Sustainability
Malee Group Public Company Limited conducts business with an awareness of the importance of sustainable organizational development. The Company has set its guidelines for operating to create balance in all dimensions, namely economic, social, and environmental, throughout the business value chain under the principles of ethics and good corporate governance guidelines of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and in line with international sustainable development goals (SDGs). Moreover, the Company manages with a commitment to ensure that operations are consistent with the organization’s vision as follows:
“MALEE is ready and determined to perform its duty in taking care of health and well-being for our consumers because we believe that being healthy is a foundation for living the best and happiest lives.
MALEE grows along with our consumers so that they stay healthy and happy. We grow along with our employees so that we can succeed both in our careers and our lives. We grow along with farmers who produce our food so that they are proud of their work and maintain a great quality of life. We grow along with the environment so that it can endlessly flourish and nourish us for generations to come.
As an organization, “Malee Group” will be moving forward so that we can be better at performing our duty in taking care of these people. Because the more we are growing each day, the more we will all prosper together.”
Therefore, the Company announced the Sustainable Development Policy to cover sustainability issues related to the Company’s business operations. The operational guidelines for corporate sustainability have been established as follows:
1. Develop business processes for all stakeholder groups.
• Adhere to the principles of good corporate governance and transparency. Support the fight against corruption.
• Strictly adhere to and comply with laws, rules, and regulations related to business operations.
• Treat workers equally and fairly with no discrimination.
• Take into account human rights principles throughout the value chain with consideration of all stakeholders.
2. Promote the establishment of organizational culture to create awareness of sustainable organizational development.
• Encourage employees at all levels to perform their jobs with honest, integrity, morality, and ethics.
• Organize the workplace to be safe and hygienic.
• Focus on regularly promoting and developing the potential of employees.
3. Generate economic growth
• Select and deliver quality products that meet production standards to clients and consumers.
• Create products with innovations that meet the needs of diverse clients and consumers.
• Generate sales and profit growth.
• Establish and promote business partnerships to grow along together.
4. Build community and society development.
• Set management guidelines to reduce the impact of business operations on communities and societies.
• Embellish societies and develop a good quality of life for people in societies.
• Prioritize safety., occupational health, and working environment of employees, partners, and visitors to prevent loss of life and property, as well as injury or illness resulting from work.
• Promote and create awareness of safety in healthcare for employees and their families.
5. Promote operations with social and environmental responsibility.
• Promote operational processes in terms of corporate social and environmental responsibility.
• Promote efficient use of resources. Control and reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. Control and reduce air, water, and land pollution that may affect societies and the environment as a result of the Company’s operations and its affiliated companies, as well as related partners.
• Promote the use of alternative energy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
For this sustainable development policy to be effective in practice, the Company requests that the Board of Directors, executives, and employees at all levels understand and perform their duties according to their responsibilities so that the Company can achieve its prescribed objectives and goals for sustainable development both in the short term and in the long term.
The Company produces and distributes canned fruit products, UHT fruit juices, and pasteurized fruit juices under the “Malee” brand, distributes and markets UHT and pasteurized milk under the “Farm Chokchai” brand, and manufactures other beverage products. Moreover, the Company conducts the contract manufacturing business in cooperation with both domestic and international clients, as well as other businesses in the Malee Group.
The business value chain begins when raw materials are delivered from sources to the Company’s factories and then processed into canned fruit, UHT juices, pasteurized juices, and other beverage products. The Company’s products are then sent to warehouses for distribution to many forms of distributors, before reaching consumers. The rest of the products are awaiting delivery of the contract manufacturing to the clients. As for the processes and guidelines on managing sustainability to stakeholders in the business value chain, the Company has operated as follows:
3.1 Environmental Policies and practice Guidelines
Regarding the overview of operations and management on sustainability, the Company strictly controls the quality and safety of raw materials and food throughout the supply chain. There has been a continuous development of food quality control systems to control the quality of the Company’s food according to the changing laws and regulations. The Company’s business operations lead the way to build “Malee” into a brand with the determination to reach its goals to help everyone enjoy good health and be happier every day with the power of vegetables, fruit, and dairy products
“Journey to build Malee towards purposeful brand that helps people become healthier and happier everyday through the power of plant and dairy”
The Company has set an environmental policy that takes into account the preservation of the environment and the use of natural resources. This policy aims to create awareness among all employees about their responsibility towards the environment and help prevent problems that will affect the environment. The following environmental objectives are as follows:
- The Company will comply with the specified laws and regulations on the environment.
