AVK sustainability report 2023 with links A4 - Flipbook - Page 28
INNOVATION AND
DEVELOPMENT WITHIN OUR
BUSINESS AREAS
Economic growth, social development and climate action
are heavily dependent on investments in infrastructure,
sustainable industrial development, and technological
progress. The global manufacturing industry is considered
a driver of overall economic growth.
(Source: UN Infrastructure and Industrialization - United Nations Sustainable Development)
The industrial market has been challenged
by economic slowdown due to Covid-19, high
inflation, energy price shocks, persistent
disruptions in the supply of raw materials,
general economic slowdown, and tariff and
trade tensions.
The industrial market thus requires constant
adaptability to ensure responsible and economic
growth, while investing in green transmission,
digitalisation of processes and automation to
ensure competitiveness. All these factors put
great demands on innovation and development
in AVK’s production companies. As a result, we
continuously invest in product development and
optimisation of processes throughout the value
chain, including automation and digitalisation of
production.
28 | AVK Sustainability report 2022/2023
Product development
In the AVK Group, innovation, and development
of new and improved high-quality products
with a long lifespan and recycling in mind play
a crucial part. As described on the previous
pages, our focus on innovation touches many
industries. Our primary business area is the
development, production and sale of valves
and solutions for clean drinking water supply,
wastewater management, firefighting, and
irrigation. In recent years, there has been an
increased focus on expanding the offered
product with intelligent valves, called AVK
Smart Water.
We are constantly working on optimising and
developing our product range. AVK has invested
in products within desalination, as we expect
the extraction of seawater to produce drinking
water will become a focused business area in
the coming years.
As previously described, another focus area
within product development is our ongoing work
to optimise the share of recyclable materials
used in our products.
An example of our continuous focus on product
optimisation is the AVK company Furnes, which
has developed lighter manhole covers with
integrated locking mechanisms by utilising the
unique properties of ductile iron. This weight
reduction has led to easier handling and less
physical strain on installers. Similarly, the
patented integrated gasket on Furnes PREMIUM
maintenance hole covers forms a tight seal
