Bayer and Global Printing cooperate for a 'better life'

In one of China's severely polluted cities, Tianjin, the smog caused by air pollution sometimes can be heavy enough to limit visibility to within 10 meters.

Fortunately, the blanketing smog does not blind the vision of responsible enterprises wishing to make a fortune without sacrificing the environment. Companies with a brighter vision are making positive changes to improve the situation.

Recently, executives of the German life science company Bayer paid a visit to Global Printing Co Ltd, the company's medicine packaging supplier in Tianjin, to monitor the manufacturing process and discuss the future of its sustainable development.

Sustainability has long been a focus of Bayer's corporate strategies and the company claims it has been pushing the notion of sustainable development in China tirelessly since it entered the market in 1882.

Under its slogan Science For A Better Life, Bayer believes that it is essential that enterprises do not sacrifice the environment and future generations for the sake of lucrative short-term business.

Bayer is convinced that lasting commercial success can only be achieved by balancing economic growth with ecological and social responsibility.

"It is very important that our suppliers share our vision for sustainability, technology and quality," said Celina Chew, president of Bayer Group Greater China. "We expect our suppliers to comply with the Bayer Supplier Code of Conduct, as we are promoting the principles of this code throughout the whole supply chain."

To better promote their vision, Bayer has issued The Supplier Code of Conduct, which requires Bayer's suppliers to run their business with integrity, to protect and respect the rights of their employees, to provide a safe and healthy working environment, to operate in an environmentally responsible and efficient manner, and to implement management systems to facilitate compliance with all applicable laws.

Sun Xuejun, the general manager of Global Printing, said: "We appreciate the way Bayer cooperates with its suppliers. Global Printing will always follow the code as a guideline and keep seeking improvement whether in our technology or in management." As the medicine packaging supplier of Bayer China, Global Printing has taken a progressive approach of also honoring their own promises to Bayer and to themselves under the code, according to Sun.

For example, in order to provide a better working environment as well as to reduce noise pollution, the walls of the factory have been recently refurbished with noise concealing materials.

As for their manufacturing, Global Printing has imported a number of multi-million-dollar energy-saving machines from Germany, and adapted a series of new waste gas disposal methods.

They have also started to use only officially certified environmentally-friendly materials for Bayer's products in order to make the least amount of paper waste.

"We aim to run our business with the least damage to the environment," said Shi Zongli, chief marketing officer of Global Printing. "We would love to share our business ethics and social responsibility with like-minded companies. That's also why for almost 20 years, Bayer has been choosing us as a long-term key partner."

With a generous budget spent on sustainable manufacturing, the achievements of Global Printing have been remarkable.

According to the company's study, 96 percent of the chemical waste can be reused and 70 percent of the energy can be saved, which amounts to 1.3 million kilowatts saved every year.

For the orders from Bayer alone, compared to regular paper, 210 metric tons of wood pulp can be saved, equivalent to 5,000 trees a year.

Moreover, by using advanced techniques in print dumping water cycling equipment, the water cycling period has been extended from two weeks to two months, and so more than 424 tons of water and chemical waste have been conserved every year.

Apart from managing a sustainable supply chain, Bayer also has education, charity and employee volunteer projects as part of its responsible business practices.

"It doesn't have to cost more to be sustainable," Chew explained."We don't recognize this budget we spent as a cost but investment. It is not only for our reputation, but part of our mission and business model."

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn