T ooling manufacturer Hilti notes a growing demand for its on-site and in- office training courses across the fasteners and related industries, as the courses facilitate safety practices and improved equipment life cycles.

The company trains some 1 000 people a year and specifies installation and design standards, training workers to use and maintain tools properly and, thereby, increasing the equipment life cycle and ensuring adherence to safety standards to avoid accidents.

“We have been offering training for five years in response to the lack of skills in the tooling and manufacturing industry. By offering free on-site and in-office training, we are feeding the fastener, tooling and manufacturing skills in South Africa,” notes Hilti field engineer Schalk Burger.

Hilti’s training comprises ordering advice, solutions for spe- cific applications, demonstrations of Hilti products and systems and on-site product training.

“The availability of professional support and assistance to engineers and specifiers is just as important to Hilti as the production of the ideal tools for tradespeople in construction,” the company states.

Hilti’s teams of technical specialists efficiently provide support and services, on site or telephonically. The company offers value- engineered design support to engineering offices and planning departments, competent assistance for solutions to technical problems, on-site professional advice and support, design and calculations for applications carried out by various trades, complete project guidance and personal computer software, as well as design applications to download free of charge.

“The advantages of using our solutions are quality assur- ance and cost and time savings,” Burger tells Engineering News, adding that Hilti also offers Engineering Council of South Africa-registered Continuous Professional Development training courses on anchor and post- installed rebar design.

He notes that Hilti also offers online courses to increase the reach of its training and to ensure that companies can offer training to all employees at a convenient time and at a comfortable pace.

Contributions
In January 2010, Hilti South Africa made its first donation of 60 tools to three organisations involved in training people to promote transformational and sustainable development, thereby contributing to the upliftment of underprivileged communities where these organisations operate, the company states on its website.

Hilti’s donations comprise power tools, the servicing of these tools until they are no longer economically viable to be repaired, training on how to use the tools correctly and engineering assistance from its field engineers.

Environment
Hilti’s environmental commitment includes both ecological and economic perspectives. “The knowledge that we acquire in this area will increasingly be used to develop innovative business fields. We are convinced that sustainable growth can only be achieved if we systematically incorporate the environment in our daily business,” Hilti notes.

“When developing our processes, we set ecologically orientated guidelines as the foundation for the careful selection of recyclable materials, including the use of environment-friendly materials in product packaging,” the company adds.

In 2007, Hilti signed the United Nations Caring for Climate initiative. This initiative is dedicated to improving the environment and primarily focuses on climate change. “By signing the initiative, we are obligated to increase our energy efficiency while reduc- ing our carbon dioxide emissions relative to business development. All corporate decisions are made after a thorough evaluation of the influence they will have on the environment,” Hilti states.

As an example, the company cites the construction of an 11 000 m2 production and logistics hall at its plant in Thüringen, Austria, which targeted the use of existing sources for heating and cooling the new facility. Instead of using gas-fired boilers and electricity-powered cooling units, existing waste heat is deployed for both cooling and warming through an ecological energy-sharing system.

Hilti concludes that it has a comprehensive supplier audit management system to ensure that the ecological and social standards defined in the company’s code of conduct are also maintained by its suppliers.