Sustainability is an abstract term, but it nonetheless has a very real impact on how we work. As a family business, we work in accordance with the concept of sustainable development. We minimize the environmental impact of what we do our as far as possible and are aware of our social responsibility towards our employees and fellow human beings. When taking decisions, we consider the generations yet to come, and we set great store by cultivating fair and open relationships with our business partners.
Our business strategy shows how serious we are about this. In it, we have anchored key objectives for sustainable development. In the last few years, we have taken a range of steps in terms of sustainability. As an industrial business and manufacturer of construction products, we feel a particular sense of responsibility when it comes to the following four areas. We will continue to pursue this path consistently
We use steel and glass, two natural raw materials that complement each other, to manufacture our products. Our melted glass is consisting of borax, feldspar, quartz and sodium carbonate. All the raw materials needed to produce glass are naturally occurring minerals. We melt steel and glass together to produce a high-quality, robust and long-lasting whole: glazed titanium steel. The materials we use are natural and 100 % recyclable and they retain their value in the raw material extraction, production and disposal cycle. Our products stand out with their outstanding stability, extremely long-lasting surfaces and timeless designs, making them highly durable: We offer a 30-year warranty for our glazed titanium steel products.
Gray energy is the total energy used to manufacture a product across its life cycle, which includes the energy required for upstream processes, operating equipment and disposal. Clearly, industrial production is impossible without energy. But we do our best to save energy and obtain it from renewable sources as far as possible. We have already taken a wide range of steps to make our operations more energy efficient and reduce our consumption, including reusing heat given off by furnaces and dryers, modernizing energy systems in buildings, optimizing packaging, and introducing various measures to reduce electricity and gas consumption.
Comfort and functionality matter to us when designing our products, so we believe easy-to-use products and supportive ergonomics are very important. Glazed titanium steel is a good material for indoor climates, as it does not release any harmful substances, it is lightfast, and it is very robust. Our bathtubs, shower bases and shower areas, along with the specific assembly systems, comply with the increased acoustic requirements of the SIA 181:2020 “Sound insulation in buildings” standard.
We have installed PV panels, which allow us to produce one fifth of the energy we consume ourselves, and we obtain electricity solely from hydroelectric power (naturemade basic certification). By agreement with the authorities, we are committed to steadily reducing our CO2 emissions. In recent years we have taken various steps to achieve this, including reusing heat given off by furnaces and dryers, buying low-CO2 steel, recycling sheet metal within our sites, installing an glazing furnace powered by electricity, modernizing energy systems in buildings, optimizing packaging, and introducing various measures to reduce electricity and gas consumption.