Industry Europe – Issue 22.6

VOLUME 22/6 – 2012 • €6

The world of European manufacturing

TURBO-CHARGED GROWTH FOR BORG WARNER IN HUNGARY PROFILGLASS - FROM RAW MATERIAL TO FINISHED PRODUCT VEGA LEADS IN MEASUREMENT TECHNOLOGY

EUROPE’S CHEMICALS INDUSTRY UNDER PRESSURE

OPINION

PETERMERCER

|

Daydream believers Even when dreams become nightmares, some people don’t want to wake up.

‘L

ove is not love, which alters when it alteration finds’, declares Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116. That certainly seems to be the case with the UK’s most passionate advocates of the euro, who continue to dream of walking among the cloudcapped towers, the gorgeous palaces, the solemn temples of the eurozone even as the baseless fabric of this vision melts into thin air, leaving, alas, unlike Prospero’s insubstantial pageant, all too much ‘wrack’ behind.

All right, things are not going quite to plan at the moment, as the once sovereign states of southern Europe slide toward bankruptcy and anarchy, but, in the end, Germany will do what it takes, the eurozone will recover and the continent will resume its march of destiny towards full economic and political union.

Then Britain will understand that its future too lies in ever closer union with its neighbours and the sceptics and disbelievers, now so obnoxiously triumphant, will forever be cast into outer darkness.

The usual suspects were at it again this week, even as the eurozone leaders gathered for yet another make-or-break summit at which nothing much will be decided. Tony Blair took time off from global peace (and money) making to tell the BBC that the UK simply had to be part of the great European integration project, which was going ahead ‘like it or not’. It was vital that Britain kept open the option of joining the euro ‘when the conditions were right’ because as ‘a small island nation’ that was the only way we could have ‘influence’. That much was obvious, he explained, when you looked at ‘the broad sweep of history’, which was pretty funny coming from a politician whose indifference to history is legendary.

Deputy Prime Minster Nick Clegg has to be a little more circumspect given the constraints of his office; his love for the euro may burn as fiercely as ever, like that of all his party, but irrational idealism tends to be frowned upon around the cabinet table. So he warns

us, in the Financial Times, that Britain must be adept in handling the consequences of the deeper eurozone integration that will be needed to save monetary union if it is to avoid ‘economic marginalisation’. Mr Clegg wants to see the UK ‘standing tall in Europe, not forced to the sidelines or, worse, out the door, for reasons of clout and also for jobs’.

After all, the leaders of the emerging nations will hardly take us seriously ‘unless we play a leading role in our neighbourhood’.

Standing tall, clout, leading in the neighbourhood? Sounds like Clint Eastwood as a Lib Dem district councillor.

A similar warning comes from the Financial Times’ Philip Stephens, a tireless and passionate supporter of UK membership of the euro, with a nice line in bottomless contempt for anyone who ever thought differently (in 1998 he explained that the kindest explanation for William Hague’s warnings about the single currency was ‘immaturity’). Britain must be part of ‘a strong and cohesive Europe’ (sic), not left on the sidelines, because ‘the closeness of the alliance with Washington rests on the leverage Britain exercises on its own continent’. If we are not careful, the push towards economic and political union will leave the UK alone, or at best in a second tier. Britain would be ‘cut adrift’.

This little world So there you are. Britain is a small offshore island, probably drifting, which will be left on the sidelines, marginalised, with little influence on anyone unless it commits irrecoverably to its European destiny. But just a minute. For a ‘small island nation’ the UK figures quite large in the world. The last time we looked, it had the world’s sixth biggest economy; it was the fifth largest exporter and the third largest earner from services. It was seventh in industrial and manufacturing output and sixth in services output; it had the fourth largest stock market capitalisation and was fifth in the size

of foreign inward investment. It was the 17th largest producer of energy and it spent more on defence than anyone except the USA and China. It is a permanent member of the UN Security Council; it is a key member of the IMF and the World Bank and, of course, it is by far the most important European member of the NATO alliance. The idea that such a country could not prosper outside the eurozone, or even the EU itself, is ridiculous.

