Customer Case: Andritz China Base

When "Industrial Toughness" meets "Office Aesthetics," what kind of chemical reaction occurs?

In the global industrial sector, ANDRITZ Group, headquartered in Austria, is a name that carries absolute authority. This technology giant, with a history of over 170 years, holds a definitive voice in the fields of hydropower, pulp and paper, metals processing, and environmental and energy solutions. However, a recent "procurement initiative" by ANDRITZ at its China headquarters in Foshan subtly revealed a lesser-known side of this B2B giant—its profound care for people and its pursuit of workplace aesthetics.

From the reception area that greets you the moment you step into the company, to meeting rooms for brainstorming sessions, to the open-plan offices where employees dedicate themselves daily, and even to the managers' offices where strategies are orchestrated—ANDRITZ has undertaken a comprehensive furniture renewal covering the entire office workflow. This was not merely a simple administrative procurement, but a grand experiment on the "intersection of industrial spirit and humanistic warmth."

A New Interpretation of Industrial Style: Not Just Cold, But Precision with Gentleness

If your impression of industrial enterprises is still confined to greasy workshops and cold metal, then the new look of the ANDRITZ China headquarters will completely your perception.

Stepping into the ANDRITZ reception hall, you won't see a traditionally heavy and corporate front desk. Influenced by ANDRITZ's global design language, the newly procured reception furniture here is characterized by sharp lines andSimple design. The surface materials are made of special Plastic sheet with a metallic matte texture but a warm touch.

This subtly aligns with the essence of ANDRITZ's business—just like the micro-perforated sound-absorbing metal panels it supplies for modern architecture, possessing both industrial-grade strength and achieving acoustic comfort. The reception backdrop wall cleverly incorporates perforated metal elements. This is not only a tribute to the parent company's "century-old craftsmanship" in metal technology but also a visual expression of its "green technology" philosophy. It tells every visitor: this is a company with "precision" etched into its DNA, yet one that also possesses artistic aesthetics.

Meetings and Training: When the "We Care" Strategy Becomes Reality

In 2021, ANDRITZ launched the "We Care" comprehensive sustainability program, elevating Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) to its core strategy. Among these, the "Social" principle explicitly states that occupational health, safety, and employee satisfaction are core values of its human resources strategy. The furniture renewal in the meeting rooms and training areas is a tangible, offline Annotation of this principle.

Inside the newly renovated training room, you won't find rows of cold, rigid tables and chairs. Replacing them are ergonomic, flexible furnishings: training tables with silent casters that can be easily moved and reconfigured, and training chairs that adapt to different body types, providing perfect lumbar support. In recent years, ANDRITZ China has attracted a large number of Young engineers. The company understands that during lengthy technical training sessions, a comfortable chair is far more effective in retaining employees' attention than monotonous lectures.

In the meeting room areas, the furniture selection highlights the corporate values of "collaboration and adaptability." Large meeting rooms feature intelligently designed conference tables that can be quickly joined together and come with powerful integrated cable management, matching ANDRITZ's digital identity as a provider of industrial IoT (Metris) solutions. The modular furniture design allows the space to seamlessly switch between large-scale project discussions and small group brainstorming sessions. The meeting room partitions use materials that are transparent yet soundproof, ensuring privacy for business negotiations while maintaining an open, airy feel—much like ANDRITZ's business across over 80 countries worldwide: operating independently yet closely interconnected.

Employee and Managerial Office Areas: An In-depth Dialogue on "Productivity"

The employee open-plan area and managerial offices are the core of this renewal and best embody ANDRITZ's "people-first" approach.

In the open employee area, newly installed sit-stand desks have become standard. This is not just a physical intervention against the harms of prolonged sitting, but a long-term investment by ANDRITZ in employee health. As a technology group consistently involved in major national-level projects (such as Shanghai Bailonggang, Hebei Fengning Pumped Storage Power Station), ANDRITZ employees must cope with high-intensity mental work. A desk that can be adjusted at any time allows physical movement to stimulate agile thinking.

However, the ingenuity lies deeper in the design of the storage systems. As an engineering giant, drawings, proposals, and documents are an employee's closest companions. The newly introduced storage cabinets present a minimalist industrial aesthetic, yet their internal structure is meticulously Segmentation: there are sections for hanging large-format drawings and private drawers for personal belongings. The finely textured wooden surfaces soften the rigidity of the office space, creating an atmosphere of "quiet focus."

Stepping into the manager's office, the ambiance changes again. If the open area emphasizes "efficiency," here the focus is on "vision." The newly procured managerial furniture abandons the traditional "large executive desk + large executive chair" layout, which conveys authority, in favor of a "hospitality-style" arrangement. A small, refined meeting table replaces the formal desk facing the door, allowing managers to sit shoulder-to-shoulder with subordinates and communicate on an equal footing. This echoes ANDRITZ's advocated values of "passion and collaboration"—where management is not about issuing commands, but about working together. The combination of dark wood, leather, and brushed metal materials conveys innovative tension beneath a exterior. This mirrors the enterprise's need to balance the experience of its 170+ year history while embracing new frontiers like green hydrogen and nonwovens innovation under the "dual carbon" goals.

Green Narrative: From Producing Clean Energy to Using Clean Furniture

The underlying logic of this procurement is deeply rooted in ANDRITZ's "sustainable genes."

Just in September 2025, ANDRITZ was awarded a Gold Medal by EcoVadis for its sustainability performance, placing it among the top 5% of over 150,000 companies globally. This honor stems not only from the low-carbon solutions it provides to customers—such as hydrogen plants reducing CO2 emissions or nonwovens drying systems saving 15% energy—but also from its own corporate operations.

Consequently, the procurement standards for this new furniture were exceptionally stringent. All suppliers had to provide Proof materials complying with the world's strictest environmental standards. The formaldehyde emission levels of the furniture panels had to be far below national standards and even meet the EU REACH regulations' restrictions on Substances of Very High Concern. This commitment extends beyond employee health; it's an extension of ANDRITZ's vision for a "toxic-free environment" into the office space.

"We don't just provide green technologies to the world; we ourselves must live in a green environment," stated an ANDRITZ (China) project Responsible person during the furniture inspection. Starting from Foshan, this corporate empire, with 30,000 employees worldwide, is sending a clear signal to the Chinese market through these details: A true industrial leader not only masters the power of machinery but also understands how to nurture the warmth of its people.

Conclusion

One procurement, a myriad of considerations.

As the setting sun's afterglow filters through the floor-to-ceiling windows and falls upon the newly renovated office areas of ANDRITZ, the outlines of furniture—blending the hardness of metal with the warmth of wood—delineate not merely the physical space of a multinational corporation, but the future-oriented posture of a century-old enterprise: Here in Foshan, a land renowned for manufacturing, ANDRITZ uses its softest care to support its most Hardcore industrial ambitions.

For ANDRITZ, this new furniture is far more than mere "utensils"; they are "comrades-in-arms," ready to continue writing a green chapter, in China and for China, alongside every engineer and manager.