Alcoa 2003 Annual Report Download - page 5

capacity in order to take advantage of our already efficient opera-
tions. We will continue to expand our global footprint and build
on the successful foundation of our upstream businesses.
In the consumer packaging and semi-manufactured areas we
concentrated on quickly integrating businesses we acquired last
year – such as Ivex Packaging into our packaging businesses and
Fairchild Fasteners into Alcoa Fastening Systems.
Strengthening Our Connection to Customers
Through Solutions
In 2003, we continued to invest in productivity improvements
in our Company through the disciplined and systematic deploy-
ment of the Alcoa Business System, which begins with the
customer. Through this process we created a clearer picture of
what it means to be a customer of Alcoa. As you’ll see in
the following pages of this report, our Market Sector Lead
Teams (MSLTs) – an extension of ABS – made substantial
progress toward building a coordinated approach to markets
and customers.
These Lead Teams work with Alcoa’s business units to
improve the response to customer needs
that span our organization and migrate
our value proposition from materials and
components to high-value, customer-
centric engineered solutions.
This means we apply technologies that
enable a customer to meet specific benefits –
convenience, economy, safety, speed, etc. –
for their end users. This elevates our value
to the customer well beyond the commodi-
ty and materials levels. For our customers,
this is a huge benefit. For Alcoa, our chal-
lenge is twofold: first, we must understand
the issues facing our customers; and then,
working with our Research and
Development and application engineering
staffs, as well as other businesses selling in the same market,
develop solutions and demonstrate their benefits to our customers.
Safety, Sustainability, and Community
At Alcoa, we begin business reviews with an update of our safety
performance. We do this for two reasons. First, we take safety seri-
ously, and we are proud of our progress. The second reason is to
demonstrate to everyone what is possible through implementing a
disciplined process. When we first set our sights at being the safest
company in the world, many thought it was unrealistic. Whether it
is a financial goal (such as our ROC or cost-savings initiatives), an
environmental goal to reduce emissions, or the goal to have zero
safety incidents, the bottom line is when Alcoans put their minds
and talents against a given goal, we almost always achieve it.
In Safety, we had our lowest lost workday and total record-
able injury rates in the Company’s history. Our lost workday rate
improved to 0.12 from 0.15 in the previous year, and our total
recordable rate is 1.66, down from 2.22 in 2002. Approximately
77% of our locations operated in 2003 without a single lost
3
workday incident – and 36% of them did not have a single
recordable injury. Regrettably, despite this performance, we
experienced four fatalities. That is why we are increasing our
emphasis on identifying difficult-to-predict, low-probability
events that have potential for catastrophic consequences, and
why we are analyzing the causes of human error and how to
prevent them… as we strengthen our resolve toward achieving
the ultimate goal – zero incidents.
On the environmental front, our results were numerous…
ranging from landfill waste reductions, to the use of less water,
to the completion of our goal to plant one million trees five
years ahead of schedule, and the launching of a new program
to begin planting ten million new trees by 2020, which can
absorb more than 250,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide per
year during their lifetime.
Perhaps most exciting is the attainment of our 25% reduction
in greenhouse-gas emissions from 1990 levels. When we defined
this goal in 2000, we sought to achieve this level of reduction by
2010, but we have eliminated 13 million tons of greenhouse gases
per year, so we reached the goal six years ahead of schedule.
In 2003, our connection to the
communities in which we operate contin-
ued to strengthen. Our sponsorship of
the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space
Museum’s centennial of flight exhibition on
the Wright Brothers was broadened beyond
Washington, DC, to include activities in
many of our aerospace communities. In
addition, our social commitment continued
to expand beyond grant making. Employee
volunteerism grew to almost 200,000 hours
in 2003, including the capstone to the Alcoa
Foundation’s 50th anniversary celebration –
a worldwide week of service focused on
conservation and sustainability projects.
Our Vision is Challenging, Our Goals High,
Our Strategy Clear
While I am proud of all that our employees have achieved in
2003, I am most proud that they share a focus on our Values,
delivering annual results, and building for the future.
Our goals remain high, our strategy is clear. And everyday
we seek to strengthen your Company, improve its agility, and
improve the bonds with our customers, while living our Values.
This focus has served us well in the past and has positioned
us for success in 2004 and beyond… as we strive to become the
best company in the world.
Alain J. P. Belda
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
March 1, 2004
44 fewer incidents
in 2003 vs. 2002
*Reynolds, Howmet/Huck included beginning in 2002
**Ivex, Fairchild, Kama, and other 2002/2003 acquisitions
91
.99
92
.81
93
.77
94
.75
95
.46
96
.49
97
.46
98
.36
99
.23
00
.18
01
.16
02*
.15 .19
03
.12
.16
Alcoa* Including Acquisitions**
Lost Workday Incident Rate
Injuries per 200,000 work hours