Of course, it’s true that the current proposals for a banking union and Europe-wide financial supervision could bring the UK to a critical pointy of decision. Although the government insists that any such regime would apply only to the 17 eurozone members, it is all too likely that a eurozone financial authority, in which Britain would have no voice, would find ways of imposing regulations and restrictions on the City. And the stakes are high; the UK’s exports of financial services are worth around £60bn a year, almost as much as the country spends on defence. The City is already concerned about more regulation from British politicians and civil servants who don’t understand much about banking (who does?) but interference by European regulators who have very different ideas on market supervision from the British could be disastrous. Especially since it’s common knowledge that the next French strategic objective, after escaping from the monetary hegemony of the Bundesbank by manoeuvring Germany into the Single Currency (look how that worked out for them) has always been to establish a pan-European financial supervision system based, of course, in Paris.

The British are a notoriously pragmatic lot and it might not be long before they start asking some simple questions. What does the Single Market cost us? A lot. What do we get out of it? Endless profit-destroying regulation. Why, in the age of the globalised economy, where free-trade areas are essentially redundant, do we need it? What’s the n EU itself actually for?

Industry Europe 3

Editor Peter Mercer

Production Manager Kamila Kajtoch

Deputy Editor Victoria Hattersley

Administration Anna Chamberlain Amber Dawson Kayleigh Harvey

Profile Writers Abigail Saltmarsh Felicity Landon Piotr Sadowski Emma-Jane Batey Barbara Rossi Philip Yorke Joseph Altham

Art Administration Tania Balderson Advertising Manager Andrew Briggs Sector Managers Matthew Howe Eniko Kovacs Milada Preslova Massimo Ragazzo Jesse Roberts Helen Leisi Mac McCarthy Anthony McClintock Ben Snowing Kevin Gambrill Stephen Moore Richard Thomas Lisa Ackroyd John Cliff Mauro Berini Martin Gisborne Sonny Percival Victoria Pease

Art Director Gareth Harrey Art Editor Rob Czerwinski Designers Leon Esterhuizen Paul Abbott Claire Bidle Web Development Neil Robertson IT Support Jack Everson

Industry Europe

CONTENTS Comment 1 4 5

Opinion Daydream believers Bill Jamieson How do we get out of this?

James Srodes America rising

Chemicals Industry 6

Waiting for the up-turn European demand

still weak

9 12

Chemicals news The latest from the industry Intelligent chemistry BASF’s strategy

for growth

News 14 16 18 19 20

Winning business New orders and contracts Linking up Combining strengths Moving on Relocations and expansions Industry people Appointments Technology spotlight Advances in technology

Reports 21 22

Focus on France Ian Sparks reports from Paris Focus on Germany Allan Hall reports from Berlin

Alkmaar House, Alkmaar Way, Norwich, Norfolk, NR6 6BF, United Kingdom

Air & Liquid Handling

Tel: +44 (0)1603 414444 Fax: +44 (0)1603 779850 Email: photos@industryeurope.net adcopy@industryeurope.net Web: www.industryeurope.net

Automotive

© Industry Europe 2012 No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form for any purpose, other than short sections for the purpose of review, without prior consent of the publisher.

