“As a family-owned company, we always think and act with an eye to the next generation”

Munsch Pumpen, whose products are used especially in the chemical industry and for metallurgy, has been producing pumps since the 1960s. This company in the Westerwald is currently managed by Stefan Munsch, the family’s second generation. In the interview, this graduated engineer explains why sustainability was always writ large at Munsch and why he would sometimes like lawmakers to be a bit more practical.

Mr. Munsch, your company integrated sustainability and climate conservation into its corporate philosophy long before these became “mandatory topics.” Has this pioneering role proven to be the right economic choice for your company?

I took over management of the company in 1993 and quickly pressed for an optimization of the product range. The goal was to increase efficiency and reduce material consumption. From the intrinsic motivation to avoid waste, our sustainability awareness just continued to grow. At first, people on the market belittled our commitment. But the benefits were persuasive, for the greater the efficiency, the smaller the pumps, and the lower their energy consumption. Frequently industrial pumps run around the clock – and therefore even small improvements can produce big savings. Just to give you an idea: about 6% of the EU’s total electricity consumption is for pumps. Our industry is sitting on an ecologically significant lever. The figures show that we were on the right track with our corporate strategy: in the past 30 years, our sales have multiplied sixfold.

What are Munsch Gmbh’s current focal points with regard to sustainability measures?

In addition to the continuous optimization of our products and processes, we are increasingly focusing on our buildings and systems. Here too, our guiding principle is to avoid waste! Therefore, we are focusing on the correct insulation of buildings, switching off devices that draw power when they are not in use, and installing heat pumps for heating and cooling. Together with researchers from the TU Darmstadt, we have also calculated the energy savings potential for the entire corporate group.

The result: if we exploit all the optimization measures, we can achieve energy savings of about 12%. I will admit that I had promised myself more; nevertheless, we are implementing the measures we have formulated. A big goal is to make our own production climate-neutral. But even with a new PV system, we will not achieve this. I’m curious to see how we will achieve this as a society, as a nation.