As a manufacturer, we can make a big difference with our products. We support sustainability and position ourselves against the waste of resources. This way of thinking is reflected throughout our entire production. Along the value chain, we have an influence on the ecological footprint of all our products. This includes the raw materials we are processing, Green Energy, and the reduction of waste. We are already saving 540,000 kg of CO2 every year. Still, we see further potential for CO2 savings in the coming years through more intensive use of renewable energy and further optimization of production processes. However, our most important environmental goal is to continue to produce high-quality products with long service life. After all, the more often a product can be reused and the longer it lasts, the less often it has to be replaced. This means less energy consumption, less raw material consumption, less transport of goods, less waste, and more environmental protection.
Production of green energy
We have installed a modern photovoltaic system on the roof of our new factory. For this, we have chosen to use the entire roof space of approximately 12,000m². By making use of this huge area, we are able to produce enough electricity to run our brush production self-sufficiently and even can feed in back to the grid on sunny days and weekends. Annually, that’s a whopping 1,110,000 kWh. This is enough to supply 280 four-person households or to drive an e-car 7,400,000 km equalling 185 rounds around earth. The CO2 savings are enormous. We are emitting almost 540,000 kg less CO2 per year to produce our brushes. This is equivalent to the emissions of 90 average oil-fired heating systems.
Use of waste heat
In addition to generating green electricity, we also use the waste heat from the cooling water of our injection molding machines. Thanks to this waste heat, we can always keep our production halls pleasantly warm for our staff by using underfloor heating. As we will also be using less energy for heating in the future, this will further reduce our energy consumption and CO2 emissions.
Flowers for more biodiversity
The green spaces around our factory actually don’t have much to do with production and green energy. Nevertheless, we can actively contribute to supporting our environment on some 3000 m². Insects are the most diverse group of animals. Including more than a million described species, they are representing around 70% of species. For other animals, such as birds, insects are an important source of food. Unfortunately, however, insects have been threatened in Europe for years, with populations steadily declining due to the ongoing destruction of natural habitats. In addition to habitat loss, insecticides used in agriculture also play an important role. With our flower meadow, we want to make our small but important contribution to biodiversity and give back some of the habitat. Together with our employees, we are looking forward to the splendor of the meadow flowers.
Regional
As an employer, we have a social responsibility for our employees and their families. It is therefore important to us to contribute to the creation of new, secure jobs in the region. This is something we are planning to achieve through further investment and growth. We want to continue to offer young talents solid vocational training, long-term perspectives, and stability for their lives. With the areas of plastics engineering, mechanical engineering, brush making, and administration, we offer an attractive working environment that is high-tech-oriented as well as traditional.
Global
It is important to us to not only take responsibility for stability and job security within the region but also to provide support internationally. We believe that social responsibility has no borders. This is why we try to help where it is really needed. “Kinderwerk Lima” is a Christian aid organization operating in South America and Africa. Their mission is to give children from disadvantaged backgrounds opportunities for life. Visit Kinderwerk Lima
Increasing efficiency and exploiting synergies
As a manufacturing company, we try to keep up with the latest technologies and always pay close attention to new trends at an early stage. For many years, our open approach towards new things and different ways of solving problems has resulted in positive feedback from our customers and constant company growth. With the growth of the last years, however, our space requirements have also increased. It was therefore necessary to compensate for frictional losses between four regional production sites. United under one roof, we now want to use the newly gained space and synergies to become even better and produce even more environmentally friendly paint brushes.
Security for our customers
With the construction of our new production facility, we are sending a clear signal to the market. We remain committed to Germany as a production location and will further consolidate our market position as Europe's leading manufacturer of paint brushes. In addition, we are taking a stand for fair wages and against wage/quality & price dumping from low-wage countries. For our customers, this means more security overall. Security in product quality. Security in the transparency of the origin of the products and security in the delivery of goods.
Optimizing energy consumption
Energy costs are increasingly presenting German companies with new challenges in planning their operational business processes. Optimizing energy consumption not only has a direct positive impact on costs but also on the consumption of valuable resources and thus on our environment as a whole. We have therefore decided to do more with what we already have. This includes both the full use of our roof space for renewable energy and the reuse of waste heat generated in our operations.
Waste reduction
This business objective is closely related to both efficiency improvement (improving production processes & reducing waste and packaging material) and environmental protection. On one hand, the disposal of waste is an unnecessary cost. On the other hand, everything that is disposed of must first be produced, purchased, and transported. We want to intervene in this cycle with optimizations and innovations and save resources.
