Review: The network " Kunststoffe in OWL" as a guest at SPIES

What does "sustainable" actually mean? There was unanimity on this question among the almost 40 participants of the network meeting on March 21 in Melle. The big buzzwords of the evening were sustainability, innovation and digitalization.

After the opening and welcome by the initiators Oliver Hülsmann and Carsten Kießler, from the network "Kunststoffe in OWL", Christof Spies (CEO) also welcomed the participants, gave a short insight into the company history and a foretaste of the further contents of the evening.

Afterwards, the project InCamS@BI was presented by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jaroschek. The "Innovation Campus For Sustainable Solutions" is a project of the FH Bielefeld. The project aims to support companies from the region with their challenges, as well as questions or problems from practice in the field of sustainability and to develop toolboxes as solutions.

The SPIES team, consisting of Nina Franke (Sustainability Manager), Carolin Buddenkotte (Head of Transformation & Communication) and Jan Henning Vollmer (Head of Business Support & Controlling), concluded the lecture series with a presentation on the topic of future sustainability at SPIES. Measures such as the Team Future or the SPIES Insights Team as well as further projects of the company were presented, which contribute to future-proofing and the successful handling of trends and challenges.

In the subsequent discussion round, the focus was on the human factor and the concept of humanity. How does he define himself? How does it go hand in hand with the topic of digitization? Is the process of digitization working for or against people?

Initially, there was agreement that digitization will replace people more and more and take many jobs. However, from the perspective of demographic change, the theory also emerged that fewer and fewer people will have to perform more and more, and that digitization can support this. It could consequently lead to a shift in the ratio and relieve the burden.

Following the theory, the participants were given an insight into the practice and production processes at SPIES with a tour of the plant. Finally, full of new impressions and impulses for discussion, the participants went into an exchange of ideas, accompanied by delicious snacks and drinks.