Responsibility
Founded in 1981, Anstar Oy is a Finnish family business specialising in the sales and manufacture of concrete structure connections and composite beams. Our headquarters and production facilities are located in Villähde, Lahti. We have 44 employees, most of whom work in production. In addition, we employ several people through staffing service companies.
We design and manufacture all our products in Finland, which is indicated by the Key Flag Symbol awarded to us. Our main market area is Finland. In addition, exports account for a significant share of our sales. Our main export market is Europe. We export our products to Sweden, the Baltic states and Germany, for example.
RESPONSIBILITY AS A STRATEGIC CHOICE
In autumn 2022, we prepared a comprehensive responsibility programme to develop our operations. Our responsibility focuses on reducing emissions, increasing equality and safety in the work
community, developing local cooperation and promoting a sustainable product range.
This is our first responsibility report, and it covers the year 2022. In the future, we will report on our activities every two years. In the report, we have utilised the GRI standard where applicable. Responsibility programme made by Rodinia Oy.
FINANCIAL STABILITY
Anstar Oy is a financially sound family business with a strong financial base. In 2022, our self-sufficiency
rate was 48%. In 2022, our turnover was EUR 17.8 million, of which exports accounted for 20%. Compared to the previous year, our turnover increased by 22%.
Thanks to our long-term operations, the company’s profitability was at an excellent level in 2022. On this basis, we are able to develop our responsibility purposefully by investing in, among other things, sustainable production, reducing environmental impacts and the safety of our personnel.
We pay all our taxes in Finland. Our tax footprint for 2022 is EUR 1.9 million.
QUALITY AND DOMESTICITY FIRST
The SMART STEEL™ concept that we have developed enables efficient, modern construction even in difficult conditions. We provide designers and builders with products and dimensioning software that can be used to design structural solutions and connections in accordance with the latest standards.
We manufacture products as standard steel parts and as projectproducts. Our products include A-BEAM®, ties, mounting plates, brackets and supports, balcony connections, bolts and shoes, rebar couplers and bracing truss couplers. Our products are designed and manufactured in Finland with strict adherence to ISO quality systems. The products are CE certified according to EN-1090–1 up to class EXC4.
We are a strongly domestic and value-based company. Serving our customers and the well-being of our staff is important to us. In addition, we want our business to leave a positive impact on society at large.
VALUES, MISSION AND VISION
Our values:
- Customer-orientation
- Responsibility
- Domestic manufacture
- Continuous development
- Succeeding together
OUR MISSION: Partner for demanding construction
With the help of our high-quality Finnish products, we offer comprehensive and customised solutions to our customers. Customer orientation strongly guides our operations, and we listen to the wishes and expectations of our customers on a regular basis.
OUR VISION: Creator of a better future
We closely monitor the changes taking place in the industry and constantly develop our own operations to become more sustainable.
FOURFOLD TABLE OF OUR RESPONSIBILITY GOALS
We have defined the goals of our responsibility programme into four different categories, that together include all our operations.
- Reduction of emissions
- Fair and safe work community
- Local cooperation
- Sustainable product range
Reduction of emissions
We are committed to reducing our carbon footprint by 25% relative to turnover by 2030. The benchmark is our carbon footprint from 2020 calculated together with Green Carbon Oy.
In 2020, our carbon footprint totalled 3,438.50 t CO2e. Relative to turnover, the carbon footprint was 264.50 t CO 2 e per MEUR. Most of the emissions came from the company’s indirect emissions (Scope
3), which in our case mainly consists of raw materials, transport, waste, gases, packaging materials and fuel production. The next emission calculation will be carried out in 2023 concerning the year 2022.
Green Carbon Oy:n kanssa tekemämme hiilijalanjäljen laskennan ansiosta olemme saaneet konkretiaa päästövähennystavoitteellemme. Thanks to our carbon footprint calculation done in collaboration with Green Carbon Oy, we have made our emission reduction target more concrete. The carbon footprint calculation for 2020 serves as a benchmark and an important guide for our measures. Examples of the measures include the use of renewable energy, switching to carbon-neutral gases and increasing the amount of recycled material in our products.
Fair and safe work community
Increasing the diversity of the work community has been identified as one of the development targets of the responsibility programme. Anstar wants to increase the share of employees from different backgrounds in the personnel.
Employees of different educational backgrounds, genders and ages bring their own expertise and vision to product development, for example. We see this as a resource and an opportunity to develop our business and create new innovations. A diverse work community can increase competitiveness in the long term. As a responsible employer, we support equal opportunities for our employees by guaranteeing a fair wage and a safe and healthy working environment for everyone.
Local cooperation
Local cooperation is one of the priority areas of our responsibility programme. Our goal is to intensify cooperation with the city and local educational institutions. Enterprises have a significant impact on the local community and regional living conditions. That is why we consider our role as an employer and competence developer to be essential.
In the Lahti region, we have opportunities to develop cooperation between companies as well as the ecosystem, as the geographical location is very good. We are particularly interested in participating in city projects promoting entrepreneurship and sustainable development. Through local cooperation, we aim to develop the attractiveness of Päijät-Häme in the long term. We hope that new businesses and new
jobs will be attracted to the region. The provision of local employment opportunities also has a wider impact on migration.
Sustainable product range
We intend to increase the number of sustainable and environmentally friendly innovations and products. To do this, we will map the environmental impact of our existing products and make Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) for all our product groups.
Based on a life cycle analysis, the EPD is a voluntary and standardised way of reliably presenting relevant, verified and comparable information on the environmental impact of a manufactured product
group. With the help of EPDs, we offer our stakeholders an easy way to compare the environmental impacts of our products and make more informed purchasing decisions.
HIGHLIGHTS OF 2022
- We made an emission calculation, which gives a clear basis for comparison for our emission reduction measures. We are able to assess the effectiveness of our measures and report reliably on our operations as we move towards our goals.
- We increased the number of our solar panels by 100, so we are currently powered by as many as 298 solar panels. Our annual energy output is up to 100,000 kWh.
- We signed a contract with Oy Linde Gas Ab for the supply of carbon-neutral gases. Only renewable energy sources – wind power and solar energy – are used in the production of gases.
- The fuel oil used in the factory’s forklifts and other machinery is Neste MY renewable fuel oil. We also use electric forklifts.
- We prepared a responsibility programme in which we set targets and measures until 2025.
This is a great basis for moving forward towards an even more responsible tomorrow – together with our customers and partners.
