Sustainability and social responsibility
in the mechanical engineering company AGTOS
The topic of sustainability is increasingly moving up the corporate agenda. The term CSR – Corporate Social Responsibility – is generally used. This refers to the orientation of companies towards their responsibility in society. Four subject areas have been defined to provide an insight into the broad spectrum of the term.
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More InformationSustainability in blasting technology at AGTOS
Principles of corporate social responsibility
Public welfare and civic engagement
The topic “Common good and civic engagement” looks at the company's relationship with its social environment. This includes employees as well as the geographical region. Employee engagement is presented alongside donation management and regional engagement.
Corporate environmental protection
This topic area covers issues such as energy and climate, logistics, employee mobility and the environmentally friendly design of the site.
Workplace and employees
In addition to occupational safety and health promotion, this topic area also looks at training and development, equal opportunities and employee satisfaction.
Product responsibility
This fourth topic area deals with the ecological impact of products, digitalisation and data protection as well as environmental standards at suppliers, to name but a few.
Procedure at AGTOS
At AGTOS, the various CSR topics are handled by a team consisting of several employees. They come from the Purchasing, HR, Sales, Technology and Business Development departments. The CSR team is supported by the management.
Short-term measures
Measures were also defined that were to be implemented in the short term. This already included the improvement and consistent implementation of waste separation. Another measure concerned the introduction of free drinks for employees. Environmental aspects should also be taken into account here. High-quality purified water can therefore be obtained from a vending machine. Every employee has their own reusable vacuum flask so that PET bottles are no longer used. Furthermore, a fully automatic coffee machine for different types of coffee has been installed, a measure from the “Workplace and employees” area of action.
The most recent measure is the introduction of a bike leasing system for all employees and their partners. It is intended to promote health as well as satisfaction and support the switch to environmentally friendly mobility. Employee participation is good and the range of leased bikes is wide.
A newly launched internal newsletter informs all AGTOS employees about aspects relevant to the company, including CSR issues, and encourages them to actively support the company.
Medium-term measures at AGTOS
In addition to the measures that have already been initiated and implemented, we are continuously working on further activities. To this end, the CSR team meets at regular intervals. Measures that will be tackled in future include supplier management, customer satisfaction and other environmental aspects such as converting the hall lighting to LED.
Everyone involved is aware that a lot still needs to be done to become truly sustainable. But the first steps have been taken and small successes have become noticeable for everyone. Not every measure suits the company and priorities must also be adapted to reality.
Sustainability at association level
AGTOS is a partner of the Blue Competence sustainability initiative. Blue Competence is an initiative of the VDMA, to promote sustainability in mechanical and plant engineering, but also to publicise sustainable solutions in the industry. With our partnership, we are committed to complying with the twelve guiding principles for sustainable action.
In April 2023 the VDMA magazine reported on AGTOS.
How sustainability is implemented in AGTOS blast cleaning systems.
Sustainability is already an important factor in the project planning of wheel blast cleaning systems. Simulations replace many time-consuming blasting tests that involve logistics and travel. This benefits the environment.
When planning and designing the machines, attention is paid to the most sustainable operation possible. Automatic switch-off devices, optimum adjustment of the air separation (cleaning of the blasting medium), frequency converters for adjusting the drives to the process and differential pressure-dependent cleaning of the filter cartridges are just a few aspects. The use of IE4 class drives is being promoted. The most important aspects have been compiled in a brochure that provides customers with comprehensive information.
