GENELEC TURNS UP THE VOLUME AT PRO LIGHT & SOUND!

When and how did Genelec start measuring environmental issues?

We started systematic internal reporting of environmental issues in 2002. However, the conscious behavior and material recycling started much earlier, in the 80s. Our reporting covers all the recycled cardboard, burnable materials for energy production (wood and plastics etc), and non-recyclable waste that we generate. In 2003 reporting was expanded to cover additional waste including, among other things, recyclable metals and waste requiring special handling like IT-hardware. We generate a monthly standard report which includes different waste trends. We can analyse this information and it is also shared with our factory personnel. We also strive for other measures including ‘first pass’ yield i.e. zero defect, which means zero waste. We also ensure that rejected material from the production process is repaired and used for its to original purpose. The information concerning rejected materials and components is used for quality development.

At the beginning of 2008, we also conducted an internal study concerning the impact of our factory, production process and actual products to the environment. The outcome of this study has helped the factory to reduce its emissions and impact on the environment. Our recycling and waste handling works well and exposure to the environment are minimal.  Our  environmental management system is certified by SGS in 2005 according to international standard ISO14001.

Is there a guiding environmental principle that Genelec is following regarding the environment?

Our general guideline is to follow our Quality and Environmental Policy:  

1. Prevent / minimize the formation of waste and use of energy

2. Re-use the waste for its original purpose (when and where possible)

3. Recycle waste for other purposes

4. Secondary use of waste for energy production

5. Non recyclable waste.

The first priority translates into long product life cycle, reliability and low power consumption. These have been important since beginning of the company in 1978.

For us, environmental issues have always been considered equal to other business goals on a management level, with the company striving to support sustainable development. In this way, they are part of product specification in R&D work. For example, we carry out design reviews to confirm that set requirements are met. This process starts by defining requirements from customers and regulations / instructions from the EU and Finnish government. In practice, this means consideration of the overall environmental effects of products, evaluations of materials such as product packaging and environmental issues during manufacturing, as well as after sales issues that include energy consumption during use, servicing and final recycling.

In daily operations, the company has instructed our whole personnel to follow our recycling principles. These are explained to every new person during job initiation. All waste bins are marked for the waste they are used for. We also check our main suppliers environmental operation by performing regular audits. In Finland we are a member of ICT, a manufacturer organisation. We pay a regular recycling fee which covers costs of collection, transportation, handling of disposed products and the maintenance of the recycling network.

Are there any environmental manufacturing measures that are unique to Genelec?

We are not aware of what other manufacturers do, but for example at Genelec we analyse the energy consumption of our whole company operation. This includes factory consumed electricity and heating, transport of goods and people (both business travelling and daily commuting). We have several changes in the pipeline; for example in May 2010 we will change our factory heating from oil to biofuels.

What about the environmental performance of products?

There are several issues we will address in the future which relates to further reduction of the total energy consumption during product lifetime. This is something we are taking very seriously. In themselves, the steps may be small but we believe that small improvements, when applied to industries across the board, will add up to large savings.

How does the manufacture of your speakers fit into this approach?

Firstly, we believe in long lasting solutions. This starts from understanding each customer application and remembering good design starts from excellent technical performance. Other features to consider are energy consumption, durability, serviceability and finally, recyclability. Our aim is to design products, which last many years and which will have spare part supply for many years after the production has stopped. In actual fact, we still service, products manufactured from when the company began.

Why do you use recycled aluminium in some products?

Last year about 94% of recycled material was used in our enclosures. The three major sources of recycled aluminum are beverage cans, old automobile parts and scrap from production of new aluminum parts and components. The only reason to use new aluminum relates to the availability of recycled material. Practically all the aluminum that has ever been refined is in use and, as the total usage of aluminum is increasing in the world, new aluminum is in demand.

How do environmental measures across Europe compare with Finland?

Europe is probably the leading continent in terms of attempts to control the climate change by reducing emissions. Environmental awareness is high in many EU countries, especially Germany. Nordic countries have pretty high taxation, which is used to steer consumption. Due to our northern climate, and the structure of our industries (paper, metal), Finland uses quite a lot of energy per capita. However, Finland already produces 28% of both primary energy and electricity from renewable sources. Our main renewable sources are wood and hydropower. This percentage is comparatively high (the EU average is 6%). In a similar category to Finland is Austria at 21%, Sweden at 27% and Norway, 49%. The new EU climate agreement, targeting to 20% of renewable sources on EU level, will increase the share to 38% in Finland. Most of the increase will come from biomass sources. The large scale advanced features in Finland relate to district heating and combined heat and power (CHP) plants.  All cities, even those with as few as ten thousand inhabitants, may have district heating to improve total efficiency. CHP plants are highly efficient as the excess heat of thermal electricity production is used for heating (only about 40% of the primary energy can be converted to electricity in thermal power plants). The plants producing cellulosa fibres use the excess wood lignin for generating electricity, which is used in nearby plants for mechanical paper mass (newspaper type) production.

Visit Genelec on booth at H25 in Hall8 at Pro Light & Sound 2010. www.genelec.com