Development & Quality

Product development and quality assurance

Halfar System is about solutions, which means we offer so much more than just a product. Our services and solutions represent fundamental aspects of the comprehensive package we provide. They contribute in important ways to making our products even more holistic, more durable and better for the environment. For us, it’s simply second nature to consider the entire life cycle – from concept, material use and design through to usage, transport and disposal. Ensuring safety and durability also plays an important role. In this way, we can be sure to create sustainable services alongside our products, benefiting our customers and the environment alike. As an DIN ISO 9001:2015 certified company, we follow defined and regularly audited processes in product development, purchasing and finishing. In this way, we ensure that sustainable innovations, key trends and customer feedback are incorporated into our developments and processes.

In-house product development, prototyping and industrial property rights

At Halfar System, we develop our products entirely from scratch, with over 20,000 styles already under our belt. Our in-house design combines our research, ideas and solutions into a cohesive whole. Customer requirements and new innovations are brought to life for the first time, eventually taking shape in three dimensions at the prototype stage. Bags for special applications and new innovative solutions are prototyped directly at our Bielefeld site. With 3D printing, CAD-based pattern creation, state-of-the-art infrastructure and the expertise of our employees, we are able to produce our prototypes directly on site and test them together with our customers to ensure optimal functionality. Our prototype development in Bielefeld is complemented by further local prototype facilities at our production sites across Europe and Asia, which allows us to maximise our innovation capacity, production reliability and speed. We are committed to ensuring that intellectual property is fully protected and preserved. As a company, we respect the intellectual property rights of third parties, including designs, utility models and patents, and ensure that our own industrial property rights are not infringed.

We always take extra care to:

1. Select materials that are environmentally friendly, durable and capable of withstanding heavy use, in line with customer requirements. We are also pay attention to the economical use of materials while ensuring our products are compliant with relevant standards and ready for market.

2. Ensure our production and logistics processes are as efficient as possible in terms of both energy and resources.

3. Check that our production facilities comply with guidelines for decent working conditions to ensure that our products are not made in exploitative conditions.

Halfar Testing System

We ensure that our products and services are ready for market, which means they not only comply with legal requirements, but also often exceed them. Our products are tested for harmful substances by means of an extensive testing system. This means, for instance, we contractually require our suppliers to ensure that none of their supplied goods and products, including packaging materials, contain substances of very high concern (SVHCs) in accordance with Article 33 of the REACH Regulation. We check compliance with this obligation with the involvement of independent accredited laboratories. On the basis of our Halfar testing system, we can also ensure compliance with special industry-specific standards and specifications for our customers on request. Additional tests include the ones we run on the physical and mechanical properties of our products, as well as the durability of the material and workmanship. While we already have our own infrastructure in place for this, we also draw on the expertise of accredited testing laboratories as required.

Product Quality Assurance

In addition to the chemical and physical tests, we also check the quality and processing of our products at the factory. Halfar quality inspectors check compliance with the requirements in accordance with the AQL (acceptable quality level) standard. Adherence to Halfar’s quality benchmarks is monitored through spot checks, with the results from the representative samples compared with pre-defined acceptance criteria. If the Halfar quality requirements are not met, the appropriate corrective action is initiated. This process allows us to ensure that the manufactured products meet Halfar quality standards. We also take care to strike an appropriate balance between quality assurance and production costs, and ensure we use raw materials and resources sensibly. In addition to the direct checks during and after production, we check the goods arriving in Bielefeld again for compliance with other quality criteria. For this purpose, we have established a cross-departmental quality team that is dedicated to other quality-relevant topics in addition to the tests. The aim of this collaboration is to identify sources of problems, develop and implement solutions, and transfer the findings to the specialist departments upstream. In this way, risk factors can be avoided or eliminated.

Logistics and Transport Control

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Our approach to strategic procurement and manufacturing in Asia involves careful consideration of spatial and timing factors. The aim here is to streamline and manage the flow of goods to ensure a smooth and continuous supply. We mitigate any logistical risks by carefully planning ahead and strive to make optimum use of freight capacities. This not only prevents costs, but also ensures that emissions are reduced to a minimum. In the same way, we optimise transport to and from our European manufacturing facilities. Our logistics focus on maximising load efficiency, avoiding empty runs, and preserving resources as key metrics. The availability of storage facilities is also essential for efficient planning of production and procurement. In line with our corporate focus on sustainability, we have invested in a large logistics warehouse. With 7,102 m² of floor space and 11,300 available pallet spaces, not to mention its ideal location in the heart of the largest market in Germany, it has offered optimal conditions that also benefit the environment ever since it opened in 2019. The warehouse was built with sustainability in mind, resulting in significant carbon reductions from the outset. By consolidating warehouses, we have been able to achieve a considerable reduction in travel distances. Read more about our warehouse here.