POSITIVE PUBLICATIONS

A Square Root Company

24 28

33 38 42

Go with the flow InterApp Specialists in industrial valves ZETKAMA

All revved up BorgWarner Turbo Systems Webasto – A tradition of progress Webasto Continued growth BorgWarner Traction Systems

Building & Construction 45 50 54

58

Top class glass PRESS GLASS Intelligent lighting Insta Green technology for the blue planet Schüco

Profilglass, a successful thirty-year-old Profilglass

Chemicals US Industry Today, Industry Europe’s sister publication, is published in the United States of America. For further information or to subscribe contact: Sue Poeton, 100 Morris Avenue, Suite 202, Springfield, NJ 07081. Tel: +1 973 218-0310 Fax: +1 973 218-0311. Email: corporate@USIToday.com. Web site: USIToday.com

4 Industry Europe

67

72 76

Pioneering genome editing techniques Sigma-Aldrich

A leader in industrial gases Sico Fruits of the earth Tessenderlo

VOL 21/6

Above: NG2 p90

Consumer 80 86 90

Leading beauty brand JOANNA Innovative sleep solutions John Cotton Best foot forward NG2

Energy

Above: ZETKAMA p28 Below: Insta p50

94 98

102 106 109

112

Full of energy Belleli Energy Uninterruptable progress in power supply systems GUTOR Sailing offshore Rosetti Marino Power for the future Hitachi Power Europe Tailor-made thermal systems

Above: JOANNA p80 Below: Ritter Sport p120

Elektrotermex

Power and communication Prysmian

Food & Drink 117 120 124

Pleasures of the table Perutnina A century of success Ritter Sport Cream of the crop Lamb Weston

Material Handling 127 130

Grabbing opportunities SMAG Complete sorting solutions Aweta

Metals & Metalworking Below: Profilglass p58

134

140

144

Global reach for design and manufacture MTL Group

Swiss precision worldwide Cendres+Métaux

Precise in the actions Tornos

Above: MTL Group p134 Below: Vega p164

Mining 148

Innovation and tradition Schaefer Kalk

Also in this issue...

23

152 156 160 164

Breakthrough in the development of labeling adhesives Henkel Strength in sustainable flooring Armstrong Looking to new horizons Getinge Group Compounding success Teknor Apex Advancing measurement technology Vega Industry Europe 5

COMMENT

BILLJAMIESON

|

Executive Editor of The Scotsman

How do we get out of this?

A ‘normal’ level of growth may now be a thing of the past.

IT

is now being called ‘the Great Recession’. And, according to an economist with one of the world’s top banks recalling the words of Maynard Keynes: “We have involved ourselves in a colossal muddle, having blundered in the control of a delicate machine, the working of which we do not understand.”

How do we get out of this? Four years on from the global financial slump we should by now be well into a sustained recovery. Instead, the world is staring at a prolonged slowdown.

The eurozone is in continuing crisis, with finance ministers and central bankers unable to agree a solution that will instil confidence in financial markets. While various ‘solutions’ were floated at the G20 summit in Mexico, yields on Spanish and Italian government debt continued to climb to unsustainable levels.

To this have now been added worries about the ability of the US economic recovery to build momentum, while evidence has accumulated of a pronounced slowing in two of the three main BRIC countries – India and Brazil – and weaker than expected growth in China. The hope that developing country economies would help haul the developed world into recovery has faded. And until the euro crisis is cauterised in some way business and household confidence is unlikely to recover. The eurozone is pinioned between a slow motion bank run and flight to safety which has driven down yields on German government debt while across the continent the cash being hoarded on company balance sheets has now passed $1 trillion.

The conventional response until recently has been to treat this as a cyclical downturn – albeit more severe than ones in the recent past – but one that will correct itself and enable the advanced economies to return to previous levels of growth.

But the evidence is pointing to something more serious. It is clear from OECD data that the depth of this slowdown far exceeds any 6 Industry Europe

of the preceding downturns of the 1970s. In fact, prior to 2009, when output fell by four per cent, at no time, back to 1970, did the OECD suffer an annual fall in output.

Looking at data going back over 40 years a worrying signal emerges. Decade by decade there appears to be a slowing of growth rates. While this can be said for the OECD as a whole, it is particularly pronounced in many EU economies, including Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Portugal

Four years on from the global financial slump we should by now be well into a sustained recovery. Instead, the world is staring at a prolonged slowdown. and Spain. Indeed, the decade 2000–2010 has proved to be one of relative underperformance when measured by the growth of living standards.

