Salzgitter Flachstahl at the Supplier Green Day at BSH in Munich

21.09.2022 | Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH

BSH Hausgeräte GmbH, Europe’s largest manufacturer of domestic appliances, continues to push ahead with the decarbonization of its value chain. Since the end of 2020, BSH has switched to CO2-neutral development and production at all its plants worldwide. But the company has set itself further ambitious targets for the year 2030.

•    The CO2-footprint of raw materials and parts is to be reduced by 15% relative to the year 2018.
•    More than 50% recycled materials are to be used in the products.
•    Materials used in products are to be more than 95% recyclable.

In order to achieve this, particular attention will be paid to the production of materials and the recycling of products. With this in mind, BSH arranged a Supplier Green Day at which suppliers had the opportunity to present their approaches to sustainable production and a reduction in CO2 emissions.

Photo of the discussion situation at BSH Green Day
From left to right: Holger Buick, SZFG, Sales Construction Industry, Domestic Appliances, End users; Volker Korten, BSH, Director Environmental Protection; Dr. Peter Juchmann, SZFG, Director of Operations Beltcasting Hotrolling; Felix Drux, Associate Solutions Engineer at PTC; Thomas Schulte, Director BOSCH Corporate Office Supply Chain Management, Purchasing; Alexander Fritsch, BSH, Director BSH Global Purchasing

Since September 2021 BSH has for the first time been sourcing green steel from Salzgitter Flachstahl GmbH with a more than 66 percent lower CO2-footprint. The low-CO2 steel is initially being used to make housing brackets for the BSH washing machine plant in Lodz, Poland. This is another step towards achieving BSH’s ambitious sustainability targets. In advance of the great SALCOS® transformation, the low-CO2 steel is currently being produced at the electro steel works in Peine, where steel scrap is melted in the electric arc furnace and the resulting “green” slabs then converted into surface-finished sheet products in Salzgitter. With effect from 2026, BSH is considering sourcing larger quantities of climate-friendly steel produced via the SALCOS® route.

Holger Buick, sales manager domestic appliances, construction industry and tubes, and Dr. Peter Juchmann, operations director, continuous casting and hot rolling gave a presentation of Salcos®, the Salzgitter AG program for the production of reduced-CO2 steel. In a podium discussion on the subject of steel and in bilateral discussions in the market place format, customers were able to gain a virtual insight into the new hydrogen-based direct reduction technology. The circularity and green steel strategy of Salzgitter AG was the subject of intensive discussion in numerous stimulating encounters.