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Industrial Excellence

Industrial Excellence

At LDC, workplace safety is the fundamental pillar of industrial excellence and the cornerstone of the ‘safety first’ culture we strive to instill in all the people who work for and with us, wherever we operate.

Accordingly, we increased our capital expenditure in Safety, Health & Environment (SHE) initiatives, measures and awareness campaigns by 24% (to US$40.9 million) in 2022.

As a result, we are pleased to report another year of continued global improvement across all safety indexes (frequency, gravity and severity), while continued emphasis on reducing our environmental footprint also saw year-on-year reductions in energy consumption and water usage, the latter partially attributable to investments in eco-efficient drip irrigation system for our citrus farms in Brazil. CO2 emissions remained flat versus prior year, and solid waste sent to landfills increased compared with 2021, but both indicators remained well below our 2018 baseline.

We will report on our 2022 SHE metrics and performance in detail in our upcoming Sustainability Report.

As part of our ongoing drive for industrial excellence, and in addition to continued deployment of new modules (focused on risk work permits, PPE controls and others) via our SHE Digital application, we also continued to embrace technology-enabled innovations with the potential to enhance operational safety, efficiency and environmental performance.

Spotlight on Latin America

Aiming to reinforce dust control measures, we successfully trialed new monitors and infrared cameras for dust measurement at two large facilities – General Lagos, in Argentina, and Rio Verde, Goiás State, Brazil – with a view to expanding their use to other industrial assets.

Workers in 33 Latin American industrial assets were supplied with assisted reality devices that connect them with remote experts in real-time while operating, inspecting or maintaining equipment. These wearable headsets allow voice-controlled, hands-free work in potentially hazardous areas, improving safety and productivity, and reducing operational errors.

We continued to optimize video surveillance at our facilities with a cloud-based, AI-powered analytics system that verifies alarms and provides real-time video analysis, as well as infrared cameras that provide rapid smoke and fire detection under low-light conditions.

We also sought to secure our operating technology network from potential cyber-threats and malware from unmanaged remote devices in several regions, by deploying a system that combines visibility, threat detection and vulnerability management, and provides a single, manageable interface that third parties can connect through, completely separately from our internal network.

In our General Lagos and Timbúes plants in Argentina, as well as in Alto Araguaia, Mato Grosso State, Brazil, we implemented a cloud-based platform that stores operational data and makes it accessible through digital applications, allowing asset managers to make in-the-moment decisions based on factual, real-time information.

Spotlight on Grains & Oilseeds

With complex Grains & Oilseeds flows due to third-party product sourcing, and hugely variable weather conditions at loading in multiple ports, measures to control product quality until arrival at destination is a key priority.

In 2022, we introduced a new global Quality Information Protocol to support product flow transparency from loading to destination. The temperature of grains in every silo is monitored and controlled remotely in order to detect and communicate potential quality issues related to heat and moisture levels at the earliest opportunity.

These and other digitalization initiatives support LDC’s commitment to industrial excellence, which has underpinned our business growth for over 170 years, is fundamental to our future success, and ensures that we deliver safely, reliably and responsibly for customers around the world.

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