Footwear technology developer Desma has completed a project to put photovoltaic cells onto the roof of one of the buildings at its headquarters in Achim in northern Germany, writes Footwearbiz.

The solar panels cover an area of around 1,000 square-metres on the roof of production building C at the Desma site. The company said this would be enough to generate 85,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity per annum.

Desma will use this energy source in its own production processes, helping it reduce its carbon emissions. Managing director, Klaus Freese, said the project was part of a series of measures to become a sustainable business.

In 2020, Desma established a production operation it calls ‘Factory of the Future’, which has allowed it to increase productivity while reducing heating costs by 50%. It has also begun using particle dosing technology to enable the use of production waste, recycled materials or other fillers to reduce consumption of raw materials. It said this has made it possible for manufacturers using Desma machinery to produce footwear more sustainably.