On January 30, 2009 Mrs. Tanja Gönner, Minister of the Environment of the federal state Baden-Württemberg, and Mr. Peter Straub, President of the State Parliament Baden-Württemberg, visited Lauffenmühle GmbH & Co. KG to get some information about the bluesign® certification of the company.
Volker Steidel, managing partner of the company, arranged a tour through the production plant accompanied by Mrs. Gönner, Mr. Straub, Mr. Thomas Schäuble, mayor of Lauchringen as well as Mr. Felix Schreiner, head of the local Christian Democratic Union (CDU). Detailed information concerning the bluesign® standard and its implementation process in the company were given afterwards by Mr. Steidel. The standard, developed in Switzerland especially for the textile industry, deals with the topics Environment, Health and Safety. Those topics refer to resource productivity in the manufacturing process as well as to consumer safety and safety at work - thus, the bluesign® standard requires not only an inspection of the final products, but also a screening of the input and the whole process chain. After the implementation of all requirements according to the international standard of bluesign technologies ag, the processes as well as all used materials - and of course the final products - are continuously judged against the strict benchmarks of the bluesign® standard and optimised, if necessary.
The Minister commented this way of proceeding very positively: "I´m impressed". She knew how difficult it was to manage environment protection in the textile industry especially due to the predominant cost pressure existing for considerable time in this branch. She emphasised that it was important not only to handle with the final product but to start with the manufacturing process, to make sure that no unnecessary resources were wasted and that only sufficiently proved raw materials and supplies were employed in the manufacturing process.
"Environment, economy and social affairs have to fit together", said the Minister of the Environment, and health and safety were especially for the consumers of prime importance. To satisfy these criteria, companies would be well-advised to transparently inform about the standard they were working with. There were two basic actions required to achieve a high level in the ranges of consumer safety abd sustainability of the production mode - like Lauffenmühle did with the bluesign® certification: Firstly, the employment of high quality raw materials - being made available under impeccable working conditions - and secondly, rearrangements in the manufacturing process which often require investments. The consumer should be able to understand every single step because that was the reason why these products cost more than products manufactured under precarious working conditions and / or made of low-quality raw materials and supplies. She appreciated from eco-political view the concept for a sustainable manufacturing for which Lauffenmühle has been awarded the global industry standard bluesign®.
Photo (from left to right):
Mr. Volker Steidel, managing partner of the company, Mrs. Tanja Gönner, Environment Minister of the federal state Baden-Württemberg and Mr. Peter Straub, President of the State Parliament Baden-Württemberg.
Beside community politicians, a lot of interested inhabitants of Lauchringen used the opportunity to inform themselves about the company and the multifaceted approaches of Lauffenmühle regarding a sustainable mode of production.
Photos: Michael Neubert, Südkurier