Fields of action - fischer group of companies

Strategy and Integrity

Long before the planned introduction of a Europe-wide sustainability reporting obligation, fischer committed itself to a proactive approach and already introduced a sustainability management system and presented its own sustainability report in 2016. The belief that the future viability of the company can only be achieved in harmony with the environment and social concerns is based on the mission statement of the fischer Group and our social responsibility. The sustainability strategy is integrated into the corporate strategy and, using the acronym TIGER, depicts the key strategic challenges in technology, innovation, globalisation, ecology and social responsibility.
Read more about our sustainability strategy in our sustainability brochure.

The fischer sustainability compass

For fischer, sustainability means ensuring the future viability of the company. Long-term economic success brings fisher into line with environmental responsibility and social justice. The aim is to combine sustainability management with tried-and-tested elements of corporate culture and processes. fischer has developed the fischer Sustainability Compass for this purpose. The mission statement, process system and strategic sustainability goals are recorded here and transferred to a monitoring system together with Controlling. As a result, sustainability activities become transparent, measurable and manageable.
In order to strengthen existing structures for sustainable business and identify further fields of action, fischer is oriented towards the WIN Charter and the Sustainable Development Goals. Both concepts offer transparency to stakeholders by making responsible actions of companies comparable.

The blue path – the sustainability path at fischer

With the 2025 strategy, the fischer Group has adopted its orientation for the future. This defines the long-term goals and their medium-term implementation. This includes, among other things, the further expansion of the Blue Path. The stations are examples of various sustainability activities and are intended to promote and continuously expand awareness of this topic within and outside the company. Implemented but also planned sustainability projects are explicitly identified and documented at various points on the company premises and beyond. The colour blue symbolises the oceans, the sky and the earth – in expert circles it also stands for sustainability.

Human and employee rights

Principle 1 – Human and employee rights

As a globally active company with locations in 38 countries as well as suppliers and customers all over the world, the fischer Group sees it as its duty to actively support human rights and the rights of employees. In line with the fischer mission statement, all business activities are based on the core values of “innovative, independent and serious” and pursue the goal of generating profit. These core values serve as a benchmark for daily work and for successfully shaping the future of the company.
The fischer Group takes its responsibility for corporate due diligence in the supply chain seriously. When selecting its partners, fischer is conscientious and carries out audits as part of its supplier management before the start of delivery. This is not only about economic efficiency, but also about evaluating potential partners from the perspectives of people, safety and the environment.

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Principle 2 – Employee well-being

In order to be able to master the current and future challenges in a globalised, fast-moving global economy, motivated employees are a decisive factor. Not least because of this, the fischer Group invests a lot in occupational health management to safeguard everyone’s health.
With a wide range of measures relating to occupational health management, fischer ensures a high health rate at the German locations, especially in the industry comparison at federal and state level.
Occupational safety and the health of the workforce have always been of great importance to the fischer Group. An occupational health and safety structure that has grown over decades ensures that legal and official requirements are known and implemented holistically.

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Principle 3 – Stakeholder groups

In addition to internal suggestions from the fischer workforce, external input and feedback are also very helpful. Important stakeholder groups, so-called stakeholders, have specific expectations of fischer and are usually willing to discuss these with those responsible at the company on the basis of a materiality analysis. In doing so, fischer maintains an open, constructive and cooperative dialogue with all parties involved. In order to continue the continuous and open dialogue with all stakeholders, fischer invited to the fourth stakeholder dialogue in 2022 June.

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Environmentally conscious

Principle 4 – Resources

The fischer Group operates on global markets and relies on the available raw materials and services as well as strong partners as suppliers. To ensure their continued existence in the future, external resources must be used responsibly and efficiently. Respectful, value-oriented and economical use of resources must be defined and maintained.
The aim is to build sustainable supply chains in which every link assumes corporate responsibility and acts in accordance with human rights due diligence obligations as well as environmental and climate protection goals. In this way, we ensure that the fischer group of companies is competitive on the market in the long term.

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Guiding Principle 5 – Energy and Emissions

The fischer Group has been actively managing the environment and energy for many years. This topic has been firmly anchored in the fischer mission statement for decades. The environmental management system was certified in accordance with ISO 14001 back in 1997.
An internal environmental team, consisting of those responsible for the environmentally relevant areas, works across locations and ensures the systematic and continuous implementation of measures to increase energy efficiency.
fischer is expanding its climate protection activities and is thus following SDG 13 “Climate Action”. Beginning in 2022, fischer will integrate the optional chapter “Climate Protection” into its reporting system as part of the WIN Charter.
Creating transparency is a top priority when it comes to emissions and serves as the basis for developing the company’s climate protection strategy. This transparency was created by preparing the CO2 balance sheet for all national companies of the Group, including all production and sales locations, for the first time for 2021 and again for 2022.
The long-term prevention and reduction of its greenhouse gases in all emission areas is a very high priority for fischer. Based on the detailed determination of the CO2 footprint in 2021 and 2022, the company is now able to develop an overarching climate protection strategy that pursues this goal.