- The Company will continuously and regularly improve and develop different steps in the manufacturing process that cause the least impact on the environment.
- The Company will efficiently use water and energy in the manufacturing production process.
- The Company will control wastewater, polluted air, spills, or contamination into the environment, as well as nuisances from the Company’s activities.
- The Company will control the generation of waste at every step of the manufacturing process.
The environmental policy covers key operational issues following environmental requirements and environmental issues that are relevant to the business. The Company controls potential environmental impacts from business activities such as pollution, waste, levels of resource usage, etc., and assigns Mr. Manit Jumnongwat to the position of Environmental Manager. The position has been appointed and notified to the Department of Industrial Works which is responsible for overseeing environmental operations and processes used in environmental management within the organization. The Company also defines environmental performance as its goal or one of the Company’s metrics, and encourages employees to participate in environmental management within the organization with guidelines for environmental operations as follows:
1. Effective Usage of Resources
The Company emphasizes the use of resources in business processes, including the use of electricity and energy, water consumption, waste reduction caused by business processes, as well as other related pollutions.
– The production processes and the production lines are designed and then inspected by a team of experts and consultants before being presented and approved for operations. A report on the efficiency of the production lines is done with a requirement for improvement.
– A system for regular maintenance of machinery (Preventive maintenance) is provided for high efficiency to efficiently use resources and energy.
– Waste management from the production processes is strictly carried out under environmental laws, regulations, and other requirements to properly control the impact on the environment. This enables the stakeholders to be assured that the Company’s operations are not contrary to legal requirements.
– The Company operates under the laws, regulations, and international quality standards systems.
2. Climate Management
The Company emphasizes the preparedness to cope with potential impacts and contributing to reducing greenhouse gas emissions which is the cause of global warming. At present, the Company focuses on the prevention and solution of pollution arising from activities that directly and indirectly affect the use of natural resources. The aims are to support knowledge in the development of mechanisms that reduce greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere, leading to a revolution in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions in the industrial sector.
3. Energy Management
The Company is aware of and is committed to controlling energy usage to maximum efficiency. The aim is to use natural resources cost-effectively to reduce the impact on the environment as much as possible, and in turn, reduce the Company’s energy costs. Alternative energy resources such as LPG gas and clean energy are one of the main goals of building environmental friendly factories. The Company has set up a team to study the feasibility of using alternative clean energy such as solar energy. This year, the Company has started installing a solar roof on the roof of the Sam Phran factory, which will be in operation in early 2024
4. Procurement of raw materials with responsibility
The Company is aware of the continuous acquisition of quality raw materials while not affecting the environment and society. Therefore, guidelines are formulated to help reduce risks and reflect the responsible sourcing of raw materials for the organization. The Company sets good policies, practices, and frameworks for responsible sourcing of raw materials. These include details such as reducing the use of chemicals, pesticides, and insecticides. Actions are done to improve sustainable cultivation, protect biodiversity, properly use water resources, procure raw materials produced by law-abiding manufacturers, and operate concerning human rights including the use of non-child labor, non-forced labor, and legal foreign workers, etc.
5. Efficiency of Water Usage
The Company has systematic water management throughout the organization. There is a campaign to raise awareness among employees about using water for the most value and benefit.
3.2 Environmental Performance
Power Management
In 2023, the Company monitored and evaluated the efficiency of production lines and improved efficient power management, including lighting systems, air conditioning systems, and maintenance of control equipment for related electrical systems. Therefore, the Company reduced electricity consumption compared to the same production factors as in 2022.
Electricity Consumption Target for 2024
Electricity consumption for 2024 is targeted to decrease by 7.5% compared to the amount (kW-hr per ton) of consumption in 2023. Some measures will be in place to use renewable electricity from solar roofs by more than 974,375 kW-hr in 2024.
Water Management
In 2023, the Company consumed 426,558 of tap water, with maintenance and inspection of the condition of the water distribution system within the production process standards. It was a decrease of 30% compared to the 465,182 cubic meters of tap water consumed in 2022 under the same production factors.
As for our office buildings, there were some adjustments to the water flows of sinks and sanitary ware within the buildings, while wastewater was efficiently managed, with 100 percent of the total sewage being treated. The treated water was reused in sanitation systems and utilities within the buildings.
