Sustainability
“Our actions affect much more than just our immediate environment,” said Dr. Oliver Ebneth (Managing Director of RAPS GmbH & Co. KG). They determine our present but, above all, our future. We have been producing outstanding food for almost 100 years. Across the world, our decisions and our actions affect more than one million farmers, over 40,000 customers, thousands of partners, suppliers and producers and, last but not least, more than 980 RAPS employees and their families.
As a member of the founding family, Frank Kühne (main shareholder and chairman of the advisory board) is passionate about responsibly steering RAPS towards a secure and sustainable future. As a father of four, he is committed to helping ensure a planet and society worth living in – including for future generations – with our company. Through this awareness, we see things from a long-term perspective and align our business actions accordingly.
Saving energy, conserving resources and successfully tackling climate change: Sustainability aspects are at the heart of responsible corporate governance. As a third-generation family business, we see things from a long-term perspective and align our business actions around sustainability to responsibly steer RAPS towards a secure future.
Our sustainability officer
Roselyn Adukanil has been the sustainability officer for the entire RAPS Group since March 2023. Together with the sustainability team, she is responsible for promoting sustainability in all areas of the business and implementing measures to help the company meet all of its economic, environmental and social responsibilities.
Energy management
RAPS uses an energy management system in accordance with the DIN EN ISO 50001:2018 standard, which is regularly reviewed and updated in external energy audits, to identify new efficiency benefits and potential savings at an early stage. One key way the company makes savings in the long term is by operating two cogeneration units of its own at the site in Kulmbach to produce some of the electricity it requires itself.
As well as lower CO2 emissions, this has the advantage of allowing us to use all of the waste heat generated by electricity production. This simultaneous generation of electricity and heat achieves impressive efficiency rates of over 90 percent in our cogeneration units. All of the remaining electricity we need is purchased as green energy.
Other examples of efficiency include temperature control of the new warehouse using concrete core activation and operating ventilation systems at a low temperature.
Another method we use at RAPS Fresh, our production site in Versmold, is waste heat recovery. Waste heat produced when cooling our food is used to heat our buildings or water. This significantly reduces our energy consumption and our CO2 emissions.
Sustainability and the careful, efficient use of resources also play a key role in new construction projects. Both the flow of goods and building technology at our new sausage casings plant in Obertrum were designed according to the strictest economic and environmental criteria, for example using photovoltaic systems and heat recovery for all ventilation and air conditioning. The heat required there is generated by a district wood chip heating system.
Raw materials & suppliers
Excellent raw material quality, fair and respectful co-operation with our business partners as well as trusting, long-term delivery relationships characterize our entrepreneurial activities for the future. We co-operate with the best suppliers all over the world to ensure that we process only high quality raw materials. As a member of SEDEX, we promote fair working conditions and salaries along the complete supply chain as well as a transparent commitment to sustainability. Additionally, we are committed to the principles of convention 182 of the International Labour Organization (ILO) to effectively combat child labour. Furthermore, we have personally selected all suppliers we are co-operating with on-site, according to our quality and sustainability requirements.
Many of our partners in Germany and Europe have short supply chains. We prefer local and regional products and own cultivation and contract farming. We cooperate with the only German dry onion manufacturer in Regensburg and benefit from short distances and an excellent ecological balance. Quality is the only criteria justifying long transport routes. Regular audits at suppliers in China, India and many other countries ensure a reliable high quality of our products. This is also the case with our Indian supplier from Kerala, from whom we have been sourcing the raw material chilli for over 30 years. In addition to numerous certifications, our partner supplier has committed itself to the protection of biodiversity, the sustainable use and development of resources and biodynamic agriculture.
Quality management.
In order to keep quality on a high and sustainable level, we have implemented comprehensive measures with regular audits for Quality Management. Our work focuses on strict hygiene regulations that go beyond legal requirements. This is proven by numerous certifications and quality seals such as IFS, RSPO, Halal and Kosher certification, organic certification or Riskplaza.
Employees & social issues
Sustainability in a company starts with respectful personal relations and raising awareness among employees. As an employer we have a keen sense of social responsibility – within the company and beyond. In addition to the promotion of additional qualifications and further training measures, we offer health and company integration management as well as collective bargaining for company pension schemes. Weekly operations reviews for risk assessment and deriving new measures in terms of occupational safety are a matter of course for us. In addition, our diverse training offers sustainably cover our need for junior staff.