Transparency beyond appearance

Talking about ethics, sustainability and transparent communication is certainly nothing new for Mapei, which has in fact built its corporate identity on these foundations.

Nevertheless, it is always a good idea to keep all the company’s clients and vast community of fellow workers and partners, who use Mapei product systems every day all over the world, well-informed and up-to-date about the path the company is taking and all the numerous manufacturing, commercial and communication operations it is engaged in.

What better opportunity could there be, then, than the 80^th anniversary of Mapei SpA to draw attention to (and relaunch right across the board) its concrete commitments to the basic values that have always inspired the company?

Mapei’s corporate mission is to contribute to people’s quality of life through research and the creation of increasingly sustainable chemical products for the building industry. The direct consequence of this basic principle is an awareness of the need to work with the utmost respect for ethics, health and safety, while focusing special attention on social and environmental responsibility.

Long-term reliability and durability are further factors involved in “real sustainability”, because they allow savings on materials and energy and help improve people’s quality of life. Mapei has been following this guideline since 1937, the year when it was originally founded, focusing more and more attention on innovation as a means of developing products that are increasingly geared to its customers’ needs and, at the same time, environmentally friendly.

This is the driving force behind Mapei’s desire, as one of the world’s leading companies in this industry, to take a further step towards social responsibility by launching a campaign to safeguard quality in the chemicals for the building industry sector in the name of Transparency.

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT AND CERTIFICATIONS

Research & Development is one of Mapei’s most important allies in this battle for ethics, transparency and responsibility, also helping ensure its products are truly sustainable and safe.

That is why Mapei invests approximately 5% of its annual revenue in its 18 R&D laboratories around the world, so that it can market 16 environmentally-friendly product lines that are all safe for people to use.

It is not just research and innovation that come out of these laboratories, but also the guarantee that its products meet the requirements of international standards and that their already high-quality properties are constantly improved.

Keeping these promises is the only way to get all Mapei’s claims independently certified and only way to move on from words to action. It is also the reason why Mapei enforces environmental quality, health and safety management systems that are certified in accordance with ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 international standards.

The products and systems also conform to European Building Products regulations (CPR 305/2011) that have been in force since 1^st July 2013. This is exemplified by its products with extremely low emissions of volatile organic compounds, which have been awarded EMICODE EC1 PLUS certification by the GEV Institute BLUE ANGEL.

MONITORING PRODUCTS ALREADY MARKETED

But Mapei’s commitment to transparency does not stop here. The company is now introducing a higher level of voluntary controls over the standards for products already available on the market working with accredited laboratories.

Product samples are taken from a randomly chosen distributor to prove that they conform to international standards and the properties listed in the documentation and on the packaging.

These checks are carried out regularly and complete those controls already carried out at the 18 R&D laboratories and the quality control laboratories in Mapei’s 73 factories around the world.

“Transparency beyond appearance”, where facts are what count. Things that Mapei has been doing on a day-to-day basis for 80 years now. A long story of ongoing successes that are continuing in the name of social and environmental responsibility.

As Giorgio Squinzi stated so pertinently in the editorial he wrote for issue No. 32 of Realtà Mapei International published in 2010, which is worth re-quoting here: “I firmly believe that efforts made by companies in the direction of sustainability must be carried out in a serious and transparently certified manner. In this field words are meaningless. That is why Mapei never changes its allegiance just to follow the latest trends and remains exemplary in terms of its style and loyalty to its corporate colour: blue, a clean and elegant colour, which has always marked the Company in the world of building as being synonymous with safety, transparency and reliability.”