Thoughts from the CEO: Resilience with social responsibility

In March I wrote about resilience and its importance to us in coping with the current market environment. I must say that the last months have taught us all that it is not only important but crucial… 

The energy crisis and its effects

Since springtime, the talks, worries and reality about the energy crisis in Europe has hit us hard. It affects us in all fronts, from our families to businesses. No one knows or can exactly foresee what the next six months will bring.  

In all cases, I am sure that the way we think about fuels, energy production and politics around it will change for good. As an example, use of alternative fuels and biofuels will emerge. Then, more fragmented, localized energy production will be strong alternative in many countries.  As a result, driving force behind is to increase resilience and self-sufficiency with strong mindset of social responsibility. 

Why did I mention social responsibility? There is a lot more we can do as individuals and companies. As energy crisis is emerging and environmental challenges are enormous, we should think of simple and pragmatic ways to contribute, being socially responsible. 

Will we see an increase in use of alternative and bio-based fuels in the wake of the energy crisis?

Cutting costs and emissions

In practice, us in high-GDP countries like Finland can bluntly say that we consume too much electricity, both at home and in industries, but we surely can do something about it. For example, at Cross Wrap we could do more to optimize and finetune the use of machines at the sites. We have estimated on average one CW machine alone consumes annually in range of 4000 kWh of electricity if it is run eight hours per day. Our engineering team has identified several ways to get consumption lower in the machines. To name a few, optimization of machine and electricity use, select more energy optimized components and the use more electric driven units instead of hydraulic units. 

At customer sites, there is also a several ways to lower energy consumption. For example, hydraulic units could be stopped during downtimes, electricity consumption could be lowered by optimizing drive of process units. Then also, we could use data on energy prices to plan working shifts and process flow based on cheaper hours. 

So, there is a lot we can do together to lower energy consumption. Let’s imagine that we could lower on average 10% of consumption on all machines in field, which is realistic, it would annually mean savings of thousands kWh of energy. 

“We challenge our customers to find out ways to reduce their electricity consumption. Let’s have a joint task to start with our machines in the field.” 

Social responsibility in the end is not following standards or getting green diplomas. It is about concrete and practical actions. We challenge our customers to find out ways to reduce their electricity consumption. Let’s have a joint task to start with our machines in the field.  

Conserving electricity is crucial in cutting costs, but also in cutting our carbon footprint. We encourage our partners, customers, and everyone in the industry to assess if energy conservation during the crisis could turn into more long-term practices, which could have positive environmental effects. With the active dialogue and practical actions, we might find innovations that we could have not fathom before. 

Strength in numbers – Cross Wrap and the Saalasti Group

Cross Wrap’s summer excursion at Saalasti HQ.

At Cross Wrap we are stronger than before – including in opportunities to invest in actions for social responsibility. As a part of Saalasti Group we are now three times bigger in size, which gives us more power to invest and develop for bigger impact. In addition, our variety and scale of skills are wider with more local approach. With Saalasti group we have local operations in Spain, Sweden, Chile and Canada. Currently, we are taking steps to strengthen our local presence in the US as well.  

Our goal is to be more local and more proactive in helping our customers reach success. We cannot achieve that without solid partners and proactive work with our customers. I am aware there is a lot to be done. But we are taking concrete steps to get there. 

At Your service, 

Jukka