“Responsibility” for the LORENTZ group of companies encompasses everything that we do. We conduct our business activities in a responsible way under a set of basic principles that relate to people, the environment, business ethics, quality and the global community.
These principles of business become apparent in everyday activities and can be demonstrated by the examples provided.
People
We respect and look after our employees well.
We pride ourselves on keeping our staff excited and motivated. We have a low turnover of staff in our factory, engineering and sales functions. Even in a very competitive labor market we have an annual staff turnover of below 5% in our Beijing, China production facility.
The following behaviors are in place:
- LORENTZ respect the laws, guidelines and best practices of employment in every country that we operate
- We do not support or tolerate discrimination relating to gender, religion, race, disability or other factors in the workplace
- All employees are paid above minimum wage
- Free clothing and meals are provided for our production workers
- Regular employee / management discussion forums happen across the organization
- Annual profit related bonuses are in place
- Company funded social events are provided for employees and their families
- We have well defined employee core values that we all work to – read more here
Environment
We are in a green industry and try to make the right environmental decisions for our own company.
Everyday LORENTZ products reduce the reliance of communities on fossil fuels to provide drinking water and water for irrigation. We have estimated this saving to be in the order of 480,000 tons of CO2 per year that does not go into the atmosphere. LORENTZ products are designed for a long operating life which reduces environmental impact. Internally we invest in and choose processes and materials that make environmental sense.
- We recycle our waste and use recycled materials wherever possible
- We have installed solar LED street lighting around our production facility
- Our energy use in our factory has been significantly reduced by installing a roof with high solar gain and translucent panels to reduce lighting energy use
- Our boilers have state of the art washers installed to remove particulates
- We have a modern, efficient vehicle fleet
- We have our own 80kW solar generator and pump our own water using LORENTZ solar powered water pumps for our factory
- Our new HQ building is 350% self sufficient for power by use of a 165kWp solar array on the roof
Business Ethics
We act honestly and fairly with our business partners and suppliers.
- Our partnerADVANTAGE program sets out the guidelines for how we interact with our business partners. The program provides clear requirements and expectations for healthy business relationships to be formed
- We have a zero tolerance policy towards bribery and corruption and are implementing and enforcing effective systems to counter bribery
- We believe we are in an exciting and valuable industry and try to protect our reputation and the reputation of our industry in the way we behave
Quality
We work hard to ensure that what we do is of the highest quality.
Our products are typically installed in very remote locations, ensuring they work out of the box and have a long operating life is a critical design.
- We meet and have certification to international quality standards such as ISO 9001
- Our products hold international quality and safety certifications that require regular auditing of our offices and production facilities. Examples of these would be TUV, IEC and UL.
- Our production facility operates a self-driven continuous improvement methodology based on lean management methods like Kaizen
- We have regular visitors from governments, non-governmental organizations, large commercial partners and educational institutions to inspect and verify our operations and quality systems
Global Community
LORENTZ recognizes that we are part of a wider global community with the social responsibility that this brings.
We make specific donations to worthy causes through the year. We typically donate some full pumping systems to communities in need. We also support projects locally through our sales partners.
In addition we contribute to the global community in the following ways:
- By working with universities, non-governmental organizations and charities on water related education topics
- Providing training and capacity building within our industry segment to help specific communities, countries or development projects to be successful
- By supporting graduate/doctorate programs with educational establishments
- Direct giving in the form of labor and products to charitable projects