Sustainability is all the buzz as JELD-WEN plant installs beehive

If you were to peek inside any JELD-WEN manufacturing facility, you would find hundreds of hardworking colleagues creating a variety of products. However, at our HSE site in Humpolec, Czech Republic, steel products are not the only things "beeing" made. 

There is a buzz around the plant, but it’s not coming from machinery. It’s coming from the facility’s own beehive.

Andrea Müksch, head of sales & marketing, Czech Republic, said, “The environment is very important to me, and we have a lot of green space at our site in Humpolec. If you look around, you will see flowers, trees and bushes, so I started thinking of what else we could do to promote sustainability and utilize this space."

Andrea read articles about a few celebrities like former Formula 1 driver Sebastian Vettel and tennis player Dominic Thiem who support environmental initiatives across the world. Then, she came across another article from a former colleague who created a beehive at his place of work.

“I thought it was a great idea because bees help sustain our environment. This got me thinking of more ways we can show our employees and customers that we care about the environment," Andrea said.

JELD-WEN works to maintain great relationships with its former employees, including one retiree who has been a beekeeper for more than 40 years. When Andrea and her team reached out to him with the idea of installing a beehive, he was more than willing to help.

“We were really keen to add the beehive to the plant grounds, and a retired associate was enthusiastic to help us. We installed the beehive in September 2023. With a bit of luck, we hope to add more and produce our own honey for customers and staff to try,” Andrea said.