Responsibility for people and nature

With the development and production of high-quality and durable building products, athmer contributes significantly to the conservation of resources.
Automatic drop seals from athmer make a concrete contribution to optimising the ecological balance of a building and thus also reduce CO₂ emissions. They also comply with the recommendations for barrier-free construction.
All new company buildings have been built as low-energy houses since the 1990s. The new administration and production building Athmer Fingerschutz® built-in 2011 is a zero-emission factory.

athmer

athmer, based in Arnsberg-Müschede, is the leading international manufacturer of sealing and finger protection systems for doors and gates. Automatic drop seals from athmer comply with the recommendations for barrier-free and sustainable construction.
The seals are mainly used in buildings such as hospitals, office buildings and schools. Special seals for all-glass or sliding doors round off the range. The longevity of the products plays an important role in counteracting the prevailing obsolescence.
The owner-managed medium-sized company has more than 60 years of experience in the field of automatic drop seals and is part of the Julius Cronenberg Sophienhammer (JCS) group of companies. In addition to the approximately 100 employees, whose number has risen continuously in recent years, a modern machine park and a constant will to innovate guarantee market success.

The athmer group

The comprehensive range for professional sealing systems for doors and gates is designed for demanding tasks in the construction sector and offers sealing systems for sound, smoke, fire and radiation protection doors.

Also, the Athmer Fingerschutz® is positioned in the portfolio to prevent fingers from getting trapped in (automatic) doors. These systems are particularly suitable for childcare facilities and schools to provide safety.

To guarantee both high product quality and fast delivery times, athmer is represented at a total of six locations in Europe and Asia. Ecological agreements are the basis for good and responsible cooperation.

Headquarters

Our administrative and industrial buildings have been exceptionally well designed and built. This is how we achieved our ambitious goal "from a low-energy house to a zero-emission factory".

Sustainability is a major consideration during the construction phase. We use pollutant-free materials and the durability of our products ensures customers enjoy them for a prolonged period.

Our Purchasing team work strategically with regional suppliers to determine the quality of components as well as fostering long-term and responsible supplier relationships.

Now over 300 years old, we have been a continuous support for our region and employees. Our social commitment can be found in many different areas.

Exemplary behaviour is reflected in action. Climate change and concerns about the finiteness of natural resources are forcing companies to operate sustainably. We produce in a resource-conserving manner.

The zero-emissions factory

Since the 1990’s, Athmer has been building ‘low-energy’ company buildings. This energy standard is applied to new buildings that significantly undercut the required energy requirements. The roof, exterior walls, windows and exterior doors are all thermally-insulated to provide an optimal energy saving environment and save heating energy.

The new building for administration and production, Athmer Fingerschutz®, built in 2011, goes one step further. This is a zero-emission factory. The production halls are supplied with heat and electricity completely free of CO2.

LED lighting

Conventional lighting utilising fluorescent tubes is costly and requires a lot of energy. We have equipped energy-efficient LED luminaires in the administration buildings and some assembly areas. The changes we have made so far contribute to 4,000 kWh being saved every year. This is equivalent to 2,000 kg of CO2. With further areas planned to follow in 2020 it is our long-term ambition that all areas will only be equipped with LED luminaires.

Hydropower station

In the beginning, there was water… It was the water surrounding our factory in Sophienhammer and the prospect of obtaining a sovereign water right that led the Cronenberg family to resettle here in the 18th century. The hydroelectric power station was built in 1907 and in keeping with Athmer’s focus on environmental sustainability, it generates the electricity used by our companies in Arnsberg today.

Products

Our first automatic door seal Kältefeind® has been saving energy for our customers for more than 50 years. Today our newest products help to do the same, being the result of many years of experience, technical competence and high quality standards. We use pollutant-free materials and the durability of our products ensures customers enjoy them for a prolonged period.

In support of this philosophy and as a show of the confidence in our products we offer a five-year guarantee as a matter of course.

Recyclable catalogues

Paper is a valuable raw material. When producing printed catalogues or brochures, we take care to obtain paper from responsible sources (FSC). In addition, our new catalogues are climate-neutral and completely biodegradable.

Certified quality

External bodies have certified our products as ecological, long-term investments. Selected automatic drop seal products have successfully passed 1,000,000 cycles when tested by the NRW Materials Testing Office. Our automatic door seals are covered by the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD), which is a globally recognised and verifiable life cycle assessment. As such our products can be used in certified Green Buildings.

Athmer finger protection products have been extensively tested in accordance with EN 16654 by TÜV Rheinland and successfully certified with the GS mark. The products are evaluated for their safety in typical and child-friendly environments as well as their longevity, amongst other things.

In addition, TÜV Rheinland confirmed that the Athmer finger protection products do not contain harmful polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH substances) according to AfPS GS 2004. Our REACH documentation is further proof of the safety of the chemical substances we use. The European Union regulation is intended to protect human health and minimize environmental risks through the use of chemical substances. We also make sure that the use of animal testing is reduced.

