Bucher Industries’ sustainability strategy focuses on four material topics: the impact of products on the environment, the health and safety of customers, diverse and highly qualified employees, and competition law and the prevention of corruption. In 2018, all five of Bucher Industries’ divisions developed products and implemented initiatives geared towards achieving the goals associated with these topics.
Kuhn Group launched the AUROCK seed drill designed for use in conservation agriculture. It enables the farmer to seed any field, regardless of whether it is tilled or under dense cover crop. The ground has to be worked only once. This reduces soil compacting and saves machinery purchasing costs, time and fuel, thus lessening CO2 emissions.
Bucher Municipals’ “SPORT Gen 6” side loader refuse collection vehicle can be operated by a single person. The vehicle’s short wheelbase, adaptive hydraulic system and new bin grabber make the waste collection and compaction process even more efficient, reducing noise emissions and fuel consumption by 7% as compared to ordinary refuse collection vehicles.
The AX pumps and motorsdeveloped by Bucher Hydraulics are revolutionary new hydraulic components ideal for use in electrified machines. They permit very slow, uniform, precise movements with a high efficiency of 94%, which means less battery power is required.
Bucher Emhart Glass implemented an electricity reduction initiative at its Johor Bahru site in Malaysia and achieved a big impact with a small effort. High bay and office lighting was converted to LED, large industrial fans were installed in place of smaller conventional fans, and new variable-capacity compressors were acquired. Despite 22% more production hours in 2018, electricity consumption was lower by 10%.
Bucher Specials’ Jetter business unit developed the “Jetter Motion Control” solution, creating major potential to reduce the amount of plastic used in food packaging. For example, instead of packaging three different-coloured peppers in one bag of a uniform maximum size, the peppers are packed in compact bags, each of which saves 3 to 4 cm of plastic – that’s an impressive 700 kilometres of plastic per year and machine. This solution also prevents empty packages from being inadvertently produced.
Compliance with competition law and the avoidance of corruption are prescribed in Bucher Industries’ code of conduct and reinforced by regular training courses for all employees. In the reporting period, the Group introduced a company-wide data protection directive in order to implement the requirements of the EU general data protection regulation (GDPR) in the countries concerned.
Sustainability report
Bucher Industries prepares its sustainability report in accordance with the GRI Standards and publishes it annually. The sustainability report 2018 and examples of the divisions’wproducts and initiatives are available online and may be accessed through the following links:
Sustainability stories
Contact for media
Silvia Oppliger, Head of Group Communications
Phone +41 43 815 80 40
media@bucherindustries.com
Contact for investors and financial analysts
Manuela Suter, CFO
Phone +41 43 815 80 50
ir@bucherindustries.com