Protection of the environment, sustainability in the use of natural resources and social responsibility are major corporate objectives for KHS GmbH and KHS Corpoplast GmbH. This greatly accommodates the wishes of customers in the beverage, food and non-food industries worldwide, as they often consider attaining these goals across their entire supplier chain and within their own companies to be part of their brand policy. Such customers therefore also attach great importance to certification which confirms that their suppliers are acting responsibly.
It's for this reason that in 2011 KHS had its new Innofill Glass DRS/ZMS glass filler certified by Germany's TÜV SÜD as energy-efficient plant technology. The next machines to be certified according to TÜV SÜD's energy and media efficiency standard in 2012 were the InnoPET Blomax Series IV stretch blow molder with its AirbackPlus system and the gas shrink tunnel for packing machines.
The company was certified according to ISO 9001, the quality management standard, as early as in 1995. In 2011 KHS was certified in keeping with OHSAS 18001 (the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series). With a currency in over 80 countries OHSAS 18001 is one of the best-known standards for occupational health and safety management systems in the world. Furthermore, in 2012 and 2013 KHS carried out ethical audits at various national and international production sites and was granted the appropriate certification. KHS customers can view the results of the KHS ethical audit on the Sedex database. Nine purchasing organizations in the beverage industry, among others, are now interlinked. At the beginning of 2014 the company was certified according to ISO 14001, the environmental management standard, and ISO 50001, the standard for energy management valid worldwide, for all of its German production sites.
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Matthias Niemeyer, CEO of KHS GmbH, says, "The issue of sustainability is an important element in our vision of technology and service leadership. It shows that values such as environmental friendliness and social commitment play a very significant role for us. We're backing up our claims with certificates and the appropriate audits performed by neutral experts to also convince the public generally of our policies."
Prior to being awarded ISO 14001 and ISO 50001 certification KHS set up a number of teams headed by the plant energy and environment officers at all of its German production sites. These teams analyzed the current situation at the individual factories, drew up a list of measures for improvement and subsequently implemented these measures. The key environmental management topics were optimized handling of hazardous materials, e.g. by substituting these with less dangerous substances, improved waste disposal and savings in water consumption. Special hazardous materials rooms were installed, for instance, and waste disposal areas reorganized so that waste can be more accurately separated. Improved energy management focused on minimizing the energy consumption of machines, heating and lights, among other devices. Examples of the energy-reducing measures introduced include using waste compressor heat to also heat the production shops, deploying frequency-controlled extractors in laser machining centers and replacing the air conditioner at the Dortmund computer center with a system with free cooling.
Florian Lerche, head of Corporate Development at KHS GmbH, states, "It's always that number of small steps which results in success. Our job is to continuously question prevalent states in order to make permanent improvements. In our energy and environmental teams we work on key figures which reflect the energy and environmental management objectives we want to reach in the short, medium and long term."
These goals are also precisely described in the KHS production manuals. Energy and environmental management are key pillars in production and ones which all plant personnel are fully trained to be aware of.
Says Anke Fischer, CFO/CHRO for KHS GmbH, "What's essential for the further improvement of our standards is that KHS employees are more strongly sensitized to the issues of sustainability and the environment and that we all pull together. Our certification is an extremely important hallmark of quality for both our customers and our personnel. It convincingly underlines KHS' far-sighted commitment to sustainability and the protection of the environment. Another measure we're planning for the near future is the compilation of a KHS sustainability report."
