, training needs identification, coaching, professional development and performance reviews; • A new programme introduced in 2002, entitled “Developing our capabilities”, whereby participants identify for themselves and assist others in 5
Page 1 and 2: Meeting Today’s Needs. Securing T
Page 3: Editorial Welcome to our first Sust
Page 7 and 8: Rio Tinto CEO Leigh Clifford (fourt
Page 9 and 10: 2003 goals and targets Objectives f
Page 11 and 12: The picture (right) taken from our
Page 13 and 14: By increasing the covering power, d
Page 15 and 16: Fostering supplier and joint ventur

Luzenac - Rio Tinto

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