Case QMG: Sustainability development unites core partners
QMG is a part of Nimlas Group, the fourth largest installations and technical property service group in the Nordic countries. The Nordic group consists of over 130 companies, each supporting local customers in making their properties more sustainable. In Finland, QMG promotes sustainability through installations by electrifying society, improving energy efficiency, and reducing its own carbon footprint, with for example, renewable energy. Secto is QMG’s core partner in building and managing a sustainable fleet of vehicles.
QMG group consists of almost 50 locally managed installations and technical property service companies from Hanko to Rovaniemi. The group supports locally managed companies, among other things, in implementing sustainability on a daily basis. ”Local companies take care of everyday business and we help them in topics such as administration, procurement and reporting. The fleet of vehicles is one integral part of reporting”, Vesa Vuopio, who is responsible for procurement and sustainability at QMG, describes the approach. ”As QMG, we support our clients’ sustainability efforts for example with renewable energy solutions such as heat pumps and vehicle charging systems that we install in residential, commercial and industrial properties. Intelligent building automation plays also a significant role in properties’ energy efficiency.”
Positive effect together with clients
“Reducing the emissions of the products’ entire value chain is equally important. For example, when it comes to transportation, we help our clients by building recharging infrastructure for electric vehicles”, Vuopio says. QMG’s own carbon footprint is greatly affected by the emissions created by car fleet and energy that is consumed in the properties. During the last year, the company has managed to substantially reduce these emissions. “The emissions of our car fleet are of the Scope 1 category. We have succeeded in reducing these emissions by replacing old cars with electric ones and by switching to renewable diesel for vans. We have over 100 offices in Finland, and their electricity contracts that require the use of renewable energy lower our Scope 2 category emissions”, Vuopio mentions. The Scope 3 category measures the delivery chain’s emissions for example out of logistics and packaging materials as well as out of installations and technical property products. QMG actively promotes the sustainability of its supply chain together with its subcontractors such as factories and wholesalers.
”Our clients face an increasing number of sustainability responsibilities and regulation. We want to help them reduce emissions, and we install for example intelligent systems into properties to improve their energy efficiency”, Vuopio mentions. ”Reciprocally our clients expect sustainability from us, for example by requiring the use of electric vehicles at job sites. We continuously promote environmentally friendly and energy-efficient solutions in our operations”, Vuopio continues.
Nowadays, requests for proposals for new projects often include questions about the proposer’s environmental responsibility.
“In our nationwide network there are continuously ongoing several proposal phases where our subsidiaries share their clients about of their operations’ emission and sustainability effects. Both current and new members of our group can utilise our emission reporting service that is based on Greenhouse Gas protocol”, Vuopio says. QMG uses the reporting system chosen by Nimlas Group. Alongside that, reporting tools developed by Secto such as Decarbon Tool and Emission Reporting are utilised.
Besides environmental responsibility, QMG finds it important to operate in a sustainable way when it comes to social responsibility and good governance. QMG has 1500 employees in Finland and every year, a personnel survey that describes the overall employee satisfaction is carried out at every company. “In the 2024 survey, the eNPS score of our group was 50. It is already at an excellent level, but we keep striving for even better employee experience. Leadership training and knowledge management tool development are going ahead at full speed. In addition, the group supports the development of safety at work at our subsidiaries. Sustainable operations are essential throughout the value chain. Both our employees and partners are committed to our ethical guidelines, where our values-based operation model has been defined”, Vuopio says.
Reducing the emissions of car fleet
Currently, there are approximately 650 vehicles in the entire QMG group fleet. The number of cars keep increasing through new acquisitions. Most of the cars have been leased through Secto. Out of company cars, 60 per cent are fully electric – the rest will be gradually changed into such. Fully electric and low-emission vans are also becoming more popular in QMG companies. ”Our goal is to significantly reduce the emissions of our fleet during the coming years, and now is the time to decide which are the best means to reach that goal. Secto is helping us with this”, Vuopio tells.
”We want to maintain our sustainability goals and that is why we have decided to switch into renewable diesel in all our commercial vehicles. Our investments into sustainable driving pay off in the form of improved customer benefit”, says Andreas Vepsäläinen, who is responsible for QMG’s indirect procurement and sustainability coordination.
At QMG, almost half of the fleet will be renewed during the next couple of years as leasing contracts expire. The company is currently pondering what would be the best way to handle new contracts with both sustainability and usage requirements in mind. “We respect the local companies’ power to decide and listen actively to the needs of those who use cars in their work. On the other hand, as a part of a Nordic group, there is a certain need for common guidelines”, Vepsäläinen ponders. “Our minimum requirement for every company is at least one fully electric van, so that everyone would have an opportunity to gain experience of it. Other vans run with renewable diesel, which helps quick transition to sustainable driving.”
According to Vepsäläinen, the fact that both the operating range and the working characteristics of electric commercial vehicles currently meet most usage needs even in Northern Finland helps them gain popularity. Besides power sources, sustainable thinking covers the equipment of vans. QMG has put together about 10 alternative combinations of shelves and drawers that can be installed in the vehicles. The inner structures tend to last longer than leasing periods, so they are reused as vehicles change.
QMG is Secto’s key partner, so the discussions about how to develop both collaboration and supporting tools are very open. ”We discuss with the Secto people almost on a daily basis. We consider suitable vehicle options, provide development ideas for reporting, follow the technical development of sustainable driving and do long-term planning together. It has been a pleasure to notice how Secto has taken things forward and genuinely wants to do things in a sustainable way. Quite soon, we are renewing several hundred vehicles and collaboration with Secto is extremely important in this”, Vepsäläinen says.
QMG wants to take sustainability further in collaboration with Secto. “We want to provide our local companies with as much support as possible. Secto is an integral part of our daily operations – we share the same ambition, goals and challenges. We find Secto’s operations genuinely customer-oriented. Also, the fact that our values are very close to each other makes collaboration easy”, Vesa Vuopio sums up.