In order to reduce the unnecessary consumption of plastic film, all our cartons are completely recyclable. This is proven by the Easypak certification.

The new Packaging Act (VerpackG) came into force on 1 January 2019. This law is based on the Closed Substance Cycle Waste Management Act, which in turn is based on the European guidelines for the return and recycling of packaging. The Packaging Act is relevant for manufacturers and retailers who circulate sales packaging that is ultimately disposed of by private households. In order to fulfil our responsibility, we have registered with the Central Packaging Register and participate in the Intersoh Dual System. This enables us to guarantee the reliable return, sorting and recycling of our packaging materials such as cardboard or films. The new recycling quotas that apply in the dual system are 85% for cardboard, paper and cardboard and 58.5% for plastics.

CO2-Calculator

This calculation tool was developed in cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Environmental, Safety and Energy Technology Umsicht in Oberhausen. It calculates the balancing of greenhouse gas emissions and energy costs in rooms. The use of internal building optimization products, such as automatic door seals, can ideally save up to 1,268 kg* of greenhouse gas (in Germany).

The online tool can be used to select different door types and calculate greenhouse gas savings. The energy required for the installation of doors with and without a floor gap is calculated on a comparative basis. The personal life cycle assessment is calculated in just a few seconds.

This results in cost and greenhouse gas savings. Even though the amount of savings depends on the climatic and energy conditions, the calculator for individual situations clearly shows that the use of automatic door seals saves energy costs and thus reduces CO2 emissions.

* Result depends on various parameters such as service life, type of heating and size of door gap.

Sound App

Its official – noise impacts on the quality of your life and can even make you ill. Various studies have addressed this issue and have made it clear what effects sound and noise can have on human health. With the Sound App, you can conveniently test the intensity with which everyday sound sources (general domestic noise, traffic noise, music, etc.) penetrate the doors in your own home.

The exact effects of sound on human health are often unknown but a continuous sound of 60 dB can trigger stress in the body during sleep and at 80 dB long-term physical damage can occur. Background noise should therefore not be higher than 40 dB in order to sleep calmly and restfully.

A typical standard interior door in a living area with a floor gap (the space between the bottom of the door and the floor) of approx. 7 mm and no drop seal fitted has a sound insulation of approx. 23 dB. With a floor gap of 10 mm, the sound reduction reduces to 18 dB. Utilising an automatic drop seal is the most efficient way of raising this value.

Purchasing

We have been working strategically with responsible suppliers for many years. Our suppliers are required to thoroughly adhere to our sustainability guidelines. It is important to us that we remain competitive, but not at the expense of the environment. That is why we adhere to the following principles:

Transportation costs are minimised by working with component suppliers from Germany
Deliveries are planned with foresight so that unnecessary journeys are avoided
Regional suppliers and service providers are always our preference
We only accept pollutant-free materials.

Recycling and disposal

Automatic door seals and gaskets have a different composition of the raw materials used, depending on the respective product family. For example, aluminium, PVC, stainless steel, polyamide and silicone are used, the recycling potential of which varies greatly.

When doors are replaced or the building demolished, these raw materials enter a recycling cycle if they have economic relevance or a certain minimum quantity. In 2018, we were able to process and recycle 780 kg of stainless steel, 65 tonnes of cardboard and 64 tonnes of aluminium. As an ecological service, our customers can have obsolete products disposed of by us.

Social

We stay true to the motto “you build on what has been tried and tested, you further develop what already exists”. This attitude is also the reason for the loyalty of our employees, national and international customers and suppliers. As a 300-year-old company, we are firmly rooted to the Sauerland region and our local community.

Healthy employees

The health of our employees is our top priority because we know that the company benefits from a healthy work-life balance in the long-term. We are very proud of our low staff turnover and absenteeism. A sustainable personnel policy has been defined and is actively overseen by the management, safeguarding employee satisfaction. Since August 2018, we have not had any accidents on site during production of automatic door seals.

A safe, clean and healthy workplace is just one component of this. Athmer also offers many social benefits for its employees, including a running group, free mineral water and fruit baskets, e-bike leasing offers, car pools and discounts for the gym, amongst others.

Social commitment

As a market-leading company, Athmer is always aware of its social responsibility. We invest in Germany as a business location and expand our team in order to be able to react quickly to new market requirements in the future as well.

We also support charitable projects conscientiously and willingly, but without putting our commitment in the foreground. As an example, we actively support “Deckel gegen Polio” and “Sammeldrache” in collaboration with local charity ‘Caritas Arnsberg’. With our roots in the Sauerland region, we are pleased to help the local community.

Ecological lawn mowers

During the summer months, the JCS Group’s family of sheep are responsible for the maintenance of pastureland on our factory premises. In the winter they take a hard-earned break. Our woolly, organic colleagues can climb even the steepest hills without any problem and make a loud, motorised lawn mower unnecessary.