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ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

Abstract from the Company Manual, revision 16, state 26.03.2019:

Company policy / company targets

”…Almost nobody is aware that working hours are hours of life and that industrial goods of minor quality are destroyed human life.” That’s what the Bauhaus designer Wilhelm Wagenfeld said in the forties of the last century. Can anyone describe the meaning of quality in a more gripping and “human” way?

Important principles are the orientation towards quality, energy, environment, employees and customers as well as to comply with the requirements of law, norms and our customers. We of MKU-Chemie want to manufacture products of high quality – on the one hand in order to meet the demands of our customers, to improve their satisfaction and thus to secure the future of our company. On the other hand because it is of fundamental importance for the self-concept of a person to do his/her work as good as possible.

Quality for the company

To the extent that Europe and the world are getting closer, competition between the companies is growing too. More and more similar and interchangeable products are entering the market. And most of the countries can manufacture these products cheaper than we can. So we need a feature distinguishing our products and services from those of other companies: quality.

But quality is more than only the excellence of our products. Quality in the modern sense means to meet the demands of our customers, employees and society at any time. These demands are not only limited to the product, but have to be seen from an integral perspective. This includes service, support, delivery time, safety, environmental compatibility and many other aspects.

Environmental and energy policy

Environmental and energy policy does not only include the sustainable use of resources like raw materials, energy, water, air and soil, but also the continuous risk minimization of factors that are harmful to the environment. In this process, not only the customer, but also the public and last but not least we are in the focus of this policy ourselves. Programs implementing strategic and operational objectives for environment and energy are used as planning element.

Controlling of these programs as part of the regular assessment of the company management is the basis of the continuous improvement of the company performance related to environment and energy. This also includes, in addition and if needed, buying environmentally sustainable and energy-efficient products and services.

By this we understand:

  • collecting and evaluating information concerning consumption of energy and water
  • collecting and evaluating information concerning waste disposal
  • searching for alternatives to replace hazardous substances
  • reduction of air pollution, noise exposure and contamination of effluent water
  • taking measures to reduce risks (unintentional environmental impact, emergency management, fire protection, user protection)
  • cooperation with suppliers who have the same philosophy
  • complying with the relevant environmental laws and regulations
  • continuous improvement of processes, products and services

We declare explicitly that we are willing to participate in local and industry-specific environmental and energy-related programs.

Results of monitoring and measurement are presently not published.

Safety policy

The safety policy of our company applies to aspects concerning safety of employees, machinery, products and the safe transport of our products.

We will not only want to comply with the requirements of law and local authorities, but in addition we will actively support an improvement of the safety aspects. By permanent analysis, assessment and improvement of our products, equipment and service conditions, we allow for protecting the health of our employees, neighbors and customers as well as the environmental integrity. For this purpose, we use among other things the contact with our customers, our employees, external companies and authorities. By labeling our products according to regulations, we inform our customers, the employees of external companies as well as our own staff about risks and correct handling of the products.

How quality works

In order to ensure quality and to provide for environmental, energy-related and safety aspects, we expand our business objectives by environmental and safety aspects, thus implementing the holistic requirement to a management system.

In this manual and the accompanying documents, all the processes of quality, environment, energy management and safety at work, of machinery and transport are documented. But this focus on quality, environment, energy and safety cannot and should not be imposed “from above” nor is it the task of the “authorized persons”.

– The management system of a company only works if every single person feels responsible for it –

The following five guiding principles and ideas concerning quality should give us important impulses.

Five guiding priciples

Quality leads to satisfied customers. The precondition for a long-term and solid relationship with our customers is to always fulfill their requirement one-hundred percent – and even more so when these requirements are changing. Thus we secure the future of our company and our working places. One very important aspect of this is: It is not on us to decide whether we have reached the required quality – this judgment is solely rendered by the customer.

Quality concerns all of us. In order to be able to manufacture high-grade products, we must be able to rely on the work of our suppliers. This means that quality begins with our suppliers and thus is present in every division of our company. Anyone can contribute to quality – not just the employees who are directly involved with manufacturing.

Quality does not cost more. We do not want to get quality by expensive tests, but we want to manufacture quality products from the very beginning. This includes that we avoid errors and consequently eliminate every error source – anyone of us.

Quality protects the environment. We therefore want to develop our products and manufacturing processes constantly under the aspect of environ-mental compatibility. Emissions into air, soil and water shall be reduced and the amount of waste shall be minimized. We want to handle the raw materials economically and give priority to the long shelf life and high reliability of our products.

Quality needs permitted persons. We therefore want to have employees who are proud of our quality-oriented policy. We only will be successful if each of them feels personally responsible for quality.

Implementing the company policy

In order to put our objectives and the “five guiding principles” into practice, a comprehensive understanding and a certain acceptance are required.

In order to be able to implement this company policy and to adapt it to the increasing demands of the future, it has to be explained, understood, revised and improved repeatedly at all levels.