Sustainability @ PAJUNK®
Our contribution to a better future
It is our firm conviction that the medical technology industry in particular must assume a special responsibility for sustainability. An industry committed to health should also ensure that the environment remains healthy, that people are treated humanely, and that sustainable decisions are made.
When Horst and Heinrich founded PAJUNK six decades ago, they were way ahead of their time with their pioneering spirit. Their foresight and proactive corporate management have since shaped and guaranteed the long-term survival of PAJUNK, and will continue to do so in the future.
For us, sustainability means not only environmental awareness, but also responsible corporate governance and social commitment.
Environmental awareness
For UK only: › Carbon Reduction Plan
We want to use natural resources responsibly and have a positive impact on climate change. We pay attention to any possible environmental impact along production chains and the entire life cycle of our products. We rely on environmentally friendly and sustainable construction methods for new buildings. Our goal for the future is to continue improving the environmental friendliness of our buildings, production facilities, packaging, and products. With sustainable products, we can also help our customers to operate their healthcare facilities more sustainably.
Our goal is to achieve net CO2 neutrality by offsetting scope 1 and scope 2 emissions. This means offsetting direct emissions of climate-relevant gases within our own company (scope 1) and offsetting indirect emissions of climate-relevant gases by energy suppliers (scope 2). By 2032, we want to reduce these scope 1 and scope 2 emissions by 40%; this mainly relates to the use of company vehicles and energy consumption in production and administration. The target is monitored through a greenhouse gas balance according to GHG Protocol and ISO 14064-1. This balance is audited and certified by GUTcert and was created for PAJUNK for the first time in 2024 for the year 2022.
› Our Certificate.
In terms of packaging, we use the RESY (recycling system) symbol, which guarantees complete disposal and recycling of all transport and outer packaging made of paper and cardboard and marked with the RESY symbol. Applying the RESY symbol fulfills the requirements of the German Packaging Ordinance for transport packaging. Our paper or cardboard outer packaging is made from at least 80% recycled material and is almost 100% recyclable. In addition, we buy our cardboard boxes locally to keep CO2 emissions as low as possible.
When shipping, we not only prioritize sustainable shipping cartons, but also recycled protective packaging to secure the goods within the outer packaging. We mostly use filler in the form of recycled paper bubble strip. The use of air cushion pads made of thin, also recycled plastic therefore only occurs in exceptional cases.
In addition, we use not only regular stretch film, but also a perforated film (stretch film with holes, also called stretch net) to secure the ready-packed boxes and the entire load unit. We primarily use it to better sterilize the goods through it. However, it also has a green advantage. The holes in the surface mean that significantly less plastic is required overall, which in turn means that less packaging waste is produced. Perforated film is therefore, despite the higher price, just like very thin stretch film, a good alternative to normal stretch film.
By participating in the dual system, introduced in Germany by the company “Der Grüne Punkt” for the recycling of sales packaging, we were able, in 2023, to avoid an amount of CO2 in 2023 equivalent to that absorbed by 3 hectares of forest in one year.
› Our Certificate.
In order to continuously optimize energy savings, we voluntarily comply with ISO 50001 and are certified annually.
› Our Certificate.
So far, we have already achieved significant successes:
In 2023, we were able to save around 550,000 kWh of electricity (= annual consumption of 130 single-family homes with four people) compared to 2022, and we are currently at this lower level. In addition, we already cover 9% of our electricity requirements with photovoltaics, which equated to more than 200 MWh in 2023. In 2024, we have already quadrupled the number of solar panels and will significantly increase our capacity for generating renewable energy. We also made progress in reducing heating oil consumption, with savings of 15,000 liters in 2023 compared to the previous year and additional expected savings of 10,000 liters by connecting new buildings to the heat pump network in 2024 and shutting down oil heating systems. Furthermore, we saved 170 MWh of thermal energy in 2023 compared to the previous year, which corresponds to the annual requirements of seven single-family homes.
We have planned further measures for the future to achieve our sustainability goals. These include, for example, using greener packaging made from bio-based materials and increasing the proportion of recycled outer packaging.
