Inside news

Ciranova

CIRANOVA, a worldwide player in protective and decoration coatings for the home improvement market, is taken over by the French BLANCHON group, accelerating their international growth with this acquisition

Katrien Vandemarliere, Wouter Devaere (middle) and Guillaume Clément.

Debal Finance (known under the brands Ciranova and Geka) announces that they have been purchased by the Blanchon group (France). The Ciranova group is a Belgian family-owned business generating €15m turnover, specialized in the design and manufacturing of finishing products for parquet, wood floorings for more than 90 years, dedicated to professional and industrial customers. Geka is producing special UV coatings for various industrial applications. This acquisition is part of the Blanchon Group’s strategy to accelerate its international growth, to become a European leader in protection, maintenance, renovation and decoration of wood and vinyl flooring and surfaces. With a commercial presence in more than 24 countries around the world, including North America and Asia, the Ciranova group operates from 4 main platforms located in Belgium, in the United States and in China. They will be added to the well-established Blanchon European subsidiaries to accelerate the group international business growth. Leveraging on the complementary combination of the Blanchon and Ciranova product lines and strong brand awareness, as well as on their respective client portfolios, this acquisition allows Blanchon Group to become the Belgian leader in the supply of products and services to professional and industrial customers. The 60 highly-skilled employees of Ciranova are now joining the experienced and multi-functional teams of the Blanchon Group. The owners, Katrien Vandermarliere and Wouter Devaere remain fully involved in the company and will take over the overall responsibility for the Industry segment and have invested into the Blanchon group alongside with current shareholders. “With nearly 7,000 references across 55 countries on 5 continents, top line growth and international expansion are at the heart of the Blanchon Group’s strategy. The acquisition of Ciranova enables us to provide our customers with new product innovations and service offerings. “Our ambition is twofold: First of all to support the development of all our customers in the short, medium and long term and to strongly increase the Group’s market shares in both the professional and industrial segments” comments Guillaume Clément, President and CEO of the Blanchon Group. “The very professional and highly-skilled management and team of Ciranova, and its state-of-the-art R&D centre coupled with the Ciranova’s high-level brand reputation, will provide our customers and our teams with great and unique opportunities”, adds Guillaume Clement. "We are very pleased to join the Blanchon Group, as we share the same DNA and values. Benefitting from its brands strong reputation in Europe, as well as solid R&D expertise and a highly technical products range, Blanchon Group has a very complementary offer to the Ciranova value proposition” states Wouter Devaere, CEO of Ciranova.

About Ciranova (www.ciranova.eu/ www.ge-ka-supplies.com): The Ciranova Group, with on the one hand Ciranova, which specializes in the development and production of finishing products for parquet, furniture and wood coatings for over 90 years, and on the other hand Geka Supplies, which develops, produces and sells UV products, operates in the professional and industrial circuits in more than 24 countries. The group consists of production and distribution companies in Belgium and two distribution branches, one in China and the other in the United States. The Ciranova Group employs approximately 60 people. The values and culture of the Ciranova Group are product quality, innovation and customer service.

About Blanchon (www.groupeblanchon.com): Founded in 1832, Blanchon is a specialist in protective and decoration coatings for wood and vinyl substrates for indoor and outdoor applications. With its brand ‘Syntilor’ dedicated to DIY, ‘Blanchon’ for professional distribution and craftsmen and ‘Blanchon Industrie’ for flooring manufacturers, the group services more than 7000 customers globally. The group is recognized for its high quality and sustainable product offerings, and its local technical expertise to support customers.

Contact details: Blanchon Group : Alexia Fleury – afleury@blanchon.com Ciranova Group : Wouter Devaere – wouterdevaere@ciranova.be

MMFA

Impress Surfaces joins the MMFA as Associate Member Brussels, 16 June 2021 – MMFA, the Multilayer Modular Flooring Association, welcomes Impress Surfaces as the newest addition to the association. “With Impress Surfaces, we won an outstanding new member who offers a diverse product portfolio in the area of decorative surfaces. We are particularly excited about its truly global footprint with seven locations around the world and its continuous efforts to minimise the impact on the environment,” said Matthias Windmöller (Windmöller), president of the MMFA. Sascha Kostros, Head of Decor Management at Impress Surfaces, explained: “We are delighted to be joining the ranks of well-known flooring experts at MMFA! With our global network of trend scouts, we are looking forward to keeping other members up to date on the newest design trends for decorative surfaces based on different needs, cultures and markets.”

