A partnership that has always been based on sustainability
Gefion Profiler established its business in 1993, and aluminium and renewable energy company Hydro has been one of its main suppliers ever since. The two companies have been doing sustainability before it became a business buzz word, and they are now bringing that buzz to a higher level.
Gefion Profiler is Denmark’s leading supplier of floor profiles for flooring stores and floor installers, providing both standard products and specially designed profiles from its location in Silkeborg, a fast-growing city of around 50,000 residents.
It is not a big company – they have around a dozen employees – but Gefion is a successful one. The most recent years have been among their most profitable.
Transition strips made from locally produced aluminium profiles
More than 80 percent of the aluminium profiles that Gefion purchases every year are produced two hours down the road in Tønder, where Hydro has its extrusion plant. This closeness is critical for small companies, especially when supply reliability is a key factor, as it is here.
Gefion uses the aluminium in floor transition strips. These strips are utilized where two floors meet, where transitions and gaps need bridging. That said, making these strips attractive and able to achieve an elegant transition between different floors is part of the challenge, according to owners Heidi and Torben Hansen.
“Hydro Extrusion Denmark’s expertise with aluminium has helped to develop our range of profiles from single angles to composite profile systems,” says Heidi Hansen. “With Hydro in Tønder as a supplier, we get the best quality, quick delivery and knowledge of the Scandinavian market.”
Gefion deserves credit as well, says senior key account manager Per Amdi Christensen of Hydro, for “constantly developing new products for their business, with great focus on sustainable production, and on low-emission materials.”
Finding the most sustainable solutions
The Hansens began putting together climate reports for their company in 2021. At the time, they calculated that 91% of their greenhouse gas emissions were so-called Scope 3 emissions – emissions from the value chain that are related to suppliers and to the use and disposal of their products.
Since then, Torben Hansen says that Gefion has worked toward purchasing more materials that are produced with green energy. For example, Hydro’s low-carbon aluminium, Hydro REDUXA, that has a guaranteed maximum footprint of 4 kgs of CO2e per kg aluminium, which is a quarter of the global average.
The “new” in the customer-supplier relationship is that, in 2024, Gefion began buying this low-carbon aluminium from Hydro for their flooring transition strips.
“By switching to low-carbon aluminium, the CO2 emissions from our profiles are reduced by 30 percent without compromising on quality. It is great to work with a company that is a leader in the green transition,” Torben says.
Hydro produces its low-carbon aluminium with renewable energy sources in a fully traceable process with a footprint verified in accordance with ISO 14064 by DNV, covering all carbon emissions from bauxite mining and alumina refining to aluminium production.