Assumptions of a return to ‘normal’ annual levels of growth – that is, two per cent and more – are coming under question when we see that growth in advanced economies has been slowing over the past four decades. So the challenge for Europe is far greater than even the immediate crisis suggests.

Meanwhile the most difficult questions remain unresolved. Can governments and central banks agree on a firewall big enough to protect debt-soaked economies while key structural reform is undertaken? Will voters stick with the difficult and painful reform measures required? And amid cries round the world for the eurozone to develop a common fiscal government, will politicians agree to surrender sovereignty?

Three roads There are now broadly three ways forward for Europe. Route one is that, after much huffing and puffing, a substantial increase in the emergency firewall funds is agreed, and eurozone members move towards a common fiscal government.

Route two is a move across the group of 20 leading economies to greater monetary loosening – quantitative easing in technical parlance – in the hope that pouring rocket fuel on the flickering embers of their economies will fire up a spending-led recovery.

Route three is a continuation of the euro muddle – a continuing series of crisis summits, proclamations of support and pledges of coordination but each failing to ignite confidence in markets. Prime ministers, nervous of voter reaction and anxious to preserve what limited fiscal autonomy they have, talk of integration but there is little action. Events continue to proceed in the manner of a slow motion crash.

Meanwhile the latest forecasts from HSBC suggest the economies of the eurozone will contract by 0.6 per cent this year with a barely perceptible improvement to growth of 0.3 per cent next – these aggregate numbers are hiding marked variations in performance between Germany and the others.

The UK is forecast to score growth of just 0.1 per cent this year and a recovery to 1.8 per cent next – still trailing the rate achieved in 2010. Global growth this year is likely to be about half that experienced in 2010.

Governments are unlikely to stand idle as this unfolds. The growing likelihood is of a continuing monetary stimulus in the year ahead and a rapid move towards big infrastructure and utility projects. These may not get us totally out of the hole, but they will provide a bridge to hopefully better times. As for the eurozone, a serious crackdown on its bloated public sector payrolls and welfare budgets still looks too much to hope for. n

USA

JAMESSRODES

|

Veteran commentator on Washington & Wall Street

America rising Is US prosperity just around the corner?

R

iddle: Why is Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke like a Venezuelan oil well? Both have to pump harder tomorrow just to have the same impact they had today.

Both also are racing the clock.

The Venezuelan oil well is faced with dropping petroleum prices and the impending mortality of dictator Hugo Chavez.

But even in the worst case scenario, the well itself and indeed Venezuela will both survive. Chairman Bernanke, however, has more pressing problems. He must keep at least the spark of hope of an economic recovery alive through 6 November if President Barack Obama is to be re-elected.

Failure would bring Mitt Romney into the White House and a reversal of the expansionist economic policy that the ObamaBernanke team is convinced is the only key to an American economic recovery.

To understand the mood at the White House and Federal Reserve these days it is worth noting a recent Obama comment that earned him an instant rebuke from the news commentators.

The President opined that “the private sector is doing fine.”

The Romney campaign immediately charged it was further evidence of how out of touch the President was when unemployment still affects millions.

While the statement was treated as an inadvertent gaffe, it deserves closer examination. For the President and his

central bank chief do believe the American economy ‘is doing fine’; it just is not doing fine fast enough, soon enough.

When compared with economic conditions elsewhere among other global rivals – say Europe, China or India – the United States is in much better shape. After all, two percentage points of annual gross domestic product growth is better than recession and 300,000 net new jobs per month are better than none.

There is a sense of frustration among White House spokesmen who brief the press because of their conviction that the United States is poised for a genuine economic break-through.

New growth drivers

Ask where the roots of such a boom time may lie and most Obama aides offer two words – ‘fracking’ and ‘reshoring.’

