In harmony with our environmental guidelines, we are committed to assuming responsibility throughout the entire life cycle of our products, from production to recycling. This includes the constant optimisation of processes in our internal supply chain, from the acceptance of raw materials all the way to delivery to our customers.

In order to achieve this, we have dedicated continuous efforts over the past few years to the improvement of our internal processes and increasing our productivity and quality. Through the ongoing development of our management system, we can make sure that we can reliably meet the growing requirements in all areas of the Pöppelmann Group, both now and in years to come. Only in this way can we achieve our goal of sustainable value creation and the corresponding rise in customer benefit.

But the quality of our products and services, our economic success and our commitment to environmental protection are not our only measures of success. Our pledge to do business in a sustainable and responsible manner also involves the continuous improvement of internal work processes in the value chain. Our goal is to align machines and work processes so well that no resources – neither material nor time nor energy – are wasted.

In order to continuously improve our internal processes, we work extensively with PDCA methodology (Plan, Do, Check, Act) developed by Deming. This helps us to analyse the situation at hand, recognise potential and derive actions and opportunities for improvement. We also use a method from risk management, Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA). The purpose of FMEA is to pre-emptively investigate a component or process for potential weak points. The aim is to start operations with an optimum component, tool or process and therefore prevent faults and, in turn, waste.

The constant reduction of material consumption, especially of virgin plastic, also plays an important role in the continuous review of the internal supply chain. This is achieved on the one hand through the increasing use of recycled materials, but also by process improvements to minimise waste and the return of sprues into production. In this context, our considerations always include the balance between long-term storage and short-term just-in-time production. After all, the more often a machine needs to be re-tooled for a new product, the more material residue is incurred when the system starts up.

An important factor for the execution of optimum processes is the use of employees according to their strengths. Continuous further training means we also strengthen our processes at this level in accordance with the latest innovations.

In addition to this, we already achieve the best possible work processes through the targeted selection of our suppliers. Here, we focus on expertise and the ability to develop while encouraging our suppliers to improve their own processes in terms of environmental concerns by combining contract assignment with our expectations regarding quality, occupational safety and environment management systems.