Creating tomorrow

Maco’s marketing manager, Mark Enderby, highlights the hardware company’s Future Report 2024, a continuation of its Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) approach to building a circular economy.

Joining forces and moving together into a sustainable future – with partners, service providers and suppliers in all markets and along the production chain – is the way forward to a sustainable future.

Taking a circular economic approach to this topic enables every part of MACO from people, products and processes, to work in a way that supports our overall approach to ensuring we cut carbon, use less and recycle more.

Of course, the benefits of having a circular approach apply not only to us but also to you, our partners, and importantly the doors, sliding doors and windows that are installed into homes.

As a European manufacturer, we are held to extremely high standards that other regions do not have to comply with in relation to ESG. However, not only do we exceed these standards in many cases but we are also ahead of the curve with many future European legal policies already common practice here at MACO.

For you our customers, it means peace of mind in knowing that, along with our high standards in performance and quality across our solutions, they are manufactured and processed in a way that is contributing towards a greener future, today!

To ensure everything within our solutions is crafted as efficiently and sustainably as possible we developed the MACO Circularity Index. This uses software to filter out the most environmentally friendly raw materials and their optimal combination for individual applications.

With the help of software, the best possible geometry can also be calculated while maintaining the same quality and functionality, reducing CO2 and throughput times within the entire lifecycle of the product.

Encompassing a circular approach means it is vitally important to save energy but also to re-use it and create it ourselves where possible.

Across our sites, we purchase electricity from renewable energy sources such as hydropower and wind energy. In addition, we are aiming for all production sites to be successively equipped with photovoltaic systems – in 2023, the amount of self-produced electricity was increased to over 1 million kWh of electricity per year.

The waste heat generated in our production processes is also used for heating and, thanks to the installation of a new heat pump, more than 1,345 tonnes of CO2 were saved at our Trieben manufacturing site alone in 2023.

Beyond this, a circular approach takes into account our people, from wellbeing to equality and diversity. We have a long and consistent history of apprentices and have built a best in class apprenticeship programme across MACO.

From apprentices to safer working environments, a circular approach leaves no stone unturned and we have worked hard to reduce accidents in the workplace which in turn ensures a less hazardous, more efficient workplace for our people, which in turn helps them to create the best hardware solutions.

Driving product innovation

Not only do our solutions and practices form part of our circular economy but so does our product development and the way our solutions work.

The future of our homes will not only be smart, which we are already seeing with smart lightbulbs, smart speakers and thermostats for example, they will also be sustainable because smart features will create more sustainable building for us to work and live in.

Examples include automated heating controls that can detect an open or closed window in specific rooms, automatic ventilation that is dependent on the air quality within a room and lights that turn off automatically as you shut your doors. All these scenarios are already possible and will only continue to advance.

Homeowners themselves are driving this, as they look for ways to make their homes more energy efficient and reduce their energy bills.

This is not only within domestic homes, we are also seeing an increasing demand from the commercial sector. For example, care homes and schools – with MACO technology – can connect the status of the windows and doors to the heating in specific rooms, so when a window is open the radiator switches off automatically and turns back on again when the window is closed.

Along with the security of knowing the status of the windows and doors, a truly smart solution connects them within the fabric of the building itself, bringing new ways of improving and managing the sustainability of our future homes and buildings.

By embracing circularity, we are not only contributing to a more sustainable future but are also creating a unique selling proposition that our partners can also then use.

This is because it aligns with our core values and demonstrates a commitment to responsible resource management. Moreover, sustainability is no longer confined to just an environmental aspect; it extends to social and ethical considerations.

It’s for this reason that our future report covers every aspect within MACO, from Co2 savings to the reduction of accidents and improvements in processes. Consumers want to support companies that prioritise their staff, apprentices, training etc. alongside diversity, inclusion, and community engagement.

Brands that communicate a holistic commitment to sustainability, encompassing environmental, social, and economic dimensions, are likely to resonate more deeply with consumers.

Winning commitments – Circular Globe 

Circular Globe is an assessment model that supports companies in their development towards a circular economy.

Achieving a Circular Globe Bronze Level in 2023​​​​​​​ shows that we are on the right path and we have since upgraded our ranking against the extremely strict criteria outlined in this standard.

Of course, we still have much to do and with the work we have already implemented along with the planned strategies to improve our ESG approach, together we will be able to build a greener future.

The Circular Globe is a European initiative created by the Swiss Association for Quality and Management Systems (SQS), founded in 1983 as one of the world’s first certification bodies. It audits, assesses and certifies organisations and companies in numerous industries. In addition, it offers a wide range of seminars.

SQS is organised as an association and reinvests its profits entirely in its further development, which ensures neutrality and independence, as well as, Quality Austria – Trainings, Zertifizierungs und Begutachtungs GmbH which is the leading authority for system and product certifications, assessments and validations, training and personal certifications as well as the Austria Quality Label.

The core of Quality Austria’s performance lies in its competence as the national market leader for the integrated management system for securing and enhancing corporate quality.

This voluntary commitment to such an initiative aligns with our core values, mission and vision here at MACO. Forming a journey that not only our partners benefit from, but for everyone that creates, builds and uses a MACO locking solution.

Hardware solutions not only now need to perform in terms of security, efficiency and the ability to be connected but also have been crafted sustainably with full transparency. The age of a circular economy is here and is vital to all of our future successes.

To read the 2024 future report, visit – www.maco.eu/en-GB/Company/Sustainability/2024