Sustainability along the product life cycle
As a family business, we have consistently focused our activities on the long term for many years. We place great importance on long-term strategies and stable partnerships. We are also working to integrate sustainability considerations into the life cycle of our products – from development through to production and waste management.
Sustainability as a cross-sector responsibility
GEZE takes a holistic approach to sustainability.
Our products are an essential factor for sustainability at GEZE. In our understanding, it concerns the entire product life cycle and should be integrated into all relevant areas, such as development, purchasing, and production. We are currently working on gradually integrating sustainability more closely into product development and into our consideration of the entire product life cycle. The aim is to systematically integrate environmental considerations into decision-making processes.
Durability is the key to sustainability
With over 270 employees, GEZE Service helps ensure long-lasting functional products throughout Germany.
As a leading manufacturer of door, window and safety technology, we offer particularly durable solutions thanks to certified product quality. Our primary production site in Leonberg, for instance, has been certified in accordance with DIN EN ISO 14001 since 2012, and in accordance with DIN EN ISO 50001 since 2016. Our quality management system in Leonberg has also been certified pursuant to DIN EN ISO 9001 for many years.
GEZE Service offers innovative service concepts, so that our customers can take full advantage of our products’ service lives. GEZE Service ensures GEZE products are installed correctly, maintained subsequently, and tested on an ongoing basis. Our services include installation, maintenance, repair, retrofitting, refurbishment, and spare part management for all products – even outside of the GEZE product portfolio.
Sustainability and environmental product declaration regulations
The modern shopping mall with GEZE door and safety technology has been awarded the Gold certificate by the German Sustainable Building Council.
We always observe and document all sustainability regulations in conjunction with our product portfolio. These include, for instance, regularly reviewing our compliance with key environmental directives like REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals), RoHS (use of certain hazardous materials in electrical and electronic devices), PoP (Persistent organic pollutants) or WEEE (Environmentally responsible disposal of used electrical and electronic devices). If new requirements are enacted, we implement these promptly.
Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) contain standardised environmental information on products, including their impact on the climate, acidification, eutrophication and resource consumption.
EPDs form important basics for the environmental assessment of buildings within various Green Building schemes. Among other things, they are taken into account in international assessment schemes such as BREEAM and LEED, as well as in national schemes such as that of the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB), and are incorporated into the assessment criteria for public construction projects.
We are currently working to expand our range of EPDs so that customers can increasingly incorporate reliable environmental information about our products into their Green Building certifications.
Read more about green building
Read more about our environmental product declarations
To the environmental declarations (EPDs) at GEZEMaterial and resource management
Our planet’s resources are finite. Against this backdrop, we are working to increasingly align our development and manufacturing processes so that sustainability considerations are taken into account and we operate in a more responsible and resource-efficient manner throughout the supply chain. Even when acquiring materials, we consistently review and consider ecological and social dimensions. For example, we purchase approx. 85% of our raw materials from Europe. Since we also produce the majority of our products in Europe, this approach ensures transportation routes are kept short. We also either deliver all of the waste we produce to recycling systems, or dispose of it according to valid local regulations. Furthermore, with our “Avoid-Recycle-Remove” strategy, we are working to continuously reduce the amount of waste we produce and increase our recycling rate.
Supplier management
GEZE works to form long-term supplier relationships built around our values. We cooperate in many different ways with around 1,500 suppliers to purchase raw materials, components, and services we need for our final products. Through our supplier management, we build and maintain long-term partnerships in which every member accepts their corporate responsibility and acts in accordance with human rights due diligence obligations and environmental and climate targets.
We understand a “reliable supply chain” as doing more than just ensuring on-time deliveries. Being a GEZE supplier means recognising your part in and contributing to our responsibility for sustainable business practices.
Michael Seubert, Head of Global Procurement at GEZE
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