Committed to environmental protection
Thinking of tomorrow today already. Companies worldwide have for years been working towards minimising the use of resources, using energy more efficiently and optimising the use of raw materials – with the aim of taking pressure off the environment and safeguarding it for future generations. Prinovis too focuses on certified environmental management systems and is Committed to environmental protection.
Responsibility towards the environment is a deep-rooted principle at Prinovis, obliging the colleagues to environmentally responsible actions. Because we are consuming environmental resources, the topic of »environmental protection« has for a long time been foremost in the minds at the company’s printing locations. At the same time, however, we are also exploiting our options for ecologically friendly production. Prinovis has for many years been successfully focussing on minimising the use of resources, employing energy more efficiently and optimising the use of raw materials. The locations’ certified environment management systems reflect the targeted environmental protection.
Many of our customers are themselves committed to this principle and ask their suppliers – including us: »What are you doing in this regard?« In this context, the CO2 emissions topic is increasingly rearing its head against the backdrop of global climate change. OTTO, in particular, is among the customers who have an intense interest in the environmental protection credentials of their suppliers. And a simple reference to certificates is no longer enough. Prinovis must rather demonstrate in discussions with customers that environmental protection issues are obviously taken seriously and are under responsible control. Prinovis continues its close dialogue with the customers aimed at answering the joint question: »What can we do in addition to pursue and achieve com- mon objectives furthering environmental protection?«. Invited by Sales, Maren Könnemann and Thomas Neu from the OTTO catalogue production visited the print shop in Itzehoe on 12 March. The programme started off with a presentation on the environmental protection achievements of the print shops and a brief, but intensive inspection of the supply areas. The competent contact persons included Alexander Klüber (Sales), Jens Müller (Product support), Dr. Hans-Friedrich Süßmann (Head of Technical Equipment and Installation) as well as Lars Meusburger (Head of Production and Technology at Itzehoe) and Christine Uhde-Leischner (Environmental coordinator at Prinovis).
The presentation focussed, among other, on energy consumption developments and process-related CO2 emissions: it could be shown that, since Prinovis was founded, both the specific energy demand and the specific CO2 emissions had constantly improved, i.e. been reduced. This had been achieved, among other, by consistent optimisation of production and building technology. »It is also due to intensive work within the various integration teams«, says Lars Meusburger. At Itzehoe, a gas turbine has helped to save energy and reduce the load on the environment since February of this year (see the contribution on this from Page 18). Contrasting with thermal power stations which are designed simply to produce power, cogeneration can achieve much higher efficiencies (up to 90%) by utilising both the power and the heat generated, which saves fuel if this heat is used for heating or for production processes. In power stations without this cogeneration, the heat is wasted by releasing it into the environment via the cooling towers and condensers. Compared to the state-of-the-art technologies for optimum separate generation of power and heat, cogeneration plants achieve a saving in primary energy of 10 to 25 percent. This also reduces the amount of pollutants produced with combustion.
It is our target this year to further increase the efficiency and thereby also reduce CO2 emission. Our customer OTTO agrees with us on the prime importance of this issue. The relationship between customer and supplier is therefore defined not only by the quality of our printed products but also by the common goal of environmentally friendly production!
The sourcing of paper from responsible forestry operations was an important topic. Prinovis has set itself a goal to support its customers in the use of certified paper. For this reason, all the Prinovis print shops were certified to comply with the leading standards (FSC and PEFC) in 2007. In August 2007, the »OTTO Markenguide« became the first customer order on FSC paper.
In this area, it is the intention of OTTO to make more FSC paper available on the market and to create a higher acceptance for this label. Prinovis will actively support OTTO in reaching this goal.
(05.05.2008)
Visit to the boiler house. Dr. Hans-Friedrich Süßmann (2nd from left) explains the functions of the boiler plant and gas turbine to Thomas Neu and Maren Könemann from OTTO. Alexander Klüber (far left) and Jens Müller (far right) listen with interest.