Water Consumption Target for 2024
Water consumption for 2024 is targeted to decrease by 2% compared to the amount (m³) of consumption in 2023. Some measures will be in place to monitor daily water use and investigate and correct abnormal cases.
Garbage, Waste, and Pollution Management
The Company systematically manages garbage and waste in its business processes following the Announcement on the Criteria and Procedures regarding the Management of Waste or Unused Materials, B.E. 2551, of the Department of Industrial Works. There is also a system for sorting out waste according to its types to process it appropriately and efficiently. The Company has created awareness and participation among involved parties to reduce waste disposal by landfill. In 2023, the Company had a decrease of 49.46% in waste volume compared to the previous year, in line with the garbage, waste, and pollution management goals.
In addition, the Company monitors the environmental quality in the office and around the establishment every year. In 2023, the quality standards of air, odor, sound, and light were within normal limits as required by laws, and there were no cases of chemical leaks from business operations.
Landfill Target for 2024
The Company aims to decrease waste volume by 49.46% compared to the previous year, in line with the garbage, waste, and pollution management goals implemented every year.
Management to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Problems
Nowadays, energy usage tends to increase and directly impacts the world’s climate, the lives of living things, and the environment around the world. The Company, therefore, has a management mechanism in place to reduce the impacts of climate change from risky activities that potentially cause high impacts.
The Company is one of the organizations in the industrial sector producing ready-made food and beverages that is aware of and acknowledges such problems. Therefore, we are committed to being a company of creation, increasing productivity with social and environmental responsibility, and desiring employees to work happily in a good environment. This commitment is carried out In line with the Company’s policy with a clear objective in the area of sustainable development following international standards. This is one of the operational strategies for reducing the amount of greenhouse gases and encouraging executives and employees to gain knowledge and understanding of the concept of the organization’s carbon footprint, enabling them to calculate the amount of carbon footprint used by the organization. All of these lead to the development of guidelines for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in various activities and managing the reduction of greenhouse gases with efficiency and effectiveness in a sustainable manner.
Therefore, the Company has provided the organization’s carbon footprint according to ISO 14064-1 as one of the methods to disclose information on the amount of greenhouse gases emitted from various factory activities. This will lead to the determination of management guidelines to reduce greenhouse gas emissions according to the energy conservation plan on an ongoing basis.
The Company’s assessment of the factory boundary in Sam Phran District, Nakhon Pathom Province, is the evaluation of the organization’s carbon footprint for the first year. The calendar year of 2023 is set to be used as the base year for calculating the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. The Company aims to reduce the amount of carbon footprint every year onwards to reduce greenhouse gas problems from business operations in the future.
The organization’s carbon footprint is divided into three scopes as follows:
Scope 1 is a calculation of the direct carbon footprint from the production process or direct operations of the organization, whether stationary combustion (e.g., production machinery) or mobile combustion (e.g., cars) and other leakage and channels.
Scope 2 calculates indirect carbon footprint from energy usage such as electrical energy, thermal energy, and steam. This scope is considered to be an indirect greenhouse gas emission that is not caused by production in the organization.
Scope 3 calculates other indirect carbon footprints, such as the travel of employees or external agencies related to the organization.
Fuel Consumption Target for 2024
The fuel consumption in 2023 is 32.14 liters per ton. The target for 2024 is less than 31.51 liters per ton. Some measures will be in place to improve boiler efficiency and reduce fuel consumption by 16.67% compared to 2023.
In 2023, the Company had direct greenhouse gas emissions of 13,864.96 ton carbon dioxide equivalents (or kilograms) and the amount of indirect greenhouse gas emissions 7,572.40 ton carbon dioxide equivalents (or kilograms), totaling 34,719.98 ton carbon dioxide equivalents (or kilograms. The calendar year 2023 was set
as the base year for calculating the amount of greenhouse gas emissions. The Company aims to reduce the amount of carbon footprint of the organization in the coming years. The verifier is Foundation for Industrial Development Management System Certification Institute (Thailand) (MASCI)
Transition to Sustainability Project
The Company has established an environmental sustainability plan and incorporated sustainability into one of the organization’s strategies. This work process is divided into three phases, of which two phases began in 2022 as follows
Phase 1 Awareness Building
Phase 2 Current Stage Analysis
In 2023, the Company has continued to proceed with sustainability as one of the key strategies for organizational growth. As for the environmental sustainability plan, the Company has focused on building employees’ understanding of issues, necessities, benefits, and methods of serious transition to sustainability. The Company has collected information to prepare a current stage analysis to identify problems in each area and be aware of the key points that need to be solved. The Company has continued to proceed with the following phase in 2023:
Phase 3 Sustainability Target Set-up: The Company values the determination of its relevance to the details of its business and the consideration of how to effectively reduce negative impacts and create positive impacts.
