TOP 100 Innovation Award

Büchel scores as a particularly innovative medium-sized company

Excellent innovation work: We impressed as a ideas factory in the 29th round of the “TOP 100” competition and were awarded the TOP 100 2022 seal. This seal is awarded to particularly innovative medium-sized companies that have proven themselves in the areas of “Innovation-promoting top management,” “Innovation climate,” “Innovative processes” and “Organization, external orientation/open innovation and innovation success. Erhard Büchel will be honored in June by science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar as mentor of the competition in Frankfurt.

TOP 100 is the only innovation competition in Germany that honors a company’s innovation management and innovation success. This means that all stages of the innovation process are scrutinized rather than individual products. The background to this success is a scientific selection process that participants have to go through. The analysis focuses on the question of whether a company’s innovations are just a product of chance or are systematically planned and thus repeatable in the future. Special weighting is given to the question of how innovations and product improvements establish themselves on the market.

“We are pleased to be among the Top 100, as this seal confirms the core of our corporate philosophy of convincing with innovations and placing them sustainably on the market.” Erhard Büchel knows that these innovations alone are not enough: “The Büchel company also focuses on climate protection and sustainability in its innovations. Step by step, details from the European “Green deal” are being tackled and implemented in our group of companies. Only in this way can innovations be expanded sustainably in the long term and prove themselves on the market.”

Energy efficiency certificate for HMM

Büchel continues to focus on sustainability and energy efficiency

We continue to focus on climate protection and sustainability. Step by step, details from the European “Green deal” are being tackled and implemented. For example, our subsidiary HMM Kunststofftechnik, based in Barchfeld, Germany, was recently certified according to ISO 50001. With this certification, energy targets can be planned and energy efficiency optimized, which also goes hand in hand with a reduction in resources. The successful implementation of the certification “Quality management according to DIN EN ISO TS 16949” was not exactly an easy undertaking – in times of the pandemic the auditors do not necessarily check on site, but fortunately for HMM this worked out – the certificate was handed over in December 2021.

The motives for this certification are explained by HMM Managing Director Ullrich Blanc: “We strive to use energy sensibly now and in the future. The core objective of ISO 50001 is continuous development and improvement of energy-related performance.” Other factors in favor of this certification are risk minimization and opportunity maximization through ongoing opportunity and risk assessment and, of course, the HMM company gains reputation through the certified energy management system – the image among customers, business partners and employees grows. HMM Managing Director Ullrich Blanc clarifies: “As a modern company, it is our ambition to constantly optimize our energy-related performance in the interest of the environment.”

Ullrich Blanc names another aspect: “HMM is a supplier to the automotive industry, among others, and from multiple discussions with our customers I have learned that VW, for example, will no longer award any contracts to suppliers who are not certified according to ISO 50001 from 2024. Therefore, we have acted with foresight and save ourselves any stress if we were to react only when such requirements became known.” His conclusion: “Losing customers and thus orders due to such a lack of certification would simply be annoying.” And Blanc further clarifies: “In the next step and before the end of this year, we will have BÜCHEL Industrie certified.”

It goes without saying that this approach is entirely in the interests of the management of Büchel GmbH & Co. Fahrzeugteilefabrik KG, headquartered in Fulda, goes without saying. Company owner Erhard Büchel emphasizes: “In our subsidiary HMM – with exponential growth – components for the bicycle industry are increasingly produced, therefore we focus on sustainability and this certification is an important, further building block.” Certification for the other sites in Oederan and Zella-Mehlis has already been initiated. Büchel emphasizes that the acquisition of new plastic injection molding machines, which was part of the overall investment volume, was also implemented with a view to further energy-saving potential.

The latest developments in bicycle saddles are also produced in Barchfeld, and the saddle is 100 percent recyclable. BÜCHEL Industrie in Barchfeld, Thuringia, also produces environmentally friendly mudguards, these are sustainable because they are made of steel or aluminum sheet, are fully recyclable, replace the plastic mudguard and thus clearly reflect the green footprint. And likewise, this also includes the drinking bottles newly added to the production range. In addition, the Büchel Group is converting its packaging to almost 100 percent recyclable – entirely in the spirit of climate protection and sustainability.