Köttermann

About KÖTTERMANN

With company headquarters in Hänigsen, Lower Saxony (Germany), Köttermann GmbH is a leading international vendor of comprehensive steel-based laboratory furniture and systems. Our product portfolio includes laboratory furniture, safety storage cabinets, service supply systems, and fume cupboards. All of our products are made in Germany. Our laboratories are installed by our own distributors in eleven European countries and by authorized partners worldwide. KÖTTERMANN has around 250 employees and a total turnover of around €50 million.

Our customers are located around the world, and so is our presence. Our customers are always the focus of our activities. Our ambition is to make it easy to do business with KÖTTERMANN and to implement projects. We want to have enthusiastic customers, for which reason we have launched a company-wide project: “Total Customer Care” is more than just a promise. It makes us fit for the future, both as a company and as employees. Our standard is outstanding quality.

We always have an eye on the future. Intelligence and innovation are closely related, and the education and training of our employees are amongst our most important tasks. The official opening of the Köttermann Academy in its own building in 2013 testifies to our commitment to this concept.

Sustainability

A green enterprise

Using natural resources properly and sparingly has been one of Köttermann’s self-imposed obligations right from the start. We fulfil this obligation not only through our choice of steel (a fully recyclable material) for the production of our laboratory furniture but also through our commitment to renewable energy sources. In 2008 KÖTTERMANN financed the installation of a photovoltaic system on the roof of the factory building in Hänigsen. Eighty-five per cent of the company’s energy requirements are met by waste heat from the biogas facility of NaturEnergie Kuhlenberg, and wastewater discharge is reduced by a water treatment facility.

Resource-efficient products

We manufacture our laboratory furniture from steel, a durable material that can be almost entirely recycled. All of our fume cupboards are equipped as standard with a sash controller that reduces energy consumption. Our fume cupboards also achieve particularly low volume flow rates, but we intentionally refrain from pursuing even lower levels despite their technical feasibility. This is because the safety of users is always our number one concern.

Energy-efficient production

Distinct reductions in energy consumption are particularly possible in production processes. Here we employ efficient solutions, such as lighting coupled to incoming sunlight levels and heating control that only heats building areas that actually need heating, as well as radiant cooling/heating ceilings in our offices and rotary heat exchangers in our ventilation system.

The adage “ less is more” also applies to emissions. For example, a vacuum evaporator reduces the wastewater volume from our coatings system by 98%. Under the direction of our environmental management, we are constantly striving to improve our energy efficiency.

Certifications

As a company, we also consistently accept our social responsibility. This starts with sustainable protection of our own living space. The products you buy from us are manufactured using resources as sparingly as possible. They come from a company that was the first in the industry (1997) to be certified according to the EN ISO 14001 standard. We see environmental protection as an opportunity for the future that is worth working hard for today.

Code of Conduct

In addition to fulfilling legal and regulatory requirements, we feel obligated to maintain high ethical and moral standards. To prevent loss of reputation – which often occurs unintentionally – it is necessary to have clearly defined behaviour rules for all managers and employees. For reasons of clarity, we have summarised our ideas regarding honest and responsible corporate behaviour in a binding Code of Conduct. This Code of Conduct governs the behaviour of the employees and managers of Köttermann and its domestic and foreign subsidiaries and is intended to act as a uniform guide to ethical and legally correct behaviour. It thus signals that the quality of our business, our advice and consultation and our dealings with each other are extremely important in the relationship between Köttermann and our suppliers and customers. The Code of Conduct additionally includes a procedure for reporting violations so that any shortcomings can be dealt with immediately.