Sustainability has become increasingly important in recent years in the form of economic, environmental, and social issues. The economy has developed very positively over the past ten years. New challenges have nonetheless arisen, for example as a result of uncertainties relating to monetary policy and within the finance sector, and due to the increasing protectionism of individual countries. In 2017 alone, five environmental issues topped the list of key global risks according to the World Economic Forum (WEF). Considering, for example, the undeniable consequences of climate change and the increasing consumption of resources, a sophisticated environmental sustainability strategy is a key factor for securing the future of our society. From a social perspective, the topics of occupational safety, employee aspects like vocational training and qualifications, and general health care are of fundamental importance. We as a company go far above the statutory requirements with regard to these topics. The primary motivation for OTTO FUCHS is above all the high standards we expect of ourselves. Based on these, we continue to develop and improve our standards in these areas. We also set great store by social standards outside of the Group and see our sites and their value chains as the driving force behind prosperity and functioning social systems.
As a family-owned enterprise that goes back more than 100 years, it has always been in our interests to work and live within sustainable systems. We have therefore been operating on the basis that “The future will be what we make it” ever since the 1960s. For us, this is about much more than merely meeting the minimum economic, environmental, and social requirements. As a rule, we continuously monitor, analyze, and improve all the material sustainability aspects on which we can have a bearing. We are therefore very well prepared as a Group for the ever greater global and local challenges. We consider the key contribution that the OTTO FUCHS Group makes to be the manufacture and development of sustainable products. As a strong development partner to our customers, we are in a position to continuously improve our manufacturing processes and the materials we use for our products in such a way that we contribute greatly to conserving resources. Even minor percentage improvements in individual production steps can result in significant absolute savings.
We are additionally rising to the global challenge of improving the industry’s environmental footprint with our active involvement in, for example, Foundation 2° and the Metalle pro Klima (Metals pro Climate) initiative. As a member of the Gesamtverband der Aluminiumindustrie e. V. (German Aluminum Association, GDA), we are also involved in the Aluminium Stewardship Initiative (ASI), which was launched in 2012. The aim of this nonprofit initiative, whose founding members include our subsidiary Schüco, is to establish sustainability standards all along the aluminum value chain – from responsible corporate governance to compliance with environmental and social standards. As a global and financially independent group, we are committed to assuming responsibility all over the world. With the ongoing benchmarking of our sites’ standards at the Group level, we will be able to continue to improve as a Group and optimize our practices globally and systematically as an ongoing process.
In the stakeholder survey conducted recently in the course of preparing this report, we were already recognized as a sustainable company. We are delighted with this assessment and intend to cater to our stakeholders’ wishes of having sustainability topics communicated in even greater depth. As such, this report covers a selection of our sustainability activities and initiatives, our management systems, and our key performance indicators.
Dr.-Ing. Hinrich Mählmann
Personally liable partner