The most immediate impact, they say, is already being felt by the hydrocarbon boom driven by the new technologies that enable the ‘fracturing’ of the massive deposits of shale that produce both petroleum and natural gas in abundance in such formerly depressed areas of the country as Pennsylvania or the far western states.

According to a recent study the flood of oil and gas coming from shale means America is likely to become the world’s top producer of hydrocarbon energy by 2020, exceeding the output of such energy superpowers as

Saudi Arabia and Russia.

This energy boom has had an immediate impact on US economic prospects and, more important to the White House, to the President’s election prospects. The recent plunge in world oil prices from above $100 a barrel to around $80 has translated into sharp price cuts and that most visible annoyance: the rising price of motor car petrol which had been above four dollars a gallon but now has dropped by nearly a dollar just in time for the summer driving season.

Longer term, ‘fracking’ means that US imports of oil and gas are forecast to fall from 52 per cent of total demand in 2010 to 22 per cent by 2020.

That points to a fundamental reordering of the world energy market that makes America far less vulnerable to international tensions than it is currently.

The positive reversal of America’s energy fortunes will, the White House and Fed are convinced, hasten that other force that will revive the broader economy. ‘Reshoring,’ as it is called, is a trend where US firms bring back manufacturing capacity previously based abroad, most notably in China and elsewhere in the low-wage countries of Asia.

Rising wages in Asia generally, plus a flat wage picture at home, plus the uncertainties of transportation and political stability in other countries all combine to make manufacturing back in the United States increasingly

attractive to American multinationals, this analysis argues.

Over the next five years, the analysis concludes, the costrisk balance between making goods in, say, China and in the US will reach a tipping point in seven key industries which had shipped plants and jobs offshore over the past 20 years. Those industry groups are identified as computers and electronics, appliances and electrical equipment, machinery, furniture, fabricated metals, plastics and rubber and transportation goods.

Together those industries amounted to a nearly two trillion dollar market in the United States during 2010 with China producing about $200 billion of that total. ‘Reshoring’, the White House forecasts, could add $80 billion to $120 billion in annual output and two to three million new jobs in direct manufacturing and spin-off employments over the next five years.

Further on, both low domestic energy costs and a return of high productivity manufacturing output could add as much as $65 billion a year in new US export sales abroad.

Just how realistic these predictions are remains to be seen. The important point is that they are an article of faith shared by the President and his central bank chief.

But the Fed and the White House need time to make the case that the US economy is in better shape than most people believe. And time is running out between now and 6 November. n Industry Europe 7

Dow Site - Texas Operations, Freeport, Texas

Dow Site - Texas Operations, Freeport, Texas

WAITING FOR THE UP-TURN The deepening eurozone debt crisis and the slowdown in Chinese economic growth are continuing to dampen global demand for chemicals. Anna Jagger reports.

E

uropean chemicals trade association Cefic has warned that the debt crisis is hitting the sector harder than initially forecast, and chemicals demand in the region is now expected to contract this year.

“Domestic demand for chemicals will decline slightly compared with 2011 as austerity measures in EU member states dampen business orders and inventory build-up remains flat, due to continued weak EU business sentiment,” said Cefic director general Hubert Mandery.

Output of chemicals in the EU is expected to remain stagnant this year. This compares with Cefic’s previous forecast in December of 1.5 per cent growth. The association reported that for the first quarter of 2012, output fell 2 per cent compared with the same period in 2011, although it improved compared with the fourth quarter of 2011.

Cefic is optimistic that the EU economy will stabilise during the second half of the year, aided by overseas demand and a weaker euro boosting eurozone competitiveness. “A weaker euro should also help increase EU chemicals exports,” Mandery said. For 2013, chemicals output is expected to rise by 2 per cent, despite austerity measures and continued high unemployment levels.

The recent fall in oil prices is expected to foster long-term business activity. However, lower prices are resulting in destocking 8 Industry Europe

activities by customers across the global chemicals chain as they delay orders in the hope of capturing lower prices in the future.

