Ambassador 2024 - AnVa Industries acts with the future in mind

AnVa Industries is a Swedish family-owned business group specializing in metalworking and polymeric products, including a self-developed and ground-breaking environmental rubber. With headquarters in Västerås and subsidiaries in Sweden, Lithuania, China and Germany, they offer component manufacturing and system deliveries to the engineering and automotive industries. Their activities include e.g. cold forming, machining, heat treatment, sheet metal forming, welding, surface treatment and assembly.

Binella Vannesjö is the AnVa group's Sustainability Director and one of the four owners. She describes how the group acts strategically and long-term on several levels to be able to meet the various needs and challenges of today and the future.

"Best practice" creates new routines

According to Binella Vannesjö, the biggest challenge AnVa Industries faces today is to keep up with the ever-advancing technological development that takes place within the manufacturing industry. But she looks with confidence at how the company handles it today.

- We see many opportunities for smart solutions and automation with the new technology, which we believe is exciting! In order to stay up to date and benefit from technological advances, Anva Industries has a stated strategy that promotes curiosity and innovation within the company.

The strategy aims to encourage the subsidiaries within the group to experiment with new technology and share successful solutions internally, so that best practice can be spread within the group. Binella Vannesjö explains:

- We encourage our companies to test new technology in production, and we have many talented and curious technicians who are scouting for new opportunities to implement. The solutions that works well becomes good examples that can then be spread. As an example, we at the Horda group have installed a fully autonomous truck that retrieves pallets of finished products from machines, ensures that the pallets are strapped and then drives them to the right place in the warehouse. It is that kind of innovative solutions, and use of new technology, that illustrates well for me how Anva Industries implements new innovations and technology into everyday life.

Education gives new perspectives

Working and collaborating closely with suppliers and customers is central to Anva Industries' innovation process. Binella Vannesjö describes how the company, through regular meetings and discussions, finds joint solutions that drive the business forward.

- In addition to collaboration with external parties, which provides a lot of knowledge and skills transfer, we engage our employees through various programs and training initiatives. An example of this is the Vannesjö Academy, which offers leadership training and opportunities to create new contacts within the group. We know that the competence of our companies is the greatest asset that we have.

Anva Industries has a solid sustainability strategy that includes management training and a comprehensive reporting structure. Their sustainability model is well integrated into the company's daily operations. Vannesjö describes the company's progress:

- All our CEOs and management teams have been trained in sustainability issues, according to the model with 3P: People, Planet & Profit. All of our sustainability work is anchored from the factory floor and linked to the UN's climate goals. A concrete example of Anva Group's sustainability work is the development of the environmental rubber Climarub, which has been part of our product range for over ten years. Here, we have not been satisfied but developed further with the goal of being able to reach a completely CO2-free environmental rubber, and the constant development of the material is an illustration of the company's commitment to sustainable solutions.

The importance of real-life meeting

The Elmia Subcontractor fair has been an important platform for AnVa Industries to create and develop business relationships, and their participation at the fair has yielded results in various ways over the years. Binella Vannesjö explains further:

- We see Elmia Subcontractor as an important meeting place to meet customers, suppliers and other contacts we work with. Among other things, we have "found Hordagruppen" at the Elmia fair where we met former owner Lars Lejon in 2013. AnVa Industries acquired Hordagruppen in 2021 and it was entirely Elmia Subcontractors' "fault". We know that Elmia Subcontractor continues to be key to AnVa Industries' networking and business development, helping us stay at the forefront of technological and sustainable trends. We are proud to be ambassadors for the fair in 2024!