Guideline on Quality, Environmental Protection, Occupational Safety, Health and Diversity

It is our supreme objective to supply our customers with the products matching their needs reliably and as agreed. This means: having the right goods showing the agreed and globally consistent quality available at the right place at the set time. With a view to this objective, we are doing our utmost to improve our efficiency, are employing restrictive cross-departmental risk management and optimising our supply chain consistently.

We also extend obligations to our suppliers. They have to comply with the quality and sustainability standards specified by us in their own companies as well as at their pre-suppliers. For us, it goes without saying that ethical principles must be observed throughout the chain of trade (referred to as “ethical trade”). In globalised markets, however, this requires increasingly higher watchfulness. Our commitment to the internationally recognised “Global Compact” as well as to systems certified accordingly is an important element in this context.

In order to protect health, safety and the environment as well as our high quality level, we consistently comply with laws, regulations as well as internal and external system standards. This process is subject to constant review and constitutes an integral part of our understanding of quality. When delivering our products and services, we provide the customer with a comprehensive package. Flexibility serving the interests of our customers and strict compliance with the law are not contradictory. Implementation is always preceded by intense consultation with all parties involved and their agents.

We are aware of our responsibility in numerous industries with direct links to consumers and therefore regard it as our obligation to comply with, for example, hygienic, halal and kosher requirements in the manufacture of products we provide as technical substances for customers’ processes.

It is our top priority to always act responsibly as a “customercentred supplier”, “good neighbour” as well as “preferred employer” in the social context and develop our company for the future.

For us, it goes without saying that nationally or internationally recognised sustainability criteria should be taken into account already during the product development stage. Our entrepreneurial activities are characterised by consolidating and enforcing the trust in both our consistency and our innovative power. We have set ourselves the goal to reduce the impact of our chemical products, facilities and all our activities on the environment as well as preserve biological diversity. We want to provide safe and health-compatible jobs. We are also working on a further reduction of the relative use of energy and materials as well as the minimisation of risks for customers and hazards for employees.

We consent to being compared with others both inside and outside the Freudenberg Group. This enables us to strive for continuous and sustained improvement. The main basis for this is provided by our key performance indicator systems. They help us in making results measurable and comparable and showing us the degree to which our objectives have been reached, serving as a basis for further improvements. We aim at optimally controlling processes and hence the company as a whole according to defined criteria.

The competences and creativity of each individual employee are the basis of sustained quality, also in terms of environmental protection, occupational safety and health. We will need to act together to live up to future challenges and attain sustainable growth. We therefore encourage the continuous development of our employees right from when they join our company, building on their loyalty, responsibility and commitment. Mutual trust as well as open, appreciative communication are essential elements of our corporate culture.

Klüber Lubrication attaches great importance to diversity and inclusion. For us, at the core of cooperation is the appreciation of all people, no matter their age, gender, or sexual orientation, no matter where they come from or what their religious affiliations are. Working together without prejudice and accepting people being different are important aspects to us.

We understand this guideline as a supplement to other existing guidelines and principles of the Klüber/FCS and Freudenberg Groups. It shall serve as the basis for our everyday activities.

All must take care to ensure that the culture at Klüber Lubrication is characterised by fairness, the protection of people and the environment, in combination with human diversity. This is what we regard as our recipe for success in the long term.