Environmental protection in the industry

On 27 February, [tra:ce] had the opportunity to gain an insight into the practice of environmental protection in industry.

The family business Fried. Lohmann GmbH has been producing steel in Witten since 1790 and gave [tra:ce] members and interested UW/H students an exciting insight.

Gunnar Lohmann Hütte, seventh generation Managing Director, and Roland Müller, Head of Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety Management, reported in detail on their efforts and successes in the areas of sustainability and climate protection. The family business thinks in terms of generations, which naturally makes the topic of sustainability relevant to the corporate strategy.

The company's sustainability strategy combines aspects of social, economic and ecological sustainability. Topics such as employee retention and the use of energy-efficient and therefore also cost-efficient technologies clearly show that the three pillars of sustainability do not have to be opposites, but that ecological and social sustainability always contribute to the economic perspective.

The company is working hard towards its vision of climate-neutral and resource-saving production. In a detailed presentation and lively discussion, we were able to talk about the company's strategies. Afterwards, the participants were given a factory tour to gain a first-hand insight into the manufacture of stainless steel products.

Sonja Knobbe (Strategic Director of [tra:ce]) notes:

"The [tra:ce] not only wants to research the topic of sustainable and just transformation at the UW/H, but also drive it forward together with students and stakeholders from urban society. Only together can we embark on a successful transformation. Actions like today encourage us in this approach."

Bendix Nebelung (student assistant at [tra:ce]) describes:

"Field trips like this provide a great opportunity to experience theoretical concepts of sustainable business management in practice. It was particularly exciting to see how the company combines ecological, social and economic aspects of sustainability."

We would like to thank Friedr. Lohmann GmbH, in particular Gunnar Lohmann-Hütte, Roland Müller and Friedrich Lohmann-Voss for the exciting insight into the challenges of environmentally friendly steel production and sustainable corporate management.