Themes Sustainability
Brüning Technical Coatings, durable by nature
Improving product properties, extending service life and beautifying appearance are at the core of the value Brüning Technische Coatings adds to its customers’ products.
For over 40 years, the family business Brüning Technische Coatings, with its specialized knowledge and high quality craftsmanship, has contributed to the preservation of a wide variety of small and larger parts in small and large series.
Applications we see in the automotive industry, general mechanical engineering, and the office machinery industry, as well as in the offshore and marine industry, utility construction and liquid transport.
Resistant, reliable and thorough, Brüning Technische Coatings provides sustainable and stable solutions for its customers.
Sustainability is not only the result of Brüning Coatings’ work, the way the production process takes place is also characterized by a sustainable approach.
If you want to learn more about how sustainable Rilsan is, how Brüning Coatings deals with energy or what Brüning Coatings is doing to be a socially responsible corporate citizen look further here.
Improvement
Extension
Beautification
Biobased raw materials
For over 40 years, we have processed Rilsan as one of our main coatings.
Rilsan is produced from castor beans from the castor oil plant, the Ricinus palm tree, making it a biobased raw material.
The manufacturer of Rilsan is Arkema.
At Arkema, sustainability/sustainability is a very important issue.
With this, this producer aims to clearly distinguish itself from the competition.
Want to know more about Arkema’s sustainability?
Then click here for more information on Arkema’s sustainable solutions.
Rilsan’s raw material is the seeds of the castor oil plant (Ricinus communis).
The castor plant grows mainly in southern Europe and in regions of eastern Africa.
One of the great advantages is that this castor oil plant grows on very poor soil.
Thus, its production will not crowd out other products.
The beans of this plant create a polyamide chain, which is perfectly suited to serve as a protective coating for metal products.
At Arkema, they also call this an ABC material (Advanced Bio Circular).
This means that these are part of reducing the carbon footprint.
If you want to know more about Arkema’s ABC materials look here.
The cultivated castor oil tree does not disrupt the food chain, is not genetically modified, requires hardly any pesticides, grows on poor soil in semi-arid areas and requires almost no water.
Continued purchases of castor oil in world markets contribute to the economic development of a number of regions including South America, India, Southeast Asia and China.
The coatings contain no toxic substances and are even permitted for food contact.
Moreover, years ago, the manufacturer of the Rilsan coating, Arkema, started a program to help the farmers who grow this Castor plant build a sustainable future.
So Rilsan is environmentally friendly, 100% plant-based, fully biodegradable, non-toxic and renewable.
It also requires less energy in the production process.
It is a responsible choice for environmentally conscious production.
Arkema’s website has much more information on Rilsan’s sustainability.
Energy
Energy consumption is very important to Brüning Coatings because a lot of equipment in the company runs on electricity.
It is always tried to keep the energy consumption as low as possible.
To do this, Brüning keeps constantly investing in new equipment that have more capacity with less/same power.
For example, a new compressor was recently installed that provides 50% compression air at the same power consumption.
LED lighting has also been installed throughout the building and sensors are used wherever possible.
Over the years, the ovens have been renewed for new ovens with lower consumption.
New investments will always look at how to reduce energy consumption.
Brüning Coatings also installed solar panels during the construction of the new hall in 2018.
A total of 60 solar panels were installed.
With these 60 solar panels, Brüning Coatings generates part of its own electricity.
When expanding the premises, we will always consider the possibility of installing even more solar panels.
Circular waste streams
Residual heat from the compressors is used to heat the warehouse.
Furnaces heat the wet-paint department and powder-coat department with their excess heat.
Old suspension hooks find a new use in broom systems, and the degreasing plant regenerates its own solvent during production.
CSR
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a high priority for Brüning Technische Coatings.
Especially because Brüning Technische Coatings is always committed to society and wants to contribute to it.
We have always been a family business and would like to pass this on to the next generation of entrepreneurs.
The 3Ps is an important aspect of CSR and sustainability.
It looks at People, Planet and Profit.
People
The personnel policy of Brüning The Coating Company is entirely focused on sustainability, continuity, safety and trust.
There are relatively many employees in our family business who have 25 to 40 years of service.
It is important to us that everyone who works for us goes to work with pleasure in the morning and comes home healthy in the evening.
We maintain an informal atmosphere, a flat organization where everyone is heard, and try to take everyone’s individual strengths and weaknesses into account.
People with distance to the labor market are structurally offered opportunities to participate again in the regular employment process.
At Brüning, employees of different nationalities and backgrounds work in a stable working environment.
We also work with Philadelphia.
Philadelphia provides a workplace for people with a distance from the labor market.
There is a close cooperation with 2 locations of Philadelphia which we provide with work.
This is a nice addition to our flexible shell because work can always be brought to Philadelphia when we are busy.
We have also had a close cooperation with Uitzendbureau Effectief since 2010.
Effective provides temporary workers when we need them.
Sometimes these are migrant workers who would like to participate in society.
This cooperation helps these labor migrants to integrate into the workforce.
After all, working together with colleagues and drinking coffee together during breaks is the fastest way to learn the Dutch language.
Also read article from Effective:
Planet
Brüning Coatings continues to invest every year to reduce its ecological footprint.
In recent years, the following investments have already been made:
- Solar panels for home energy generation
- Both factory buildings and all offices equipped with LED lighting
- Continuous renewal of machinery, frequency-controlled compressors, infrared furnaces to save energy
- Drum sprayers and dip spin machines to reduce overspray and paint consumption
- Using biobased coatings as much as possible
All waste streams are controlled and circular as much as possible.
For example, a key rule within the company is to return the finished product in the same packaging as they were delivered.
This reduces the waste of packaging material and minimizes the purchase of new material.
The plant is also looking at how to make the best use of energy.
For example, the heat from compressors is used to heat the warehouse.
Also, almost all ovens work through time clocks so that they are not unnecessarily on and for new investments will always be looked at how this can be as sustainable as possible.
Profit
Every year we support the Heart Foundation, sports clubs, service clubs and are ambassadors for the Airborne Museum in Oosterbeek.
Recently, Brüning Coatings also sponsored soccer school Balpro with a contribution for new sponsorship shirts.
Brüning Technische Coatings operates on the belief that we look for our partners close by.
For example, we work with a carrier from our area, our installer is a regional company, and we also try to purchase our raw materials as close to home as possible.
By doing so, we want to reduce transport movements, and we build intensive relationships with partners we know well.
