Sustainability management
We as a company are very much aware of our responsibility to the environment. This is why we take the subject of sustainability seriously, emphatically addressing all issues – for nothing is more inconsistent than to speak about a topic yet do nothing about it. In 2010 we set up our Environmental and Energy Management Department which is responsible for sustainability management throughout the entire company. This is communicated through various departments both within the company – i.e. to all employees – and outside it, in other words to our customers, partners and suppliers by means of numerous independent certificates. Our ideas and specifications regarding sustainability management are applied in various specific disciplines, namely technology/innovation management, environmental management, occupational health and safety and quality management.
Group-wide commitment
Our close cooperation with Salzgitter AG plays a special role for us in this. For example, as part of the in-house group sustainability campaign a program was initiated in 2015 which together with KHS was aimed at creating a fundamental awareness and commitment to the issues of sustainability. To this end, all of the then 316 managerial staff met with the minimum goal of devising and presenting a viable sustainability project. On the one hand this was to effect a global awareness for the notion of sustainability and on the other generate direct added value for the company and its stakeholders. The meetings were very successful and resulted in a number of exemplary projects. In addition, networks for exchanging ideas and information now exist between the participants and the idea of sustainable action has been integrated into the company.
Success in India
By way of example, the KHS factory in India shows just how well our system of sustainability management functions worldwide. In 2017 the production site celebrated its 20th anniversary and has continuously and successfully tackled the challenges of quality and sustainability management. Over 400 people now work at the plant.
The site’s capacity, spread across four production shops, runs to around 150 machines a year. From the very beginning to the present day our factory in India has been awarded many certificates, earning itself a leading position in Indian industry. Certification includes the international ISO 14001 standard, for instance, which forms the basis for the creation of environmental management systems. In India this has helped to ensure a more efficient use of resources and reduce the amount of waste.
With its ISO 50001 certificate the production site adopts a system of energy management which sustainably governs the consumption, efficiency and selected source – an increasing percentage of this being renewable energy – of the energy required. Since January 1, 2017, our Indian plant has also been included in ISO 9001:2015 group certification which safeguards a high level of quality management. Various internal management and operational processes have been optimized to this end, for example.
These are just a few examples of the many forms of certification which, among other factors, have helped KHS India to gain many prestigious awards in the past. Just recently it was named producer of the year 2017 by Time Inc., a partner of McKinsey. For the future KHS India has a vision: namely to create long-term, profitable growth through innovative technology and convincing services and to secure itself a position as market leader.
Since its inception KHS India has been providing world-class service support, acting as a turnkey systems provider to the industry, giving Indian customers the latest technologies at an adequate price and consistently being an environmentally friendly and socially responsible organization and a caring employer.
