Page 10 - Hoftex Annual Report 2018 EN

Letter to Shareholders Supervisory Board Report
Group Management Report Consolidated Financial Statements Annexes
10
To strengthen our position as a supplier and partner to our customers worldwide, we aim to achieve international growth and expand our global footprint. Customers benefit from shorter development and delivery times, which translates into a decisive advantage in global competition. We want to expand our positions in existing markets by supplying innovative products with the highest possible quality. We aim to extend our product portfolio by developing new business sectors. We will indivi- dually develop our strategic direction within the strategic Group guidelines taking into account the diversified markets of the individual divisions.
The divisions focus on manufacturing innovative products that meet the most exacting quality stan- dards. To continue to ensure operating profitability in the future, we will concentrate on optimising capacity utilisation at all of our locations and dramatically improving the efficiency of our internal pro- cesses. To do this, we are aligning our processes with lean management principles and practising a culture shaped by a common understanding of quality. We see expanding our research and develop- ment activities and bundling the unique textile expertise within the Group as a fundamental task and key factor in our success.
Our employees ensure our company’s sustained success. They make a crucial contribution to achie- ving our strategic goals with their professionalism, quality consciousness, loyalty, entrepreneurial spirit and motivation. Many different nationalities are represented at our worldwide locations. Here at the Hoftex Group, we see ourselves as a family with common values based on trust, fairness, integrity, compassion, communication, collaboration and a sense of responsibility and appreciation of others. We foster our employees’ professional and social skills and build our strategic HR policy on conti- nuing training and qualification measures along with an integrative leadership style.
The stable ownership structure of the HOFTEX GROUP AG along with its balanced product and service portfolio guarantee steady and sustainable long-term corporate growth and enable us to pursue our corporate strategy. As a result, customers of the Hoftex Group are secure in the knowledge that they have a trustworthy partner at their side, even over the course of a multi-year product cycle.
Our sustainability management efforts focus on the topics we see in our daily business: • Security
• Environmental protection
• Conservation of resources
• Compliance
• Personnel
• Social responsibility
The Hoftex Group has practised systematic energy management for years. Introducing a certified energy management system enables us to continuously review all of our processes to determine their energy efficiency and identify and eliminate vulnerabilities, making us even more energy efficient and cost effective in the process. We set benchmarks in all of our German locations with our ISO 50001- based audits.
Our product optimisation efforts and new developments are specifically designed to incorporate the use of environmentally friendly raw materials. For example, TENOWO has been using
1.4. Sustainability