In 2024, the Company will proceed with the other two phases as follows:
Phase 4 Transition Strategy: To define transition strategies that will help the organization achieve its goals at the operational, communications, and executive levels.
Phase 5 Roadmap Building: To define a roadmap for the transition with milestones that align with the Company’s goals and strategies.
4.1 Social Policies and Practices
The Company has a business policy on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) under basic ethical principles to ensure fairness to all stakeholders involved, as well as to apply the good corporate governance principle as a guideline to maintain a balance of operations in terms of economy, community, society, and environment, leading to the development of the business that sustainably succeeds. The guidelines are as follows.
1. Conducting business with fairness
Conducting business with fairness is one of the topics in the Malee Group Code of Conduct. The Company emphasizes doing business with fairness. We understand the nature of business and the situation of clients, partners, suppliers, farmers, and the surrounding communities so that they keep in mind that they have to depend on each other. This results in creating confidence that will benefit both the business and related parties in the long run.
2. Respect for Human Rights
Respecting the human rights of employees as well as employees of partners without discrimination, while creating corporate values and promoting learning opportunities for employees. This leads to the development of full potential according to the roles and duties of each person. The Company commits to developing employees, enabling them to have confidence in the value of human beings. The Company emphasizes taking care of employees and human resource development so that they are more than our employees. Importantly, the Company focuses on developing employees to have Knowledge Competency, Skill Competency, and Attributes Competency. The Company is committed to making all employees aware of sustainable success and development. We support the expansion of the Company’s business to be international and world-class standards.
3. Fair Treatment of Labor
The Company is committed to the development of the organization’s personnel so that they have knowledge and competence as their competitive advantage. We build pride in Malee’s family by supporting career advancement with an international standard compensation and welfare structure. There is a fair performance appraisal (KPI) that focuses on brainstorming to create creativity in work as well as being sincere and honest with everyone. The Company is responsible to employees and society in terms of product quality, rewarding the quality of life and well-being of employees. We build acceptance, appreciate their works, respect their ideas, and take human rights into account to open an opportunity to a new perspective of learning as well as being able to develop skills, ideas, and behavior change. The Company opens up a new world of experiences that will bring about professional career development and happy coexistence as a Malee family.
Since 2022, the Company has added welfare benefits to employees by providing equality between males and females in their increasing rights to leave for male employees to take care of their wives after giving birth for 15 days per pregnancy. In addition, the Company has supported religious equality by granting the right to leave for religious ceremonies up to 30 days. Previously, only Buddhist males had the right to leave for their ordination.
4. Consumer Responsibility
The Company is a manufacturer and distributor of consumer products with the policy to conduct business with cleanliness and safety standards that is acceptable both within the country and in terms of testimonials and certificates for various quality. The Company also has a consumer protection hotline at 02-532-3572 to show responsibility for the Company’s products to consumers.
5. Community Contribution and Development
The Company will use the potential and knowledge of the organization to create engagement with the community and promote personnel by providing guidelines for managing and solving problems so that the community can be self-reliant. We contribute to improving the quality of life in the community, improving the quality of life, and developing the community and society.
6. Contribution of Stakeholders
The Company has a process to create engagement with stakeholders so that we know the expectations of the relevant stakeholders and meet the expectations of society. This includes creating long-term values for all groups of stakeholders. Throughout the recent past, the Company has focused on creating engagement with important stakeholders towards cooperation that will overcome obstacles together in times of crisis and maintain good relations between the Company and stakeholders.
4.2 Social Performance
Employees and Labors
The Company provides employees with suitable working environment so that they can work safely with dignity and due regard for the environment. Relaxation will be good for the health and safety of employees and allow them to adjust the balance between life and work, and then end up able to be self-sustaining. We support money saving and sharing time between working and living with family creatively.