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Principle 6 – Product responsibility

fischer products are used in many areas of daily life and are used by almost all age groups. Last but not least, this gives rise to the corporate responsibility to always deliver products of the best quality. The fischer group of companies actively assumes this responsibility and works continuously to further increase the high quality of its products.
This process, internally called fischer ProzessSystem, begins long before a product is available for sale. Even in the idea of a new product, care is taken to ensure that it is pleasant, simple and intuitive to use for customers.
Furthermore, product development focuses on the use of sustainable and durable materials. Fischer also takes responsibility for the environment when it comes to product packaging. The packaging strategy is primarily based on the concept of the circular economy and customer orientation.

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Economical benefits

Principle 7 – Corporate success and jobs

The fischer Group is economically successful and has great future potential. The long-term success of the company is ensured by sustainably generating profits in five business areas, which simultaneously secure jobs in the region. In addition to sales, the number of employees working for Fischer worldwide is also continuously increasing. Both developments confirm that fischer is an internationally successful and growing company. Steady, healthy growth in sales allows, among other things, extensive investments in further training and the creation of further jobs. By promoting sustainable, inclusive and sustainable economic growth as well as productive full employment and decent work for all, fischer aims to achieve SDG 8 “Good jobs and economic growth”. The company mission statement and its values form the basis for corporate success. It also anchors the goal of generating the profit required for the successful further development and future-proofing of the Group.

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Guiding Principle 8 – Sustainable Innovation

The name fischer has always stood for innovation. In 1949, company founder Artur Fischer invented the flash light for cameras with synchronous triggering. In 1958, the legendary S-anchor was added, which is still a symbol for Fischer and even for the entire fastening industry today.
fischer has 1,500 industrial property rights and the workforce registers 20 times more patents per employee than the average German economy.
The fischer employees from the construction, mechanical engineering, energy and environmental engineering, as well as materials technology and chemicals, work closely with suppliers and partners to create the best products in terms of performance, quality, safety and sustainability. After all, the products are parts of overall systems and must function perfectly at the interfaces.

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Sustainable and fair finances, anti-corruption

Principle 9 – Financial decisions

As an owner-managed company, the fischer Group attaches great importance to the highest possible degree of independence and independence. Attention is paid to ensuring sustainable financial leeway at all times. When it comes to investments, the focus is on sustainable economic development and the long-term success of the fischer Group. In addition to economic aspects, employee concerns and environmental aspects are also included in investment decisions.

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Principle 10 – Anti-corruption

fischer condemns all forms of corruption and gaining advantage through illegal and unethical practices. This applies to all activities of the Group worldwide. For decades, “seriousness” has been a fundamental value in the company’s mission statement that excludes all forms of bribery and corruption. Any violation of the company values will not be accepted and will be punished accordingly. Compliance at fischer is not limited to anti-corruption measures. Instead, compliance requires each individual to act responsibly and in accordance with all applicable laws, the fisheries mission statement and internal guidelines.

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Regional added value

Guiding Principle 11 – Regional added value

The Group takes on its social responsibility in a variety of ways, including by involving the region in a number of projects.
For more than ten years, fischer has been working with more than 120 companies and foundations in different industries to provide financial and personnel support for knowledge transfer and skills development in technology, science, economic education and entrepreneurship.
Qualified employees are essential in order to remain competitive in the future. However, the course for this is not set first with the company training, but much earlier. That is why the fischer Group promotes the talent of young people in numerous educational projects and initiatives.
Company owner Prof. Klaus Fischer is heavily involved in educational measures and social institutions. In spring 2015, he founded the Klaus Fischer Foundation to promote child and youth education.

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Guiding Principle 12 – Incentives to rethink

The topics of sustainability management are closely linked to the strategic objectives of the Group. The fischer Process System (fPS) serves as a key success factor of the company group for continuous improvement, both in economic, environmental and social terms. The goal is a lean and flexible company that can cope with global challenges with the involvement of all employees. With sustainability, a new and complex topic has entered strategic and practical corporate management. Almost all future topics will be decided by sustainability management – positively as well as negatively. At fischer, we primarily see this challenge as an opportunity and therefore do not want to leave anything to chance. That’s why we created the fischer Sustainability Campus. With this, we want to assume responsibility at fischer and share our experiences in the context of sustainability as an inspiring role model, while at the same time creating a network for exchange and joint learning in order to tackle challenges together.

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Fields of action and guiding principles