Lasita Aken AS has updated its Environmental Product Declarations, revealing significant improvements to its efficiency in the production of quality doors and windows for the Nordic and Baltic region.
Their factory scope 1 and scope 2 emissions from heating, electricity, and direct operations have been reduced 97% in two years - from 900 tonnes of CO₂ per year in their first EPDs published to near zero today.
Combined with scope 3 emissions from materials, transport, and suppliers, the total carbon footprints of their products have been reduced by between a quarter and a third.
The fact that Lasita has been an early adopter of EPDs is even more remarkable considering that a large proportion of their market includes home builders who do not require them in the near future.
Lasita Managing Director Karl-Martin Rammo explains that they are a trailblazer in extracting value from EPDs exactly because they haven’t been rushing to develop them under pressure of losing contracts.
“We’ve thought long term from the start,” says Rammo. “I don’t see EPDs as just a document to show that we acknowledge the impact of greenhouse gasses. It’s much better than that. An Environmental Product Declaration is, first and foremost, a quality management tool. It’s a transparent way to measure and then improve our efficiency. It shows us where to act.”
Both their original and updated EPDs were developed in partnership with LCA Support before being independently verified and published at RTS.
Flag bearer
Lasita is Estonia’s oldest industrial wooden window manufacturer, founded in 1989 as a joint enterprise between Finnish and Estonian window makers.
It’s now an entirely Estonian-owned family business with more than 75 employees producing high quality wooden and aluminium clad windows, balcony and exterior doors, as well as glass facades on wooden construction. They have showrooms across the Nordic and Baltic region.
Its business faced an uncertain future nine years ago when its production appeared to have reached peak capacity.
That's when it hired Rammo, an Olympic athlete who would become their Managing Director two years later.
Lasita scaled its production capacity sevenfold over seven years to meet rising customer demand - despite not building any new facilities. Instead, it relentlessly focused on improving efficiencies and raising quality under its existing roof.
Rammo is a leading sports sailor who has taken part in the last four Olympic Games, including as the flag bearer for Estonia in the opening ceremony.
At the same time, Lasita has also become an industry flag bearer with a credit rating of AAA from AS Creditinfo Eesti for its “contribution to the development of the Estonian economy and honest business culture”. Fewer than 1 per cent of Estonian companies have earned this rating.
After these achievements, Lasita embarked on its sustainability drive to further raise quality and efficiencies, starting with the publication in 2023 of its first Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) covering its windows and doors.
Move faster
“Efficiency measurement was one of our initial motivations for creating EPDs,” explains Rammo. “They then served as our ground zero for us to start making serious moves towards a more sustainable future.”
Rammo says he hopes to see the whole construction sector move forward faster with sustainability based on verified carbon calculations.
“EPDs are not yet the norm and that’s a pity because they are so useful. For many construction sector companies, this is just starting to become a difficult subject as there are tenders where you are unable even to compete if you don’t have them. But EPDs offer even more value when you take time to understand your numbers.”
As EPDs are viewed as a quality management tool for Lasita, EPDs are the responsibility of the quality manager and involve the research and development team too.
Lasita is currently achieving its sustainability goals through measures including:
- Recycling.
- Eliminating waste in processes, production and shipping.
- Search and use of ever developing, less emitting, partners in the supply chain.
- Expanding product life-cycle through product and service design.
- Reduction of consumption through streamlined processes and systems.
- Switching to 100% clean energy
In addition, it’s an advantage when suppliers have verified product specific LCA data available in the form of EPDs.
“If a company has valid EPDs and are improving them then that’s a good indicator of a quality enterprise.”
Rammo is particularly passionate about the circular life-cycle of their products, even though this isn’t yet accounted for through EPDs.
Circular economy
“When old windows get taken off buildings, what normally happens in the construction sector is that they then go straight into a bin marked ‘construction waste’ and it ends up as landfill,” explains Karl-Martin Rammo. “Right now, few companies even try to separate them.”
Being in business for 36 years with long term customers has given them a long term perspective, however.
“We’ve got a lot of customers who have had our products for 25 or 30 years and we’re confident, based on our quality, that our products can last beyond the 50 year term of an EPD,” says Rammo. “A lot of our renovation customers want an upgraded product. Perhaps they need enhanced heat isolation, for example. Or they just have different needs over time, such as when getting children or pets and then needing different types of doors or windows.”
Rammo says that being the market leader gives them a great platform to match previously-owned products with new owners. Lasita now encourages all clients to take advantage of their take-back policy.
“The circular economy is a no-brainer to us. Their old windows and doors usually just need some touching up and repainting to be used again by someone else. We find a new home for them and then we figure out what, if any, restoration we need to do on them based on where they are going. If they are going to a barn then it won’t need much at all.”
New look, same values
Lasita has recently upgraded its brand and relaunched its website at Lasita.ee, which has more information about its window and sliding door systems, now named INTEGRA, SKYLINE and PERFECT.
They will soon unveil a new wooden-aluminium panoramic window system called INVISTA.
While they continue to grow across the Nordic and Baltic region, there is also new interest in North America.
Rammo says it’s always important to be close to the customer and let them see and feel the quality of the products before purchasing. The new brand emphasises that closeness.
“We are not a typical industrial producer,” says Rammo. “We are a problem solver for our customers and we want to make a lasting impact.”