Shale gas boosts US For the European chemicals sector, a further concern is the improved competitive position of producers in North America as a result of increased production of US shale gas. The shale gas boom, made possible by new drilling technology, has transformed the energy profile of the US over the last decade. Chemicals producers crack the ethane content of the gas to produce ethylene – a key building block for the chemicals sector. Hence the availability of cheap and abundant US gas reduces both the energy and feedstock costs for North American chemicals producers.

“US [chemicals] exports will grow faster as capacity expands to meet local demand growth and exports resume,” said global investment company Bernstein Research.

“Meanwhile, the European chemicals industry is at risk of slower growth.”

Low-cost US gas is positive for the global chemicals industry because, as well as lowering energy and feedstock costs, it spurs economic development, Bernstein observed in a report on the impact of shale gas on the European chemicals sector. The cost advantage is large for a few products, including

nitrogen fertilisers and ethylene derivatives such as polyethylene (PE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and monoethylene glycol (MEG).

Over the next few years, the US chemicals industry will expand production of these products, while producers in other countries such as China will supply the naphtha cracking co-products that the rest of the chemicals industry needs, Bernstein said. Cracking of naphtha, the main petrochemicals feedstock in Europe and Asia, produces ethylene plus a variety of co-products.

Low-cost US gas supplies are prompting chemicals producers to build new ethylene capacity in the region. Much of this new ethylene production will be converted into PE, providing a major boost to North America’s plastics industry. Only five years ago, experts were predicting that the region could become a net importer of PE, as investments were directed mainly at the Middle East based on low cost ethane or the fast-growing Asian markets.

Now the US shale gas boom is offering a huge competitive advantage and could lead to an increase in the country’s ethylene capacity of 33 per cent by 2017, according to ICIS data. The calculation is based on announced new ethylene projects and expansions.

Dow Chemical, Formosa Plastics, Chevron Phillips Chemical, Shell and ExxonMobil

have all announced plans to build worldscale ethylene projects in the US. The projects are expected to start up in 2016–2017.

Dow announced in April that it would locate its project in Freeport, Texas. “For the first time in over a decade, US natural gas prices are affordable and relatively stable, attracting new industry investments and growth and putting us on the threshold of an American manufacturing resurgence,” stated CEO Andrew Liveris.

Jim Fitterling, Dow’s president of feedstocks & energy and corporate development, stated. “Today, 70 per cent of the company’s global ethylene assets are in regions with cost advantaged feedstocks – and we’ve seen the benefits this advantage

provides given oil-based naphtha margin pressure in Europe and Asia.”

In addition to the announced projects, several companies have said they are considering investing in new ethylene projects.

Most recently, on 21 June, Aither Chemicals said it has signed an agreement with Bayer MaterialScience to study a cracker and downstream chemicals project in West Virginia. Bayer would help evaluate third party interest in the downstream chemicals output, which could include PE, acetic acid and ethylene glycol, Aither Chemicals said.

The price of US gas – which contains primarily methane and ethane – collapsed to its lowest level for a decade at the beginning of

this year. “While high oil and naphtha prices blighted margins in Asia and western Europe, much of the industry in the US saw feedstock costs fall sharply at the start of 2012,” USbased consultancy Nexant said in a report on Q1 petrochemical profitability. “Ethane prices tumbled almost a third, dropping to a record discount to naphtha, providing ethane crackers in the US with a staggering cost advantage of more than $550/tonne over naphtha crackers elsewhere.”

US chemicals producers reported more resilient demand than other regions in the first quarter, but destocking by customers contributed to a slowdown in May. “With crude oil falling from over $100/bbl to the midIndustry Europe 9

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) rig in the plains of eastern Colorado

$80s, buyers expect lower prices,” remarked Chuck Anderson, president of US chlorvinyls company Occidental Chemical (OxyChem).

“So you are seeing people destocking pretty dramatically and this will continue until we find a bottom from a pricing perspective.”