Impress is a group of companies operating globally to develop and manufacture trendy decorative surfaces for the wood-based panel, furniture and flooring industry as well as for modern interior design. They are one of the world’s leading companies in the industry and supply their customers via seven international locations. The decors for tomorrow’s design are created directly in-house and are based on trends that are identified continuously on a global level by well-connected, internal scouts. The product portfolio of the full-service provider includes decor papers, finish foils, impregnated papers, additives and decor printing inks. With this new addition, MMFA now counts 28 ordinary members (producers of MMF flooring or their European representations), 31 associate members (supplier companies) and three supporting members (scientific institutes). Serra Maschinenbau GmbH undergoing major expansion

More space for sawmill technology: Rimsting/D Serra Maschinenbau GmbH in Rimsting on Lake Chiemsee supplies mobile and stationary sawmills around the world. The successful company is growing steadily and is gaining further production space with a new hall, in order to efficiently realize all future orders. An old warehouse on the company site had to make way for this. The ground-breaking ceremony for the 560 m2 production hall took place on June 1, 2021, with Serra anticipating investments in interior fittings and machinery of around 430,000 euros. “The new building will allow us to increase our production capacity by roughly 50 % and achieve sales in the 2-digit million range. The welding, machining, electrical assembly, and logistics teams will all be housed in the new hall,” explains Managing Director Andreas Doubrava. This plant expansion has secured the essential framework conditions needed for the growth plan of the coming years. The new building has been designed in such a way that it can be extended in a further construction phase. For over 30 years, the innovative company has been known for its high-quality, "Made in Bavaria" sawmill machines, which are already in successful use in over 80 countries around the world. From small mobile sawmills to complete sawmill lines, Serra offers tailor-made solutions for every requirement in a wide range of climate zones. The product range includes mobile and stationary band sawmills, saw

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Breaking ground at Serra. From left to right: Franz Hofmann (Head of Production), Christian Mayer (Sales Director), Andreas Doubrava (Finance & Technology Director) and Johann Fritz (building owner and former company proprietor) blades, and service equipment for sharpening, resaws and trimmers, forestry machines, and equipment such as the CutCoach clamping simulator. Serra has been part of the Austrian Wintersteiger AG since the beginning of 2019 and complements the product portfolio of the Division Woodtech.

Wintersteiger

An additional one million linear meters of band saw blades: Expansion of production at Wintersteiger Sägen GmbH Arnstadt/ Despite tough times, Wintersteiger Sägen GmbH in Arnstadt, Germany, is growing and the company recently invested in an additional deep grinding machine. This machine will significantly increase capacity: In future, it will be possible to produce an additional one million linear meters of band saw blades per year. For CEO Stefan Hengelhaupt, the new machine, engineered by several suppliers with a total investment of 550,000 euros, is coming at just the right time. “The first deep grinding machine went into operation in 2018 and is currently running at more than 100 % capacity. It was time for the second machine – pandemic or not! We are looking ahead and investing for the long term.” Further capacity means further possibilities. Wintersteiger Sägen GmbH intends to use the additional deep grinding machine to produce more saws for the metal sector, in addition

to food and joiner band saws. “The deep grinding machine is an outstanding machine because it can produce a huge quantity with very high quality in just a short time, and it can't be compared to any conventional grinding machine. Thanks to the second machine, we will have the flexibility to focus more heavily on the metal band saw product group in the future. Furthermore, the possibility of production smoothing means that we can produce material for stock and our customers will benefit from enhanced delivery availability,” says Hengelhaupt. Hengelhaupt is also confident about the availability of strip steel, as the company has ordered annual requirements and has already planned ahead up to 2022. It is not only in the area of machinery and steel that the company is planning for the long term. The production plant was expanded to 7,000 m2 in 2018, and the company site is able to accommodate a further 4,000 m2 of production space. “All of our machines are technologically state of the art, and we are expanding our machinery on an ongoing basis. We don't want to stand still, we intend to continue developing our market leading position,” says Hengelhaupt. With a 65-strong team, Wintersteiger Sägen GmbH produces band saw blades for thin-cutting and frame saws, joiner, narrow band, resaw and log band saws, as well as food and metal saws. The band saw blade service, with all its demands, is also a very important business field.

From left to right: Production foreman Christian Greßler and Stefan Hengelhaupt in front of the existing deep grinding machine during production planning

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