Skip to main content

25 years of a quality and environmental management system

seal of quality
Management Dirk and Steffen Theurer
Employee
Neckarschleife (Photo: Gemeinde Mundelsheim)

Questions about the anniversary to Dirk Theurer (Managing Director Sommer GmbH)

This year marks the 25th anniversary of the initial certification of the environmental and quality management system at Sommer GmbH.
Do you remember how it all started back then?

Dirk Theurer:"I remember it well. At that time we basically had nothing in this respect, not even an organisation chart or work instructions. It was clear to me that we had to change this quickly. If you want to assume a pioneering role, you also have to be innovative and break new ground. That's why it was very important to me to implement a quality AND environmental management system."

You say pioneering role, was that actually the case at the time?

Dirk Theurer:"Well, the environmental standard was introduced in 1996 in the first place and we were right at the forefront – as one of the first companies in Baden Württemberg."

Why do you think an integrated quality and environmental management system is important for companies?

Dirk Theurer:"You should always look at both aspects, quality and environmental goals are directly related. The idea is quite simply this: With high process reliability in production, you are also promoting the environmental concept. Less waste saves resources such as water, electricity, material one-to-one A good example of this is an efficient rinsing technology that we introduced at that time in the anodising sector. This new technology has improved the quality of the anodised surface, reduced scrap as a result and at the same time saved us 15,000 (!) litres of water per day or a whopping 4 million litres of fresh and waste water per year, thus massively relieving the strain on the environment."

How has your management system developed?

Dirk Theurer:"A few years ago, we then moved up to the top tier of quality with certification to IATF 16949, one of the world's highest quality standards. At Sommer, we are really proud of the fact that we have been living the idea of quality and the environment every day at our company in Freiberg for 25 years and have continued to develop our processes to this end."

More information about our secure processes and our zero defects policy can be found here

» Click here