We are also aiming to switch completely to electronic instructions for use and are planning to increase digitization of administrative work in order to make our processes more efficient and environmentally friendly.
Through targeted monitoring, we want to ensure effective implementation of our measures and the achievement of our ambitious goals. We are also considering ideas such as implementing a water treatment plant, rainwater harvesting, and battery storage systems for PV electricity.
Responsible corporate governance
Our responsible corporate governance is reflected in the successful history of our company, family-run since 1965 and now being managed by the second generation.
Today, PAJUNK is a global market leader in regional anesthesia and one of only a few market players that have remained following regulatory changes. We are therefore even more committed to quality, reliability, and innovation in order to ensure our company's long-term survival. In addition, we are building up further pillars in the areas of pain therapy and neurology/neurorehabilitation.
As a pioneer in the field of NRFit for greater patient safety, we have already converted over 500 facilities and work closely with our customers to obtain feedback and create impetus for innovation. This is also reflected in our very low customer complaint rate of 0.017%. Our innovation rate is very high compared to the rest of the industry, which has been recognized by being awarded as one of 450 “Global Market Leader Champions 2024” by the German business magazine WirtschaftsWoche.
We have also increased our production capacity at the Geisingen site and established a second site in the USA to guarantee our reliability in times of growth. These strategic decisions underline our commitment to excellent leadership and sustainable corporate growth.
Social commitment
Our strong commitment to social responsibility is reflected in various aspects of our work culture. We are proud of an extremely low staff turnover rate and our employees' lengths of service, which are important indicators of job satisfaction. We also offer a large number of apprenticeships and work closely with regional universities to provide young people with excellent educational opportunities.
Diversity and equal opportunities are integral parts of our corporate culture. People from 34 nations with different religions are working hand in hand at PAJUNK, creating an enriching and inclusive working environment. We strive for a balanced gender split at all hierarchical levels, which promotes gender equality in our company.
We offer various working time models to allow our employees to combine family and career. Attaching great importance to our employees' health, we support them through our health management system that includes sports and vaccination programs, preventive medical check-ups, and healthy meals.
Promoting individual potential is important to us and we therefore conduct regular employee appraisals. Extensive occupational safety precautions also ensure a safe working environment.
Our social commitment is not limited to local boundaries but extends globally. We are committed to fair working conditions at our sites and regularly audit our subcontractors to ensure our high standards. A company-wide leadership model for management staff ensures that our values and standards are practiced at all levels.
As one of the few market leaders in the field of regional anesthesia, we feel obligated to pass on our knowledge internally and externally in order to ensure continuation and further development of optimal patient care for future generations.
We are not yet where we want to be, but we have set clear goals and defined measures to get there. Join us on our journey. Subscribe to our social media channels and our newsletter to follow our progress in the three areas of responsible, sustainable corporate governance, environmental awareness, and social commitment.
Sustainability News
PAJUNK® Creates Perspectives for People with Disabilities
The St. Franziskus Foundation has set itself the task of offering people with sensory disabilities, the elderly and those in need of care, as well as children and young people a new perspective on life. OWB is a social non-profit organization that helps people with disabilities to fulfil their wishes and meet their own needs.
With the help of qualified staff, they enable people to have interesting future prospects that are personalized to them. Both facilities are dedicated to support people with disabilities in shaping their lives as individually as possible in order to implement inclusion and social participation in the best way. The qualified care workers help them to realise their life chances in a needs-oriented way and to integrate into the regular labour market in the best possible way. They accompany, educate, support, promote and help people in the most diverse phases of life.
Since 2015, we have been cooperating with the St. Franziskus Foundation, which is active in three areas at over 30 locations. They have about 2,400 employees and care for about 6,000 people. In addition, they are supported by over 400 volunteers. In the field of disability assistance, the overarching goal is to support and promote the independence of people with sensory disabilities. The services offered include free counselling for affected persons, family members or carers. Furthermore, they offer the possibility of individual support in schools and boarding schools. Early intervention is offered from the first year of life, followed by kindergarten from the 2nd or 3rd year of life. At an older age, there is also support in form of vocational preparation measures and the possibility of training or working in a workshop for people with sensory disabilities. In the private sphere, they offer the possibility of support in the areas of housing and leisure.