Sustainable warehouse logistics at Halfar for an eco-friendly supply chain

Sustainable range planning

Sustainable promotional bags presented as a shopper to a laptop backpack

The Halfar range is designed to meet the needs of our customers who use bags to communicate their brands. It offers functional, durable and attractive products for many purposes, target groups and price ranges. Unnecessary, short-lived products or those produced under precarious conditions are not included in our range. Our modern logistics centre holds up to 4 million items in stock for our customers. To ensure that this works in the interests of sustainable business, our product range development and sourcing are based on integrated, sustainable approaches. From in-house design and optimised logistics to offsetting unavoidable emissions, we are constantly working to conserve resources and minimise the environmental footprint of our stocked products.

Holistic approach – continuous range evolution

We are continuously developing our warehouse programme in line with our sustainability strategy. We continue to pursue the approaches outlined in the previous chapter in a considered and purposeful manner, and are not distracted by short-lived, fashionable trends. We do not factor in developments that appear to be sustainable but are not, or at least not yet, ecologically sound. However, we do monitor their development. Examples of this include composites of renewable, natural raw materials with plastics or adhesives, which are currently not recyclable. Should a technology or material emerge that is more sustainable than the current standard and is also scalable, we will incorporate this innovation into our product range development and make it available to our customers. Furthermore, the new solution must provide our customers with an economically viable alternative to the existing market offering, ensuring that the innovation has a tangible impact and positive effects. To identify such solutions, we collaborate with a diverse range of partners, including material suppliers, laboratories, and universities. We engage in regular dialogue with our partner companies and numerous other stakeholders on sustainability and product development topics, enabling us to develop innovative and award-winning approaches and models.

Current measures and key figures in the sustainability report

ClimatePartner certificate for Halfar as a climate-neutral company

Offsetting all unavoidable remissions in the stock range

In addition to the measures already described to reduce emissions, we have been offsetting the unavoidable emissions from our stock items since 2022 using the cradle-to-customer plus waste approach.

Why do we still offset greenhouse gases despite this often being labelled as ‘greenwashing’?

After we have implemented all economically feasible measures to reduce and avoid greenhouse gases, the production of our bags and our business activities generate unavoidable emissions.

We are aware that these emissions contribute to increasing the greenhouse gas effect and further global warming. We have therefore decided to support certified climate protection projects with a financial climate contribution for these emissions, which we cannot currently avoid, and in this way assume responsibility in a form that is realisable for us.

How does greenhouse gas offsetting work?

Before the offsetting process begins, the greenhouse gases first have to be measured and calculated. This involves defining system limits and determining the level of emissions within these limits. In this way, a carbon footprint is obtained, measured in CO2-equivalents. The calculated emissions are then offset in certified climate protection projects. To this end, we select projects that are implemented in the countries where our bags are produced. Our aim is to support initiatives in areas where the production of our bags generates some emissions and where, as a company of our size, we have limited other means of influence. We work together with ClimatePartner for carbon accounting, project selection and offsetting. We use the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Product Life Cycle Accounting and Reporting Standard as the accounting basis for our Halfar products. This is an internationally recognised standard that sets out clear criteria for the creation of a Product Carbon Footprint (PCF). A PCF determined in accordance with this standard refers to the life cycle of a product. The scope of the evaluation specified which life cycle phases and processes were taken into account in the accounting. According to the cradle-to-customer plus waste approach adopted by Halfar System, all emissions from the extraction of raw materials, transport, production processes and packaging through to delivery to customers plus product disposal are considered. The only emissions not taken into account are those generated during use by the end customer, as these cannot be clearly defined or recorded. The ClimatePartner home page provides transparent information about the projects funded by our climate contributions. Apart from prioritising projects based in the countries where our bags are manufactured, we also strive to select those expected to have a lasting positive impact on the environment.