A look into the corporate culture
Innovation is our tradition
At KNAPP, innovation is a tradition. Thanks to the founder Günter Knapp – an inventor and visionary of his time – the spirit of invention is still an essential part of the company DNA. We have more than 60 years of experience and expertise in the logistics industry, which we have influenced time and again through our innovations. We will continue pursuing research, development, innovation and building knowledge in the future.
Making complexity simple
Making complexity simple is KNAPP AG’s slogan and is the objective of all company activities.
On the technological side, this means continuing to develop the flexibility of our systems organizing the warehouse processes according to the all-in shuttle product philosophy, and more. The world of logistics is becoming more and more demanding. Through a clever mix of technologies, as well as through their ongoing further development, we design all processes and systems with efficiency and simplicity in mind. Our systems are therefore optimized for profitability and sustainability.
In our work with customers, our slogan, making complexity simple, has a special meaning. It means transparency and openness in communication, as well as ongoing care by a dedicated person who acts as the personal contact within our company. Reducing transport times and ensuring fast delivery times is also important. This is why we have production locations worldwide and work with a network of selected suppliers. In our work with suppliers, we depend on our strict “Supplier Code of Conduct.” We place great value on high-quality materials whose production conserves resources. First-class working conditions and fair pay are also key.
As employers, we want to provide our employees with the best possible support to enable them to fulfil the various demands of professional life. We also want to create a working environment where every employee can reach their full potential. Here, making complexity simple means using various measures to establish a good work-life balance as well as to strengthen a positive corporate culture.
Our common KNAPP spirit
Our company values are reliability, courage, openness, appreciation and creativity, and form the basis of our positive corporate culture. About 7,000 employees worldwide are part of our international KNAPP group and actively impart our corporate culture and our KNAPP spirit in all aspects of business. In business, we value social fairness, a positive and respectful approach to the individual, a foundation built on trust as well as a conscientious attitude. Our open corporate culture builds on these cornerstones: intensive communication, creative freedom and the active involvement of employees in decisions and innovations. The leadership style we uphold in the company is management by objectives. This provides our employees with the opportunity to reach their full potential and achieve outstanding performance.
Success through partnership
Our company is oriented towards sustainability. As members of society, we are aware of our responsibility and examine all company activities from an ecological, economic and social point of view. Partnership is how we view our involvement with our customers and their industries. The idea of partnership also extends to all groups we deal with, whether our partners’ employees, society as a whole, the environment or suppliers – this is also part of our corporate culture. We strive for an active exchange with all stakeholders. This is fundamental to the creation of unique solutions and to making sustainable growth possible.
Thinking and acting responsibly
We have an integrated management system and are certified in the areas of quality management (ISO 9001), occupational health and safety (ISO 45001 2018) and environmental management (ISO 14001). Furthermore, we have created an integrated governance structure for sustainability agendas, in order to closely interconnect the strategic control and operative realization of measures across the entire concern.
Six areas of action form the framework of our activities related to sustainability.
- Customers & Products
- Employees & Management
- Society & Engagement
- Supply Chain & Supply
- Communication & Cooperation
- Environment & Energy
The newest pillar of the company’s sustainable activities is in the area of corporate volunteering and citizenship. As a company, we are involved with social institutions and the local community. To provide support to the region, for example, we set up a farmers market at the Hart bei Graz headquarters, where employees can buy specialities from the hill country around the city of Graz.
Environment
Employees
We use resources thoughtfully, paying attention to conservation. Each employee is challenged to make an active contribution to environmental protection. Environmental goals and actions are mutually developed and put in place.
Suppliers
We support the bold and pioneering solutions of our suppliers to environmentally relevant issues and expect responsible policies towards the environment.
Public sphere
We make sure that we obey all environmental rules and regulations. We maintain an active exchange with authorities, other companies and the public to guarantee trustworthiness and transparency regarding environmental protection issues. Information regarding our environmental policy is publicly available and is released on a regular basis.
Knowledge
Environmental certifications highlight the value of the environment and heighten the employee’s sense of responsibility, contributing considerably to the ongoing process of improvement. Regular training and further education of our employees in environmentally relevant topics is very important to us.
Resource protection
Natural resources and energy are used in an economical and environmentally friendly manner. We keep up-to-date regarding developments in renewable energy sources and employ this knowledge in the development of our products.
Limiting environmental impact
We seek to prevent and control noise pollution, to have minimal emissions from our finishing processes, and to completely prevent soil contamination. It is our desire to keep our own generation of waste as low as possible; we dispose of recyclables appropriately and properly dispose materials that cannot be recycled. Our ongoing activities are subject to regular checks.
Limiting risk
The evaluation of our environmental specifications is tied into the documented, continuous improvement and innovation process, involving all employees. We try to avoid every unnecessary risk.
Safety
In addition to excellent quality, system and machine safety is of utmost importance in our product portfolio. From the beginnings of a product or system, to the end of the product life cycle and of active product surveillance, risks and dangers are analysed and solved in a consistent and systematic way, both on product and system level.
From the beginning, occupational health and safety are integral aspects of all operational processes and are factored into the technical, economic and social considerations starting at the planning phase.
Occupational health and safety are taken seriously as a permanent part of managerial tasks starting at the top management and including all levels of the organization. Managers act as role models and encourage employees to maintain safety-conscious behaviour by providing clear instructions. They have an obligation to ensure the health-oriented and safe design of the work stations as well as the activities of their employees.
As fits their knowledge and competences, all employees are also personally responsible for their own safety as well as the safety of others.
The qualification and commitment level of our employees means that they are able to independently guarantee safe conditions in their own work area and are able to correct any detected deficiency correctly, permanently and punctually.
With our safety-conscious behaviour we strengthen the confidence of employees, customers and the public in our entrepreneurial activities – this is also part of our KNAPP spirit and our corporate culture.
Occupational health and safety are always taken into account within our processes to provide safe and healthy working conditions as well as to prevent work-related injuries and illnesses. With the participation of our employees, we are constantly monitoring, analysing, evaluating and improving our processes and their results, by means of the regulations defined in the management system. We regard the adherence to regulations, guidelines and laws as being a matter of course.
Likewise, through ongoing training, we ensure that our employees identify with our occupational health and safety policies. We develop targeted prevention programmes and health projects both with and for our employees.
Quality
Satisfied customers are one of our main goals as a company. Our corporate quality policy is therefore an essential cornerstone of our corporate policy and culture.
The high quality standards of our products and systems, as well as the processes connected to them, form the bedrock of our company’s long-term development. Therefore, we strive to fulfil requirements that are important to us, such as the development and improvement of our company quality standards. In so doing, we are able to realize optimal solutions together with our customers. Along with cost-effectiveness, quality is our top priority.
Our goal is for our customers around the globe to equate the KNAPP name with quality.