The Company is also committed to complying with laws on labor, social, and human rights under the legal framework related to labor, society, and human rights to provide the Company’s employees with a better quality of life. The Company reviews its policies on labor, social, and human rights policy as well as the objectives of its policies every year as follows:
• The Company shall not be involved in or support the use of child labor under 15 years of age.
• The Company shall not engage in or support forced or involuntary labor.
• The Company shall provide employees with a safe and hygienic working environment with a procedure in place to prevent accidents and injuries or health hazards caused by or related to work
• The Company shall respect the rights of every employee that forms an organization by following the guidelines of the law.
• The Company shall not support exclusion or unfair discrimination in employment matters based on nationality, race, skin color, age, religion, political opinions, birthplace and ancestry, social background, language, marital status, personal attitudes towards sex, disability, HIV infection, being an AIDS patient, pregnancy status, labor union membership, employee committee membership, or other personal attitudes
• The Company shall not engage in or support the use of corporal punishment, physical and mental intimidation, and harsh words.
• The Company shall comply with relevant laws and industry standards regarding normal working hours, weekly holidays, and overtime hours
• The Company shall pay wages consistent with at least the legal minimum wage rate and adequately meet the basic needs of employees.
• The Company shall communicate with employees and related outsiders for better understanding and provide an opportunity for those involved to verify the practice guidelines.
• The Company shall regularly review the adequacy, appropriateness, and effectiveness of Company policies and performance against standard requirements and other related requirements. The Company shall proceed with correcting and improving the system as appropriate.
Employee Engagement
In 2023, the Company conducted an employee engagement survey since employees are the main stakeholders of the Company. 1,187 employees were participating in the survey, representing 94% of all. The results from the employee engagement survey have been used to adjust the employee engagement development plan in 2023 and continue in 2024, with focuses on development in three main areas:
- EXPECTATIONS: There have been 1-on-1 sessions between supervisors and employees, monthly team meetings within the team and between teams, etc.
- RECOGNITIONS: There has been an embedded recognition culture in each meeting, with thanks or praise for each other on what the team or each person did well before the start of every meeting. There has been a quarterly recognition in each town hall, with employee awards being given to employees who are outstanding role models in each culture pillar. The objective is to praise employees in each culture with good development examples. This is one activity that promotes, pushes, and drives organizational culture.
- DEVELOPMENTS: In 2024, there will be self-development and improvement of higher working potentials for employees through the Development Model 70-20-10. The KPIs for Section Manager & Above levels will be set for employees to establish a Developing an Individual Development Plan – IDP with a clear timeline for development and expected results from the development with a focus on creating Learning by Doing behavior.
In 2023, the Company has had some activities related to welfare to promote and develop employees’ potential as follows:
• Annual health check-ups for employees with a program following the employee’s work characteristics. The Company has coordinated with the hospital to allow employees to add health check-up items at a special rate, as well as facilitate by allowing the hospital to provide health check-up services at the Company’s office. They can see a doctor in occupational medicine to discuss health problems.
• Election of the Safety and Welfare Committee.
• Employee benefits such as medical expenses/life and accident insurances/welfare benefits/ provident funds, etc.
• The Company has taken care of the safety of employees in their workplaces. The statistics of accidents in 2023 were as follows:
Injury Frequency Rate: IFR as of December 31, 2023 were 0.
IFR is the Injury Frequency Rate = (total number of injuries requiring time-off x 1,000,000).
As for the COVID-19 situation in 2023, the Company maintained its measures to prevent the epidemic as well as its operational model for employees and physical distancing in line with strict standards.
COVID-19 Control within Malee Group Public Company Limited by the COVID-19 Management Working Group
Customers
The Company is a manufacturer and distributor of consumer products with a policy to conduct business with cleanliness, safety, and quality standards. The Company has opened channels for consumers to file product complaints. Customer Complaint channels are as follows:
• FB Malee : Mon – Fri business hours 8.00 – 20.00
• Line, YouTube, Instagram, brand website, E-mail Malee, Call Center : Mon. – Fri 8.00 – 17.30
• Operator : Mon – Fri business hours 8.00 – 17.00
Moreover, there is continuous development of products and services to meet customer satisfaction. In 2023, the Company received satisfaction from customers at a very satisfied level (level 4 out of 5). As for complaints from customers regarding product damage, the Company has already managed the complaints.
