India

KHS in Asia: Ahmedabad

A clear view of the future

In 1997 KHS set up an Indian joint venture with a local mechanical engineering company. Since then, in Ahmedabad we have been manufacturing single machines and turnkey systems specifically for the regional markets. We coordinate numerous service activities for Central Asia and implement entire projects for new filling and packaging lines. 

Our consistent adherence to quality steps throughout the entire production process and the responsible handling of occupational health and safety measures and regulations for our workforce form the basis of our success. Our management systems have been certified externally since 2015 according to ISO 9001 for quality management, ISO 14001 for environmental management and ISO 50001 for energy management. Here, we specifically focus on energy and resource efficiency and carry out targeted measures to optimize this. Natural lighting is used, for example. The extensive planting on our factory premises and daily controls of the air quality in our production shops serve to promote the well-being of our employees. These measures have made considerable improvements compared to base year 2019.  

Regarding occupational health and safety, KHS India was successfully certified in 2018 and conforms with the ISO 45001 standard. We also perform further relevant audits such as SEDEX or EcoVadis as a matter of course. 

Exploiting group strengths 

Our own actions follow the mission statement of the entire corporate group. We aim to generate long-term, profitable growth that creates added value and can be sustained in the future. The key here is to constantly further develop our technical systems and services. Our dedication to sustainable issues constitutes a genuine competitive advantage and is being noted by both customers and the government who are paying increasing attention to how industry and business commit to sustainability. We regularly report on our company’s social activities to the Indian government. Growing demands in conjunction with a circular economy call for the hiring of suitably qualified personnel. These are special challenges to and decisive factors in the future alignment of our production site. 

In the long term KHS aims to adopt a zero waste strategy, coupled with a continuous cut in its carbon emissions. While we also pursue this strategy in production, our focus here lies on our product systems and solutions. This enables us to comply with the plastic ban initiated by the Indian government that provides for state regulation of single-use PET containers. The challenge for us is to offer alternative forms of packaging and shift our focus towards reuse and recycling. Thanks to further corporate developments in rPET and lightweighting and continuing savings in resource and energy, we are able to also provide suitable local solutions to the challenges presented by sustainability.  

High commitment to sustainability 

Setting and consistently achieving its annual goals earned KHS the Kaizen Award in the sustainability category from the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in 2022 for its paper reduction project. This was implemented in the year in question and had a positive impact on our carbon emissions and company savings in paper, printing, files and space. Indirect savings in the water, trees and electricity consumed by the manufacture of paper were also factored in. This achievement also strengthens sustainable action within our own community, especially in the immediate vicinity of the factory.  

This is further supported by a dedicated local CSR team. We care for children in need through a number of education and health projects, sponsor extensive greening campaigns and conduct assessments for prospective IT students. In November 2022 KHS India’s support for deaf-and-blind children and adults was heralded as one of the three best CSR initiatives by the CSR Journal.