"The world of tomorrow will be what we have made of it." :Hans Joachim Fuchs

For over 100 years, we have been very interested in working and living in sustainable systems. We want to actively promote environmental responsibility as well as fair and healthy working conditions.

Digitalization and automation are changing existing markets and we as OTTO FUCHS KG see the development as an opportunity. We have already integrated new processes and strive to continuously improve.

We take a holistic view of sustainability and operate in harmony with ecology, economy and social issues. In addition to ecological management, social responsibility toward our employees is our top priority.

In this way, we continue to run the family business in accordance with the motto of the founder's descendant Hans Joachim Fuchs and anchor this in our corporate mission statement.

Sustainability at OTTO FUCHS :Numbers, data, facts

We at OTTO FUCHS KG are proud of the goals we have already been able to achieve. We have already been able to implement over 320 measures, many more are currently taking effect, and we also have big plans for the future.

Since 2012, 76,000,000 kWh of electricity and natural gas have been saved at OTTO FUCHS. Comparatively speaking, this is the energy consumption of around 2,613 single-family homes.
It has also saved 31,900 tons of CO₂, for which 2,550,480 beeches would have been required to compensate.
Diesel fuel consumption was also reduced by 51,000 liters - equivalent to saving 1,020 car tanks.

What projects are we already implementing?

Below you will find a selection of projects that we have implemented in the social and ecological dimensions of sustainability.

Collaboration with schools :Cooperation agreement & workshop days

OTTO FUCHS KG has a multifaceted cooperation with local schools at its site in Meinerzhagen. For example, a cooperation agreement has been concluded with the BKT Lüdenscheid in order to put theory directly into practice.

Workshop days with the Sekundarschule Meinerzhagen are also held at regular intervals. On these days, students are given the opportunity to get involved in a small project and participate in a tour through the company.

New site in Hagen-Bathey :Creation of new work places

To save travel costs and time, a new location was opened with workplaces for ultrasonic quality inspectors for aerospace parts and some office workplaces. Among other TV channels the WDR reports about the new possibilities at the location. We at OTTO FUCHS are pleased to be able to create new opportunities for our employees in an exceptional situation.

Support for domestic organizations :Trainees bake waffles for a good cause

We are particularly proud of our OTTO FUCHS trainees, as they also independently take care of campaigns to support local organizations.

One example was the waffle campaign organized by the apprentices from Meinerzhagen in December, during which they were able to hand over a donation amounting to €10,000 for the support associations of Meinerzhagen's secondary schools and to the Meinerzhagener Tafel.

FUCHSFahrt :A commuter app for employees at the Meinerzhagen site

The commuter app FUCHSFahrt has been in use at the Meinerzhagen site since December. Employees can use this app to form carpools and thus get to know new team members and save emissions at the same time. Everyone who rides a bike, uses public transportation or works in a mobile office can also track their savings.

And the numbers are impressive - our team has already saved 8,662 kg of CO2 and 50,187 km, which is the equivalent of 352 trees.

Investment in the future and the environment: horizontal continuous casting :Investment in the future and the environment: horizontal continuous casting new capacities with drastic reduction in CO2 emissions

By combining several production steps in horizontal casting, aluminum bars can be produced in a particularly energy-efficient way keeping the emission low compared with conventional vertical casting.

The waste heat-relevant relative energy consumption per ton is reduced by around 46%, the absolute energy consumption by around 60% and the CO₂ emissions by around 40%.

2-chamber melting furnaces :New technology for energy efficiency

We use multi-chamber melting furnaces for melting aluminum scrap. These simultaneously remove residual moisture and thermal gasification of organic buildup by heating the scrap, while providing for combustion and post-combustion of the carbonization gases. The preheated scrap (between 200->900 °C) is then melted down exclusively by contact with molten metal. Continuous melting operation can thus ensure low metal losses and low energy consumption.
Regenerator burners are also used, which absorb part of the exhaust gas temperature and preheat the combustion air, thus reducing a large proportion of the energy consumption.

DGNB Award :Platin for the Technikum

At our Meinerzhagen site, the technical center was opened in 2020, which has created space for the topics of research, innovation and sustainability. In keeping with this motto, the building design was also based on these principles - with success.
The Technikum has received the highest DGNB platinum award. The basic prerequisite for this is an 80% fulfillment of the result-relevant topics. The topics assessed are ecological quality, economic quality, sociocultural and functional quality, technical quality, process quality and site quality.

WHAT DO WE TAKE CARE OF NEXT?

Our next goal is to equip suitable building and open spaces with photovoltaic systems. At the Meinerzhagen site alone, 50,740 m² of building space and 27,000 m² of open space could be covered in this way, which could save a total of up to 62,521 t of CO₂ over 20 years.

We already have further projects in the pipeline, and with the Energy Circle Meinerzhagen we have created a format within the company to hone ideas for CO₂ reduction across departments.

Our climate targets :The right balance between ambition and realism.

Further increase energy efficiency
Reduction of energy-related services
Climate neutrality by 2045

OUTLOOK :Where do we go from here?

Extension of the strategy to the international sites
Improvement of the data quality of the CCF
Continuous improvement of measures
Dialog with customers on, for example, standardization of balance sheet methodology
Expansion of product groups with low footprint