Photo credit: NR.

Indre-et-Loire: Vlad, winner of the Special Prize of the City of Tours

The manufacturer of medical batteries Vlad aims for carbon neutrality and will offer 75 trees to the city of Tours in a CSR approach.

The 100% French medical and industrial battery manufacturing plant, based on the outskirts of Tours (Parçay-Meslay, 37), played an important role during the health crisis by manufacturing the batteries for many medical devices, including intensive care respirators. This success, among many projects carried out, allows it today to accelerate its development with the support of the State. On Tuesday, October 26, 2021, Vlad joined the winners of the France Relance plan. The SME of 75 employees benefits from a subsidy of more than one million euros for its investment program of 5.7 million euros in three years.

It provides for the creation of twenty new jobs including six research and development positions over three years in eco-design, testing and approvals, eight production operator positions, the construction of a new low-emission building to support the company's growth and an additional robotic line. "We already had this program in mind. Thanks to the France Relance plan, we will amplify and accelerate our actions. Beyond the substantial amount of this subsidy, it is also a great recognition of the French State and local institutions on what we do. This encourages us to go even further! " says its president Jean-Louis Jarry.
A tree, an employee

In 2021, Vlad became the first French manufacturer to obtain the THQSE label (Very High Quality Of Social and Environmental Health) at the highest level of excellence, gold. As a member of the Bpifrance Excellence community, the French Fab and the Coq Vert community, the company is committed to promoting the CSR approach in its territory, promoting the exchange of good practices and accelerating the environmental and energy transition. "Thirty-eight people, half of our workforce, participate in our CSR approach through four commissions: building 4.0, eco-design (removable and reassembleable products), energy saving and improving living conditions at work," adds Jean-Louis Jarry.

Another initiative reinforces the company's desire to serve its territory and its environment. The SME said yes to the sponsorship operation "One tree, one employee". "We will finance the planting of 75 trees," continues Jean-Louis Jarry. But we do not buy carbon neutrality for 25,000 euros. We are targeting it. And I say to myself, why wouldn't twenty or thirty companies beautify Tours? This has an example value. What is important is to involve employees. In the relatively near past, Vlad was involved in the fight against cancer with the associations "Flamme en rose" and "A chacun son Everest". Chaired by mountaineer Christine Janin, it offers therapeutic stays in Chamonix to children and women placed in the difficult phase of the post-cancer period, this period that follows the cessation of heavy treatments.
Solidarity. Social and environmental responsibility. Already at the end of 2017, Vlad was named the "Corporate Citizen" winner of the Top 37 companies. This distinction already highlighted the human and environmental commitment that is at the heart of the DNA of Touraine society. Like a certain idea of the company, especially.

Bruno Pille

See the article on www.lanouvellerepublique.fr