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Anniversary year at Buschjost:
A pleasing result for the environment
Environmental protection brings profit by cutting costs:
Uwe Schneckener alongside one of the five compressors from whose oil heat is recovered for reuse.
2008 was a very special year for Buschjost Norgren GmbH + Co. KG. The company has now been operating in Bad Oeynhausen
for 75 years and has meanwhile earned itself a place among the leading enterprises dealing in valves for process
engineering applications.
This anniversary naturally called for some hearty celebrations at Buschjost. Several festivals and other events
were held in Bad Oeynhausen with “the future’s green” as their theme in keeping with the company motto. However, it
is not only the future that is green at Buschjost - the company has already put many of its projects concerning the
protection of the environment into practice, both in the past and, in particular, in its anniversary year.
“At Buschjost, we approach the issue of environmental protection from two sides”, states Environment Spokesman Uwe
Schneckener: “As a basic principle we seek to achieve optimal solutions for the environment with our products, and we
always keep the environment aspect in mind when it comes to taking decisions within the company.”
Buschjost received its first ever award for environmental protection in 2005 in the form of “Ökoprofit” (ecological
project for integrated environmental engineering) of the district of Minden-Lübbecke. At this time, an environmental
management group was set up within the company. This team then began to apply itself to an ever-increasing extent to all
topics connected with the environment. “In doing so, we drew nearer to the issue of DIN EN ISO 14001. Our efforts
concerning the Ökoprofit award were excellent preparation for this international environmental management standard”, remarks
Uwe Schneckener. The processes at Buschjost were certified in accordance with this standard for the first time in 2006.
Embodied in this norm, and also in the corporate policy of Buschjost, is the objective of manufacturing products while
saving materials and energy. The consumption of water has also been reduced in the company as a whole. During the past
three years it has sunk by 19 % per employee. “In relation to turnover, our consumption of electricity has fallen by
some 15 % in the last two years, while savings of around 10 % on electrical energy for the generation of compressed air
have been achieved within the space of one year by avoiding leakages”, reports Uwe Schneckener with pride.
All processes with liquids which are hazardous to water are protected against in the company by means of structural
measures. Chlorinated hydrocarbons are no longer used in the washing plants but have been substituted by aqueous solutions.
Furthermore, all Buschjost products conform to the RoHS directive and no PVC is used whatsoever.
Buschjost therefore meets the international requirements made on an environmental management system in accordance
with DIN EN ISO 14001. This certificate covers the development, production and sale of process valves and valve systems.
“Conservation is one of our business objectives“, declares Director Michael Preinerstorfer. For this reason the ecological
awareness of all employees is promoted.
The fact that all Buschjost valves and valve system solutions are engineered with particular attention to environmental
aspects is a matter of course for our company. A good example here concerns the removal of dust from exhaust air
in industry: Particulate matter, which is assumed to cause cancer, accumulates in the timber and metal processing
industries, in power stations or in waste incineration plants. In order to prevent these minute particles of dust
from entering exhaust air, fibrous filters are used to filter out the particulate matter. It is vital that as much
air as possible is blown through the fibre in the shortest amount of time and at the highest possible pressure – and,
in order to achieve this, valves are required that open particularly fast. A technology on which Buschjost has been an
authority across the globe for more than a quarter of a century.
Buschjost also operates at a similarly high level of technological expertise when it comes to its valve solutions in
the sector “renewable energies”. The Bad Oeynhausen-based company has been focusing on this field in active fashion
since 2002. Vegetable oil as fuel, biogas and fuel cells are just three of Buschjost’s slogans for the markets of
the future.
However, it is not only Buschjost which has been applying itself to protecting the environment. The group parent
company IMI also plays a significant role in this field. It is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index to which
companies are admitted, among other things, due to sustainability criteria.
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05.12.2008 |
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