City council member Christoffer Lilleholt, from Odense’s municipality visited Meneta’s production site in Denmark on Friday, October 30, 2020. Christoffer has an interest in local production companies, and especially those who have maintained local production in a globalized world.

Meneta: one of Odense’s biggest companies in employees and top line

“Today, our humble company is actually one of Odense’s biggest companies – both in terms of number of employees and top line,” says Kim Oestergaard, Group CEO at Meneta. “Of course, this means that we have a significant impact on our surroundings. We realize the responsibility that comes along with this and are more than happy to share our experience and ideas with Christoffer. We had a good and constructive talk, which I hope was just one of many more to come” Kim continues.

Industry leader betting on green

We gave Christoffer a tour of one of our three Odense based facilities, Meneta Advanced Shims Technology, where we produce noise-damping brake shims for the automotive industry. Christoffer was very interested in the company growth plan and our green transition.

“Meneta is currently one of three dominant industry leaders on the shim market. We are therefore in a strong position to prepare for future demands – and we have already started. Our production facilities enable us to stand even stronger as they are primed for increased demand for EV’s (electric vehicles),” Kim says.

However, as demand shifts toward cars that run green, the requirements for sub-suppliers are shifting as well. “We are fully aware that sub-suppliers, such as ourselves, must provide a product with a low carbon footprint. It will be one of the strongest competitive advantages in the future. Electric vehicles of the future should not only be running on green energy, they must also result from green production. We believe that our contribution to this goal is important, despite being only a small piece to the car manufacturing puzzle.”

Shifting to clean wind energy

In accordance with this ambition, Meneta has launched several green initiatives including recycling of rubber, linen and other raw materials. Most recently, Meneta shifted a big part of its electricity supply from traditional sources to 100 % clean wind energy.

“Because of this green initiative, we have shrunk our CO2 emission with what corresponds to 300 household’s yearly energy usage. Within a foreseeable future, the plan is that all our energy shall be supplied by sustainable sources. Green energy is more costly, but it is a price that we are willing to pay,” Kim concludes.

Stay tuned and follow for more updates on our progress in meeting our ambitious green goals.