Eco-responsible values are firmly rooted in the company, as explained to us by Thierry Mardaga, Technical Director, and Victoria Miller, Communication Specialist and founder of the Eco-Team.
Our energy actions
"Making the decision to design a new site without incorporating fossil energy such as gas and fuel oil is quite extraordinary in the industrial sector!", Thierry Mardaga proudly emphasizes. "Installations sized to respect pharmaceutical production criteria can be quite energy intensive. But by working sparingly, it is entirely possible to meet pharmaceutical requirements while reducing energy consumption. Major actions were undertaken to take control of the building and today, we are continuing our efforts by seeking out ways to improve energy efficiency for our facilities. We take care to control consumption and to do this we check 43 measurement points in our facilities each week. At the same time, we are continuing to seek parameters for optimizing processes to improve efficiency while maintaining the quality level of areas controlled within the framework of pharmaceutical prescriptions. At Trenker, all ideas for improvement are welcome. Once proposed, we study them, assess them and, depending on their cost and the return they can offer, we put them in place. So we are in a process of continuous improvement."
Today, this environmental concern is omnipresent within the company with the creation of an eco-team. Results have been extremely satisfactory between 2018 and 2019! The 552 photovoltaic panels supply 13,8% of the company's electricity requirements. The energy of hot water production has been reduced by 8MWh. 2020 looks to be just as positive with a target of reducing overall consumption by 3 to 5%.
Our process optimization group
"A team of manufacturing, packaging and quality assurance managers is also dedicated to process optimization. It's not only a matter of energy optimization, of course, but it's clear that by reducing the time required for production it's possible to reduce the occupation time for packaging areas, for example, and thereby optimize this activity's energy efficiency".
Our guidelines for the future
"Using resources only when needed is likely to become increasingly important. Therefore, depending on the pace of orders of course, an interesting avenue is to concentrate production periods and create shutdown periods in the pharmaceutical production area to save energy and reduce consumption. Another avenue would be to capitalize on technological optimizations, for example by replacing large energy consumers with new technologies. As Technical Director, I am also pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm generated by the Eco-Team, which reflects the growing sensitivity of the staff towards the environment. I must say that I am particularly interested in Trenker's very innovative approach regarding this."
What are your hopes for tomorrow?
"I would find it logical to extend the energy aspect beyond direct processes, for example by incorporating it into the fleet of company cars or in the consideration of the carriers we use for our activities."
Why did you set up an Eco-Team?
Being very concerned on the subject of the environment, Victoria wished to establish a very concrete environmental policy within Trenker. With management's agreement, she set up an Eco-Team on a voluntary basis. This team comprising 11 people from various departments (production, storage, technical, communication & marketing, graphic design) has been meeting for more than a year, every three months, to consider the actions to be implemented to improve the company's impact on the environment. The particularly enriching discussions have already given rise to several concrete actions: improvements in sorting and collecting waste (setting up sorting bins), organizing a blood drive with the Red Cross, setting up fruit baskets available to employees and abandoning plastic cups and stirrers in favour of glasses.
Although the initiative initially aroused some smiles, the idea is gaining traction today… and the Eco-Team is ready to dream of a vegetable garden where everyone can meet in the great outdoors at midday.