Sustainability is crucial for fischer. We developed our first plug made of renewable resources together with a partner as early on as 2014. Nowadays, fischer is the world’s first company to offer an entire range of sustainable plugs. Our GreenLine product range contains plugs made of at least 50% renewable resources. We now offer this range at the same price as the crude oil-based plastic plugs. The GreenLine plugs offer the same performance and load-bearing capacity as the classic grey version.

Castor oil made from the seed of the castor bean is used for the manufacturing process as this product does not compete with food and fodder or their respective crop areas. Load level and long-term behaviour tests have demonstrated that the sustainable plug holds just as well as conventional plugs. Our strong brand serves as a guarantee of this. Six green plugs are currently available. We’re particularly proud of the fact that we have even been able to offer a sustainable chemical mortar as part of our GreenLine range. Our FIS GREEN mortar includes bio-components with various functions: reactive resins, fillers, additives, plasticisers and thermoplastic polymers. Tests show that it achieves the same performance as the petrochemical-based original.

In addition to our GreenLine, we’re the first and only manufacturer to have launched an injection mortar with a patented formula that is entirely free of hazard labels, protecting the environment and users. fischer won the fischerwerke GmbH & Co. KG Corporate Communications Klaus-Fischer-Straße 1 72178 Waldachtal Environmental Technology Award 2021 with this product in the Emission Reduction, Treatment and Separation category. FIS V Zero achieves comparable performance characteristics to other universal mortars and can be used for a versatile range of applications, as confirmed by its European Technical Assessment (ETA) for fastenings in concrete, masonry and post-installed rebars. The product innovation combines a secure hold in conventional building materials with the highest health and safety requirements. It is processed in the same manner as other injection systems.

Innovations are crucial. This applies to product innovations as well as process and technology innovations. It will involve minimising the use of resources as much as possible across all levels, particularly when it comes to our products. This is closely connected with the idea of preventing waste. Our fischer ProcessSystem pursues the goal of preventing waste, both in our production and administration. This ensures continuous process improvement. Our activities in this area are transparent both internally and externally. We created the ‘Blue Path’ at our company for the purpose of raising awareness. The colour blue represents sustainability and symbolises the oceans, the sky and the earth. Sustainability projects that have already been implemented are clearly demonstrated and documented at fischer, which resulted in the Blue Path. We also created the sustainability compass, which comprises 20 key areas of ecology, economy and social responsibility of relevance to us. This approach allows us to measure sustainability, determine the status quo, define objectives and develop measures.

We first began addressing sustainability as an issue as early on as 1953. Plastic waste has been returned to our production for recycling since 1953, so we already had a closed-loop recycling system at our company at the time. As you can see, sustainability and resource efficiency have been anchored in our DNA from the start. Our mission statement containing values such as innovation, accountability and reliability has existed since the 1980s and serves as a sort of constitution at our company. This mission statement has also contained specific principles on sustainability and protecting the environment from the start. Looking back, you could say that the mission statement is fischer’s first sustainability report.

Competitions and awards within the industry and beyond are key milestones and benchmarks for fischer’s performance. Measuring and comparing yourself to other companies allows for self-reflection and an objective view of things. According to a survey by the University of Hohenheim, the German Sustainability Award is Europe’s most respected sustainability award and succeeding in it is a major incentive. During the German Sustainability Award ceremony in November 2019, fischer was declared ‘Germany’s most sustainable large-scale business 2020’. The jury explained its decision by highlighting the consistent embedment of sustainability in our corporate strategy in addition to our company’s above-average innovative power, enabled by the systematic support and successful incorporation of all members of staff. This confirmed to us that we’re on the right track, and it was also a tremendous incentive for the future. These types of awards increase our motivation to work on challenging issues such as these.

Knowing where you are and where you want to go is also essential when it comes to sustainability. That’s why we developed TIGER, the fischer sustainability strategy. TIGER sets out our overarching Strategy 2030 as well as the fischer sustainability strategy in an eye-catching manner. To us, sustainability means guaranteeing our future viability. As such, the strategy aims to combine crisis resilience, competitive power and environmental protection.

Competitiveness is more and more a question of the right time management. “The fast overtake the slow” is another thing that TIGER stands for. The TIGER acronym furthermore stands for the company’s specific central pillars of sustainability: Technology – Innovation – Globalisation – Ecology – Responsibility. At the same time, TIGER provides an overview of the company’s key strategic challenges in direct combination with the United Nation’s relevant SDGs.

As a manufacturing company, we focus on decoupling resource consumption from growth. We are convinced that the greatest potential lies in innovative power and technological progress. The strategic TIGER objectives are broken down into annual goals before being finetuned from the top down and bottom up as well as vertically and horizontally using the Hoshin Kanri method, which creates orientation and commitment. ‘Hoshin’ is a Japanese term meaning direction/alignment, while ‘Kanri’ means management, control and planning. Hoshin Kanri allows us to align our entire processes and activities with our overarching corporate objectives.

Components of our sustainability compass include the fischer mission statement, the DNA of the company, the three dimensions of sustainability and TIGER. It also includes the WIN Charter (the sustainability management system of the federal state of Baden-Württemberg for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)), which is valid across Europe, as well as the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). This covers our main topics and challenges balanced across the three dimensions of sustainability, 20 in total. These issues directly reference the principles of the Win Charter and the corresponding SDGs. We need transparency on which long-term objectives can be built. KPIs that are comprehensible and visible to everyone are also necessary. New KPIs are required that can be used to measure future decisions in relation to megatrends such as demographics, digitalisation, globalisation and the climate.

The most important environmental issue at the moment is protecting the environment. CO2 measurement isn’t everything within this context, but without CO2 measurement, it’s all for nothing. Countries and companies can only remain competitive if they pursue consistent climate protection. Environmental pioneers will take on a leading role in the economy of tomorrow’s world. Those who hesitate will be left behind, putting jobs and the existence of entire industries at risk.

There’s no end goal for sustainability. That’s why our motto is “the journey is the goal”. We have a certain pioneering role in sustainability and would like to pass on our knowledge and experience in the future. That’s why we opened our fischer SustainabilityCampus this year, where we offer training to become a certified fischer Sustainability Manager. Participants learn successful examples in theory and practice and are subsequently coached on implementing self-chosen, individual practical projects to gain knowledge and skills. In doing so, they benefit directly from our vast practical experiences.

We want sustainability to play an even more important role in the economy, and we will continue to do our bit with our SustainabilityCampus. In addition to this, we will also be taking an in-depth look at other issues. Being sustainable means being future-proof.