The cooperation between PAJUNK and OWB Mengen exists since 2017 and came about in the initial contact through a trade fair. With over 1,000 employees at 11 locations, this institution offers people with disabilities diverse opportunities in the areas of education, work, living and leisure. The OWB also cooperates with industry, trade and commerce. A very special area was created here about 8 years ago with the packaging and assembly in the clean room, ProMediPac. It offers people with disabilities the opportunity of an attractive workplace in a special atmosphere with high standards. Hence, they are a professional cooperation partner for the packaging of medical and pharmaceutical products.
The cooperation with both institutions differs in terms of the area that constitutes the actual cooperation. Several employees from the St. Franziskus Foundation produce clamping adapters for PAJUNK: "The PAJUNK working group currently consists of six employees, including a wheelchair user and deaf people, so it is quite a mixed group" - (Günther Hetzel, head of the PAJUNK working group at the St. Franziskus Foundation). The OWB is focusing it‘s activities on the manual pre-mounting of needle shafts and needle hubs onto production fixtures. They manufacture the products in a class E clean room. In general, it can be said that the work processes and machines are individually adapted to the people and their handicaps.
"People's everyday working lives are slightly different from the general working world. One exception is working time, which is basically defined as care time and includes two break times and times for work-accompanying measures. These measures are an established part of the employment of people with disabilities in the workshops, which is intended to further promote general education and personal skills. There are offers in the cultural-technical area, for leisure and sports (e.g. table tennis, football). This gives us a supervision time of about 39 hours per week, whereby the effective working time minus break times is a little more than six hours per day" - (Michael Kugler, OWB). In addition, workers have the opportunity to attend therapy services such as physiotherapy, speech therapy, etc. during their working hours, which for other workers would take place in their free time. Our employees are released for these appointments and the doctors/therapists come to our premises. "In addition, work-related measures (education, employment, knowledge transfer) are also carried out during working hours." - (Gernot Pfau, Head of Division Work & Workshop Manager St. Franziskus Foundation).
Most of our employees at PAJUNK have little or no contact to people with disabilities. For this reason, we give our trainees the chance to get a broader view on life. One of our projects within the framework of this cooperation with the institutions is the social week for trainees, in which they spend a week in the workshops of the St. Franziskus Heiligenbronn Foundation. There they work in the assembly of components or in the brush and basket making workshop and can thus get to know the everyday life of the people working there better. The trainees tackle the path of this new experience in pairs. They often start their week with a rather mixed feeling. They do not know exactly how to reach out to the people. After a short time, however, they take the workers and supervisors into their hearts. At the end of the week, some trainees even find it difficult to leave, as they have already made friends.
Marcel, one of our trainees, when asked if he would recommend others to take up the opportunity of a social internship at St. Franziskus, replies: 'I think it is definitely good that there are people who work with people with disabilities, because you never know if you will be affected by it yourself one day. I would definitely recommend it to others to get to know the everyday life there." 'We are happy that we can give our trainees these new experiences. When asked what he particularly liked during his internship, Muhammed, another trainee, answers: "The working atmosphere at the Foundation is fundamentally different from ours. The colleagues are like a big family. Everyone knows everyone, even privately. People there don't just have a superficial working relationship with each other, but actually a very family-like one." In addition to our social week, we support the facilities with orders. Hence, the local people are integrated into our production process. This is a welcome change for them and gives them an insight into the production process of bigger companies like PAJUNK.
Since the cooperation so far has been very positive, there are already further ideas for the future. Mr. Martin (Production Manager PAJUNK) and Gernot Pfau (Division Manager Work of the St. Franziskus Foundation) would like to take up the topic of inclusion even further. We would like toinvite the employees of the workshops to visit us so that they can get to know our company better. We can also imagine having a social week the other way round. We are excited to see what projects the coming years will bring.
