GARANT GreenPlus: environmentally friendly cleaners and adhesives
With its hazard-label-free, resource-efficient products for cleaning and adhesive bonding, Hoffmann optimizes its customers’ performance and helps protect people and the environment. Conventional cleaners and adhesives frequently contain aggressive solvents. The GARANT GreenPlus line is different: it focuses not only on the products’ performance, but also on their impact on the environment and people. The cleaners are water-based and either VOC-free or have significantly fewer VOCs compared to conventional products (VOC: volatile organic compound; this is the term used to describe gaseous and vaporous substances in the air with an organic origin). None of the products in this line are required to have hazard labels in accordance with the CLP Regulation (Classification, Labelling and Packaging). That also means that these products do not have to be stored in a hazardous goods depot and that staff do not have to be trained in how to handle them. That simplifies work processes, is environmentally friendly and reduces the costs of occupational safety measures, storage and disposal.
Sustainable solutions
as an innovation driver
SFS's value engineering approach enables it to develop ideas and solutions that create sustainable value added for its stakeholder groups – in economic, ecological and social terms. This endeavor was implemented in the year under review with the following products and adaptations: Hazard-label-free cleaners and anaerobic adhesives that improve occupational safety and are gentle on the environment and tool handles made of renewable raw materials are some examples that illustrate the sustainable solutions implemented in the past year.
“As product manager of the Hoffmann Group, we feel responsible for ensuring that we can offer our customers sustainable products. We live up to this responsibility with GARANT GreenPlus and offer our customers sustainable solutions that let them cut costs and resources while also protecting their employees.”
Tool handles made of renewable raw materials
SFS worked together with material suppliers and plastic injection molders to find ways of replacing the ABS plastic in our tool handles with biopolymers. This project was driven by a desire to promote both the products’ biodegradability and their environmentally safe disposal. Given our overmolded metal blades, there was no doubt that this would be no easy task.
Scarce oil reserves, however, call for the use of renewable materials. The biopolymer plastic we chose is made of up to 100% renewable raw materials.
Design- and color-related aspects are currently posing a few individual challenges. Since their long-term properties also need to be investigated more closely in a workshop setting, we are not currently making any across-the-board changes to our range of tools. Instead, we are developing solutions that fit specific project requests and customer requirements.
From paper to digital invoicing
Two projects aimed at digitalizing invoicing across Switzerland were initiated in the year under review. In the first, SFS is working together with its partner banks on a campaign that aims to raise “eBill” awareness. This initiative will be rolled out in the first half of 2023 and will focus mainly on small- and medium-sized customers of SFS.
In the second project, SFS will actively address the topic of “digital invoicing” with its customers during the second half of 2023 by integrating it as a standard agenda item at every customer meeting: Going forward, paper invoices can only be sent out with the customer’s consent.
Both projects are aimed at reducing the amount of paper used and preventing both postage fees and transport-related emissions. As soon as the Switzerland-wide project has been successfully implemented, it will be adapted gradually by the various country organizations.
