Sustainability
AddLife and sustainability
AddLife’s vision is to improve people's lives by being a leading, value-creating partner in Life Science. By offering high-quality products and value-added services, we add value to our customers who are active in this sector. Consequently, our business can help enhance opportunities and delivery of healthcare and social services. Our product and service offerings also help our customers in lowering their environmental footprint by providing options with reduced packaging, products and services with lower carbon footprint, and supporting product reuse.
Our success depends on the dedication and experience of our employees. It is therefore essential to ensure a positive working environment, provide ample growth opportunities and foster an inclusive corporate culture so that we can retain our current employees and attract new potential talent. The products and services we sell are subject to strict quality assurance regulations. This ensures that the product does not result in any significant harm to patients and users. Maintaining high quality and safety standards for our products and services is critical to prevent both customer loss and damage to our reputation. Our business model relies on our business relationships with suppliers, the products we distribute and the raw materials from which they are derived.
AddLife's sustainability strategy
During 2023, AddLife updated its sustainability strategy based on stakeholder dialogues and an updated materiality analysis. The sustainability strategy mirrors our key sustainability issues: our positive contribution to the Life Science sector, the well-being and development of our employees, and our work with supply chain management. We recognise business opportunities in working with sustainability and believe that our sustainability efforts can provide added value for our customers.
Sustainable solutions for health
AddLife creates competitive advantages by offering high-quality products and value-creating services, coupled with sustainable solutions. Our position in the value chain, primarily as a distributor, entails close dialogue with local customers and collaboration with major global suppliers. This offers a unique opportunity to facilitate a sustainable transition alongside our partners and develop solutions that could positively impact our business operations.
Sustainable culture
The dedication of our employees is the key to our success. We aim for an inclusive environment for our talented and dedicated people, characterised by diversity. To accomplish this, we focus on aspects related to employee well-being, diversity, and inclusion. We want to support the professional development of our employees through training, knowledge sharing and growth opportunities. We are proud of our corporate culture and we take responsibility for how we do business.
Sustainable supply chain
Our position in the value chain offers the opportunity to collaborate with our partners in developing solutions to responsibly address our shared impact. Tasks involve evaluating, engaging with, and exerting influence on our suppliers, while also identifying new market-leading alternatives. Each subsidiary is responsible for selecting and evaluating suppliers. In this ongoing process, one key selection criterion is the suppliers' adherence to the UN Global Compact principles.
Governance
As a signatory to the UN's Global Compact, we strive to conduct our business in a manner that is responsible. Under our decentralised business model, we use a blend of central and local approaches to manage sustainability-related impacts, risks, and opportunities. AddLife has a group-wide sustainability strategy and Code of Conduct, as well as a Code of Conduct for business partners. Each subsidiary is responsible for its own business activities within the context of the requirements for growth, profitability and sustainability set by the Group.
Several of our subsidiaries are certified to ISO 14001 and ISO 9001, which serve as the cornerstone of their business development initiatives. Components of the management system include dialogue with customers and other key stakeholders, company risk analyses, and formulation of goals and action plans. The proportion of the business certified to ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 has declined because the sales of certified subsidiaries have decreased compared with those that are not certified.
In 2024, AddLife will begin work on establishing a due diligence process for sustainability issues. Processes, procedures and activities that could be part of such a process have been formulated, but have not yet been integrated. We aim to implement the due diligence process in all relevant processes and procedures, across the Group, in order to comply with future legal requirements and meet the expectations of our key stakeholders. In 2023, we launched a project to formulate an internal control process regarding sustainability information, which will extend into 2024.
News from our subsidiaries
Biomedica Medizinprodukte GmbH has achieved an ISO37001 – Anti-Bribery Management System certification by QualityAustria
Svancare, together with Korpinen, has initiated a collaboration and donated assistive devices to Ukraine through the non-profit organization Operation Change.
Sustainability is a central part of our vision to improve people's lives. Our commitment to improving people's lives is not just our slogan; it is an integral part of our daily operations and a cornerstone of our long-term strategy.
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