Onze inzet voor kwaliteit

ISO 9001 plays a key role within the Rhenus Group management system because all further industry standards are developed on the basis of the requirements it establishes.

For the Rhenus Group, quality is the understanding of customer concerns in order to respond to their requirements, questions and problems. Customer needs and expectations are determined consistently and specified precisely with the aim of gaining the customer's trust in the provided services.

Fulfilling the requirements of this standard helps the branches and sites within the Rhenus Group to supply high-quality services and fulfil the expectations of the customers in question, as well as comply with legal and official requirements.

Within the Rhenus Group, ISO 9001 is an indispensable tool for continually improving profitability and market success.

ISO 9001 forms the basis for further industry-specific certification.

ISO 14001 makes it possible for us to continuously monitor, analyse and improve our environmental situation.

With the aid of an environment management system compliant with ISO 14001, we are able to ensure ongoing planning and implementation of environment protection measures at the certified sites and branches and, in this way, reduce our environmental impact.

Our overarching aim is, therefore, to promote environmental protection and prevent environmental damage, in harmony with economic, social and political requirements. At the same time, ISO 14001 forms the basis for certification of our environment management system.

ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY

Environmentally friendly customer solutions and the efficient use of resources is a self-evident in all business areas of the Rhenus Group. By developing sustainable logistics concepts and constantly improving our environmentally relevant processes, we contribute to the prevention of environmental pollution and increase our environmental performance and energy efficiency. All sites are environmentally conscious, and the Rhenus Group complies with the regulations and standards for environmental protection. We deal responsibly and conserve natural resources and energy. The full life cycle of products and services from use to disposal and recycling is a particular focus of the business activities in the Rhenus Group. The monitoring is carried out by strategic and operational indicators as well as location related key figures, which are evaluated by the management board on the annual management review. Environmental protection is a management task, supervisors have role models. With these principles of environmental policy, employees are obliged to act in an environmentally responsible manner.

• COMPLIANCE WITH ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS
  We comply with all applicable environmental laws an regulations of the countries in which we operate.
• ENVIRONMENTAL TARGETS
  We define and monitor strategic and operational environmental and energy targets.
• CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
  We plan and implement environmental programs and regularly audit our environmental management systems.
• PUBLIC INFORMATION
  By factual information we create trust among the public and among our customers.
• BEST AVAILABLE STATE OF THE ART
  We want to avoid environmental damage in all operating conditions. As far as economically feasible, we use the best available technology.
• TRAINING OF EMPLOYEES
  We promote the environmental awareness of the employees at all levels through training.
• ACCIDENT PREVENTION
  We communicate environmental issues, potential risks and contingency plans to employees and possibly public interest groups.
• CONTRACTING PARTNER
  External companies operating at our locations are informed about our environmental policy and incorporated into our activities.
• CAREFUL USE OF RESOURCES
  We use energy efficiently and economically. Through technical and organizational measures, we minimize the incidence of residues, waste, polluting emissions and wastewater.    

For the Rhenus Group, information security means making the confidentiality, integrity and availability of information a strategic success factor in order to demonstrate the trust that our customers, our business partners and the general public place in us for all to see.

In accordance with the internationally recognised ISO/IEC 27001 standard, our information security management system (ISMS) ensures that risks are identified and assessed and that measures to ensure information security are planned, implemented and monitored.

Our sites that deliver services to customers from the automotive industry are certified according to VDA 6.2.

VDA 6.2 is aimed at service providers in the automotive industry, both internally (development, logistics, purchasing, etc.) and externally (developers, prototype manufacturers, logistics firms, etc.).

Service processes are generally subject to different criteria than those required for production processes. In the case of service processes, the focus is on intangible services. The provision and rendering of a service form a single unit.

By implementing the requirements of VDA 6.2, we are able to fulfil essential requirements of our customers in the automotive industry.

According to the definition in the "Principles of GLP" set out by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), good laboratory practice (GLP) is "a quality system concerned with the organisational process and the conditions under which non-clinical health and environmental safety studies are planned, performed, monitored, recorded, archived and reported".

Our sites certified according to this standard thereby ensure that all audit data is entered correctly and completely in audit reports which are presented to the authorities, and so can provide their customers from the pharmaceutical industry with evidence of a quality assurance system for health and environmental safety studies.

Good manufacturing practice (GMP) means quality assurance of production procedures and production environments, during the production of medical products and ingredients, on the one hand, and of foodstuffs and animal feed, on the other.

Particularly for customers from the pharmaceutical industry, quality assurance plays a key role because any quality variation can have a direct impact on consumer health.

Relevant sites of our company are certified according to GMP and have set up a GMP-compliant quality management system in order to guarantee optimum quality and meet the requirements of the public health authorities.

HACCP stands for hazard analysis and critical control points.

The purpose of this concept is to identify, assess and control significant hazards caused by foodstuffs.

Thanks to their certification in accordance with HACCP, our sites whose customers come from the food industry document all HACCP analyses that are carried out in full.

IFS, which stands for International Food Standard, is a concept which combines the requirements of ISO 9001 with those of the HACCP analysis to create an integrated system. This means that the IFS Logistics standard is specifically tailored to the services of the logistics industry and focuses primarily on food safety.

The IFS Logistics standard also helps to promote transparency throughout the entire supply chain from industry to retailer, and takes a risk-orientated approach.

The safety quality and assessment system (SQAS) provides a tool for the uniform assessment of a logistics service provider’s quality, safety and environment management systems. For this purpose, independent assessors are employed, and a standardised questionnaire is used.

Successfully passing an SQAS audit is an indicator of our constant efforts to make our firm’s logistics solutions safer and more environmentally friendly.

The system gives us direct, useful feedback on the strengths and weaknesses identified during the assessment. Moreover, we can give specific feedback to the customer upon evaluating the assessment results. In this way, the groundwork for a genuine partnership is laid down or reinforced, to the mutual benefit of both parties.

All German-based sites of the Rhenus Group comply with the requirements of the Energy Services Act (EDLG) and are certified in accordance with DIN EN ISO 50001 or have an energy audit carried out in accordance with DIN EN 16247.

In addition, some foreign sites that belong to the previous certification matrix for other standards will also be included.

An energy management system promotes the sustainable protection of the environment and the conservation of our resources. It is important to ensure that we continuously improve the energy efficiency of our operations at all branches and make them more sustainable in order to fulfil our duty to future generations.

The Rhenus Group undertakes to improve energy-related services on an ongoing basis.

The nature and scope of energy used and consumed at the sites should be appropriate.

All information and resources needed to achieve strategic and operational targets should be available.

Furthermore, the Rhenus Group undertakes to comply with all applicable legal regulations and other requirements agreed by the organisation with regard to energy usage, energy consumption and energy efficiency.

Strategic and operational energy targets are defined and reviewed in the energy management system. These are based on the following targets:

• Increase energy efficiency
• Reduce CO2 load
• Increase competitiveness through cost savings

We support the purchase of energy-efficient products and services that are designed to improve energy performance.

The "Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act" (which is in regard to the placement of electrical and electronic equipment on the market, as well as the collection and disposal of said equipment, as of 20 October 2015) aims to implement manufacturers’ product responsibility for electrical and electronic equipment under waste law.

This pursues the following objectives:

• Protection of health and the environment against harmful substances from electrical and electronic equipment
• Reduction of waste quantities through reuse or recycling

Here, too, the Rhenus Group is aware of its responsibility. Certification according to the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act is being developed and rolled out on an ongoing basis.