We have 92 million tons a year of textile waste
which is only to a very small percentage recycled, the rest is burned or used for
landfill and I think we can't go on like that.
If you see the global population will grow a lot over the next
decades and the textile production will go up, so something we have to change and
I think the young generation is much more sensitive than they were
before and that will influence even the elderly people.
So I think we will see a move in the next two or three years strongly
to more sustainable garments and textiles.
The Amann Group is producing sewing thread and embroidery thread
for a wide range of different industrial branches and segments
which is used in thousands of applications, which are very different.
If you look at the production processes, we need a lot of
electrical energy for the pre spinning operation for twisting and
weaving and then finally it's the dyeing operation which consumes
gallons and gallons of water to dye the garments
and to get the colour.
In the last five years we saved 29 percent
of the water, which will be used before and that is mainly done by
reusing wastewater.
We are using in our plants reverse osmosis.
We are investing into this, so that we are reusing our water
and we are planning in the next few
years that all our production units are working with reverse osmosis.
Certification for our environmental management,
we already got in 2008, so ISO 14,001.
We are doing audits every year
in all our production units, we have one standard worldwide so if we have
14,001 here environmental management in Augsburg,
we apply the same to every single production site we have in the world,
so there is only one standard in the Amann Group.
We took the strategic decision to open the plant in Romania
mainly because our country is still a production hub for
automotive and fashion customers.
Our plant is the result of consistent
investment, done across the last 15 years benefiting from state-of-the-art technology.
The implementation of sustainable practices
has definitely changed the way we run this plant.
In meeting the upcoming
concerns of our customers, we initiated the certification
of the global recycling standard for our production of recycled threads.
By streamlining materials and processes and by installing new technologies
we have more control and less human resources errors.
All these actions translate into a safer workplace,
a cleaner environment, a better product quality while enhancing
the control of the process.
We are a global company and we are originally come from Germany
but, you know, the textiles industry is moving around
and we have to supply our customers in their required lead time.
And that is only possible if we produce in the country where our customers are
and that is, for example, Bangladesh and we produce in Bangladesh for Bangladesh
only on supply chain reasons.
Theoretically, it would be possible
to import to Bangladesh thousands of articles and that's
bringing it in from different production locations, that's neither economical nor sustainable
and for sure not possible in our business.
Amann Bangladesh plant produces sewing
and embroidery thread for the fashion industry.
We have very sophisticated plant machinery
and follow best practices to our production processes
to ensure the best quality product, service, and the safety of our people.
From the beginning, we paid high importance in building
a professional team.
Now, Amann Bangladesh have most
experienced and versatile team of professionals in the industry.
Amann consciously decided
to enter into the UN Global Compact.
Bangladesh is also part of this.
Our ambition, not only to be pioneer
in producing high quality product and service
but also in activities in the spirit of sustainability.
The 10 principles from the UN Global Compact
are for, on one the base of our work outside, we have to train the
people outside as well on those principles and that is all
integrated in our code of conduct as well.
When I look at
what has changed, is that we have a huge demand from our customers
requesting for recycled threads, they all are bringing
new lines in, because they have seen even based on Friday for future trends and
all this that the young generation gets more and more sensitive
on what we do with our resources and how we
treat our environment.
I think we are ahead of the curve, we have
even now started and we are the first company doing that.
We will bring sewing thread
cradle to cradle basis, on the one side
really disposable cradle to cradle theory that nothing left you
can put the thread on the ground and it goes away
or you have biological cradle to cradle purposes, where you
produced it and at the end you can reuse the thread to 100 percent.
Even an insignificant part in the production chain, like the
sewing thread, can make a difference as well.
It is a very important part of the whole and not just the the big part makes a
difference, every small part makes a difference as well.