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Corporate Responsibility
A commitment beyond the product
Everything that is produced requires resources, and all these resources have some impact on our environment and on people. The resources we use and what we use these resources for is a question of responsibility.
We see it as a combination of environmental, functional and human responsibility.
As a company, we have unlimited responsibility for the big picture and it is our obligation to work on these issues at all times in order to achieve more sustainable development in the world.
Gränsfors Bruk has been manufacturing hand-forged axes for over 100 years. Every single axe is designed specifically to fulfil a particular function, with a constant focus on high quality and area of application.
There has also been a strong focus on producing axes with sound green credentials, avoiding any unnecessary consumption of natural resources.
A lot of effort has also gone into developing a product while we care about the people who have created it.
With this in mind, Gränsfors Bruk has defined three criteria that must be met when we manufacture our axes.
We shall manufacture axes with the best possible function for the axe’s area of application.
We shall manufacture axes that have as little impact as possible in our environment.
We shall manufacture axes with respect for the people who create them.
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FUNCTION
We shall manufacture axes with the best possible function for the axe’s area of application.
Mankind has been using axes for more than one million years. Throughout history, the axe has helped us to source wood for our fires, build our homes and protect ourselves against our enemies, to name just a few areas. For much of human history, the axe has been a tool that has meant the difference between life and death.
Today, the axe continues to be used in a host of different areas of application. You need one type of axe to cleave wood, another model is better for felling a tree and a third is preferable if you’re building a log cabin.
We are therefore driven by a responsibility to ensure that knowledge of axes, the use of axes and the manufacturing of axes is preserved and passed on to future generations.
Knowledge is required to understand function and area of application. Knowledge that can be acquired to some extent, but it is often knowledge that once existed but has been lost.
We at Gränsfors Bruk are therefore striving constantly to gather as much knowledge about axes as we can, so that we can then convey that knowledge to others.
One way is to invite and maintain a continuous dialogue with those interested in forging, log-building and axes. Another is to have an axe museum in which we collect axes from different ages and different places. A third way is with the aid of The Axe Book, which accompanies every axe, in which we try to convey our knowledge of axes and their use to you as a user.
No matter how we convey this knowledge to the next generation, we believe that it is our obligation to protect our cultural heritage, which stretches back in time more than one million years.
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ENVIRONMENT
We shall manufacture axes that have as little impact as possible on our environment.
The best thing we can do for the environment is to manufacture a small number of quality products that last a long time. We have therefore always had the goal of developing a product with an extremely long useful life, which means that we do not have to manufacture as many products.
We believe that the quality and longevity of the product is a very important element of being able to contribute to a better environment. This is because increased product longevity means that, among other things, we can:
consume fewer natural resources, resulting in reduced consumption of raw materials and energy
produce fewer products, which generates less waste
make fewer purchases, resulting in reduced transport operations
One of Gränsfors Bruk’s goals is to make good products that last a very long time.
As proof of this, and to leave nobody in any doubt that we take our responsibilities seriously, we sell our axes with a 20-year guarantee.
We also use raw materials that have the least possible impact on our environment. When producing our axes, we use recycled steel, vegetable tanned chromium-free leather and wooden handles made of hickory.
The choice of material is important, not just from a green manufacturing perspective, but also in terms of what happens to the materials when the axe finally reaches the end of its useful life. The steel can be recycled, the leather and the handle will decompose, so no waste is created.
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RESPECT FOR THE INDIVIDUAL
We shall manufacture axes with respect for the people who create them.
An axe is only as good as the accumulated professional skill of the people who forged, ground and attached the handle to the axe. All of the axes we manufacture are made by human hand. And all these people deserve great respect and recognition for their professional expertise. Our company would be nothing without them.
As a company, we must constantly care for and respect the people who have manufactured our products. But for us it is also extremely important that you as a customer know that our employees have competitive Swedish salaries, good working conditions, holiday and pension provisions, as well as the opportunity to achieve a good work-life balance. In other words, conditions that correspond with the values and conditions that you as a customer would no doubt want for yourself and your children.
Gränsfors Bruk also has collective agreements and we observe the established rules in the Swedish labour market.
Sadly this is not always taken for granted in the modern production community. In many factories around the world, wages are being forced down while at the same time employees have to work faster and for longer hours, simply to maximise the company’s profits. We believe that this is wrong.
For us, the main focus is not about maximising our profit. Of course, we must report a profit to have a company that is a going concern, but there is so much more that we believe is more important. Such as the fact that our employees are happy and healthy, and that all of our production is retained here in Sweden.
Next time you hold an axe in your hand, give some thought to how that axe has been produced!
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