Sustainability
Together with our employees, we want to make tomorrow's world a little bit better.
Sustainable work
Waste management
Efficient and consistent waste separation is part of our standard. There are facilities for the disposal of special and separable waste such as metal, batteries, defective electrical appliances or lamps. Every office workstation has a container for paper waste. Furniture or old appliances that are still usable are donated to charitable causes.
Responsible use of water
Water is a valuable resource. Careful use of water in our company is a fixed criterion. In the sanitary facilities, we have thermostatic fittings, water-saving buttons, sensory devices on the water tap or pearl jets that add air to the water and reduce the flow rate. We use environmentally friendly cleaning products.
Sustainability in the office
Our office buildings and production halls are energy-efficient. They are insulated with environmentally friendly materials. In addition, windows with high sound insulation and good thermal insulation as well as modern, energy-saving heating and ventilation systems are installed. Energy is also saved with energy-efficient equipment, power-saving LED lights, digitalised archiving and administration.
Sustainable company restaurant
We get fresh food from regional suppliers and ensure short delivery routes. Vegetables are sourced from the Nuremberg area, meat products come directly from a butcher in Bamberg. In addition to meat or fish dishes, we offer vegetarian, full-vallue alternatives every day. Care is taken to avoid food waste through optimised menu planning.
Job bike
The bicycle stands for sustainability and we want to live this in our corporate actions as well. The bicycle counts as a piece of sports equipment in everyday professional and private life, as well as a positive factor for health. In addition, it makes a central contribution to environmental and climate protection.
We offer the possibility of leasing company bicycles or e-bikes. You can choose the bike of your choice yourself at the job bike dealer.
Open to suggestions
Our employees have thought about where we can avoid plastic in the company. As a result, our coffee machines have been equipped with hard paper cups. We also provide porcelain cups for coffee. Together, we save about 40,000 plastic cups per year. Charging stations are being built on the company premises for employees with electric vehicles.
Climate-friendly mobility
We want to make a contribution to reducing CO2 emissions and live up to our responsibility. We invest in electric vehicles in our fleet. Business trips and related means of travel are planned sustainably. There is a regular shuttle service between the Berlin and Coburg locations.
Resource-saving transport
Unfortunately, we cannot do without packaging. We mainly use reusable wooden crates for our machines and tools.
Sustainable production and products
Optimised use of energy and materials
Based on decades of experience combined with innovative ideas, KAPP NILES produces modern generating and profile grinding machines of excellent design quality. Sustainable options have been developed for many components:
- Finite Element Method (FEM) analyses, for example, are used to design components with high rigidity and minimal material usage. This reduces moments of inertia and saves drive power.
- Hydraulic components were largely replaced by electronic ones and the remaining functional units were optimized by efficient hydraulic units with low consumption: Compared to an installed power of 13.5 kW 25 years ago, frequency-controlled pumps with 2.2 kW are now available with a consumption of 0.04 kW/h during production.
- Reduced oil volume, low-watt valves and pump drive with frequency converter reduce operating and maintenance costs.
- Additively manufactured coolant nozzles increase the efficiency of the cooling lubricant supply by 60 % and help to reduce energy consumption in the cooling lubricant system.
- Material replacement of the machine bed from grey cast iron to recyclable mineral casting saves 1.6 tons of CO₂ per ton of material over the entire life cycle.
- Intelligent switch-off functions and a calendar-controlled warm-up program minimize the switch-on time of the machines.
- Lowered operating pressure and a demand-oriented sealing air supply reduce compressed air consumption.
“The EU Ecodesign Regulation 2024/1781 presents machine manufacturers with new challenges in product development and marketing. These include resource efficiency and the identification of the CO₂ or environmental footprint. KAPP NILES has always dealt with this topic in the past, including as part of the VDMA's 'Blue Competence' initiative. We see the ambitious internal sustainability targets as an opportunity to secure competitive advantages in the future.”
Ralf Dremel - Head of Product Management | KAPP NILES
Blue Competence
The "BLUecoMPETENCE" initiative creates a network for the mechanical and plant engineering sector in the field of sustainability. The common worldwide position of a technology leader in the field of sustainable production and products should be strengthened and expanded through the bundling of resources, know-how and strengths of all VDMA forces.
We have joined this sustainability initiative as a partner company.
Our understanding of forward-looking sustainability is based on the principles of economic success, fairness, respect and responsibility, and encompasses the dimensions of society, ecology & economics. We understand sustainable action holistically in sense of the definition of the Brundtland Report and the definition of the Council for Sustainable Development in Germany.