For us, responsibility means sustainable operations for the environment, the economy and the people
We take sustainability into account throughout our whole value chain from research and development to manufacturing and maintenance.
Essential sustainability themes for Norrhydro
Environmentally friendly solutions
Our business idea is to offer environmentally friendly motion control solutions for mobile machinery as well as competitive advantage for our customers through energy efficiency.
Product quality and safety
In addition to being environmentally friendly, our products are safe, durable and of high quality.
Respect for the environment in all operations
Our goal is also to minimize the damaging environmental impacts of our own operations. This means, for example, using resources efficiently and reducing emissions and resulting waste from our production.
Supporting employment, vitality and well-being in Northern Finland
We are a significant employer in Rovaniemi, who takes care of occupational well-being, safety and professional competence of its personnel.
Environmental responsibility
Our solutions save energy and the environment
Customers are operating in industries where the environmental impact and thus the potential to reduce emissions are high. We take responsibility for the environment by offering our customers solutions that are helping them to move to low-carbon operations.
Already now, part of our revenue comes from solutions that meet our customers' energy efficiency challenges. In particular, we have developed new intelligent motion control solutions that can significantly improve the eco-efficiency of mobile machinery operations. Our strategic goal is to increase the share of these linear motion solutions and thus also level of environmentally friendliness in our business.
Our NorrDigi motion control system, which will be commercialized by 2024, will enable significant energy savings and reduce emissions in mobile machines, especially in the material handling and forest industries. Automatic energy recovery and re-use increase the energy efficiency of the system by more than 80% compared to traditional solutions. According to tests, NorrDigi can increase the fuel efficiency of excavators by up to 45-60%. In long term, NorrDigi will also make it possible to replace diesel systems with electric motors. We estimate that by 2026, almost a third of our products will utilize the NorrDigi motion control system.
The new production facility significantly reduces the emissions of our own operations
We are also committed to minimizing the negative environmental impacts of our own operations by looking for ways to reduce production waste, emissions and impacts on soil, and by using energy, water and other resources in as efficient and sustainable a way as possible. We strive to recycle as much of the waste generated in our production as possible. In 2020, Norrhydro's recycling rate was about 90%.
In our environmental policy, we define our environmental goals and principles, which we follow in our own production and the solutions we deliver to our customers. Our environmental goals are based on an environmental management system in accordance with the ISO 14001 standard.
We have built a new production facility in Rovaniemi, ramped up in August 2022, which will reduce the carbon dioxide emissions of our production by 20% from the previous level. The environmental impacts and carbon footprint of the production facility have been taken into account already during the construction phase, and the building has applied for LEED certification. Part of the electricity at the production facility is produced with solar panels, and the facility's HVAC systems are implemented so that the waste heat generated in production can be reused in heating. The waste heat from the cooling of the production hall is sold to the local district heating company. In addition, process water is recycled and unnecessary water use is avoided.
Social responsibility
The occupational safety and well-being of our personnel are at the core of our social responsibility
We are a significant local employer in Rovaniemi, and our new production facility will create more than 100 new production jobs in Rovaniemi and elsewhere in Lapland over the next five years. We work actively to arouse the interest of young people and students in the metal industry in particular. We cooperate with local educational institutions and offer students internships, among other things.
We are committed to providing a healthy and safe working environment for all our employees, subcontractors and others who work with us. Our goal is to avoid all kinds of injuries, accidents and health risks. We promote occupational safety by requiring the use of protective equipment and organising related training, as well as by investing in lifting equipment that facilitates work, among other things. All new employees are introduced to safe working methods. Our occupational safety is at a good level. Over the past few years, the number of accidents has decreased and serious accidents have been avoided. All accidents and close shaves are carefully investigated, and corrective measures are reviewed to prevent their recurrence.
Employee satisfaction is reflected in long careers
According to our annual personnel survey, our employees are especially satisfied with the level of our occupational safety and health, a good working atmosphere and the opportunity to utilise their personal skills. Norrhydro treats its employees fairly and respectfully and values diversity. We do not accept any form of discrimination in our actions.
We invest in the training of our employees by offering courses that maintain and develop their professional skills. Work rotation and transfer of knowledge are also key forms of competence development in addition to the actual training.
Employee satisfaction is reflected in the commitment and relatively low turnover of our personnel. Careers are typically long: our personnel has an average of 10 years of service with Norrhydro, and some of our employees have had careers of up to 35 years.
Financial responsibility
Product quality and safety are the key elements of our operations
The key principle of Norrhydro's operations is to supply customers with high-quality and environmentally friendly products and services that meet or even exceed the requirements of customers and the industry.
In order to best meet the customer's quality requirements, product development projects are executed in close cooperation with the customer. We also systematically develop the quality of our products in cooperation with our suppliers, based on internal and external observations, customer feedback and risk analysis. Monitoring the quality of our products is vital, as we also promote the safety of the end user of our customer's machine as well as the safety of the environment.
Norrhydro operates according to ISO 9001 quality management standard, which aims to continuous improvement of operations and increase of customer satisfaction. According to our customer satisfaction survey conducted in 2021, our customers are especially satisfied with the quality of our solutions, our customer communication and our technical support, of which we were rated 9 on a scale of 4-10.
Global sourcing supports profitable growth
A global sourcing network, where there are always multiple suppliers of the most important materials and components, is our key competitive advantage, as it improves the delivery reliability, cost-effectiveness and quality. In our integrated supply chain model, demand forecasts guide the operations of our production, which guarantees the availability of critical materials and components. Norrhydro uses well-known suppliers in the industry whose products are known to represent the top quality of their industry, who meet our exact product requirements, and whose operations we judge to be sustainable.