Speaking at the American Chemistry Council (ACC) annual meeting earlier this month, Anderson said US chemical companies can expect difficult market conditions in the coming months. “There is tremendous volatility and uncertainty in the market right now. June and July are going to look pretty ugly, mainly due to uncertainty on the pricing front,” he said in a report by chemicals news service ICIS.

Watching China Anderson also pointed to the risks associated with the eurozone crisis and the slowing growth in China. “There is no way the US won’t be impacted,” he said. However, the construction sector, a major consumer of chemicals such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC), is a bright spot in the US economy, he added.

Economists predict that China’s GDP growth could fall to below 8 per cent in 2012, from 9.2 per cent in 2011, impacted by the growing crisis in Europe and a slowdown in domestic real estate investments. Chemicals demand in the country was “flat to up slightly” in the second quarter of this year compared with the same period in 2011, impacted by a smaller than usual rebound post-Chinese New Year, said David Begleiter, research analyst with Deutsche Bank. In the rest of Asia, electronics-related demand is up slightly but there is pronounced destocking as a result of the falling energy and raw material prices.

Chemicals producers across the globe will be watching China carefully. Many have built production facilities in China and other 10 Industry Europe

Asian countries to supply the region’s growing demand for chemicals. Germany-based BASF, for example, says its sales growth will primarily come from Asia and that China already accounts for half its business.

French chemicals producer Arkema intends to achieve 25 per cent of its global sales in the region by 2015.

While South East Asian countries are performing well, “Asia as a whole is currently not showing the momentum we might expect,” said BASF vice-chairman Martin Brudermuller.

“The region is becoming more vulnerable.”

BASF expects the Chinese chemicals market to grow by around 8 per cent a year up to 2020, while for India, it forecasts 7.5 per cent growth. “So China and India are the real focuses for a global company,” he said in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

China accounts for about 50 per cent of the Asian chemicals market, with South East Asia, Japan, India and Australia accounting for the remainder, Brudermuller said. “We

will spread our investments in Asia along approximately the same lines.”

As well as chasing fast-growing markets, Europe-based producers such as BASF are focusing on developing new products and technologies, particularly in the area of sustainable solutions. Companies are focusing increasingly on niche products to capitalise on their historic advantage in innovation to stay ahead of the competition.

The sector needs an EU policy that rewards firms that innovate, create jobs and expand operations, stated Cefic president Giorgio Squinzi. “Global competition remains fierce, both from the US shale gas boom boosting American manufacturing and from producers in the Middle East that hold a feedstock advantage and face lower energy prices relative to the EU market,” he said. “Policymakers must look for ways to solve EU debt problems to help boost the economy and bring stability back to the market. Otherwise, chemicals sector output will n be dragged down further.”

NEWS

INDUSTRYNEWS

New developments in the Chemicals industry

Borouge receives Green Material Award R

G468MO, a polypropylene (PP) random copolymer produced by Borouge, was crowned with the Green Material Award for Innovation Application during the 2012 China Plastics Industry Awards ceremony.

This high-flow resin boosts 20% productivity gain for the rigid packaging converting industry and achieves shorter cycle times and higher mechanical performance. Furthermore, clear transparency and pleasing visual aesthetics required in the packaging value chain are further enhanced.

Developed based on the proprietary Borealis Nucleation Technology (BNT), Borouge’s RG468MO provides high flow (MFR 30) for fast moulding of thin wall packaging with very long flow lengths and complex geometries. Unlike conventional nucleating systems, BNT enables consistent dispersion of the nucleating agent and stronger effect, resulting in faster and better crystallisation of PP. The technology leads to increased material stiffness with good balance of impact resistance, and the possibility to downgauge wall thicknesses to achieve both material and weight savings. Moreover, faster crystallisation means a reduction in cycle time by 10–20%.

Visit: www.bourouge.com

Solvay to build bio-based Epichlorohydrin plant in China S

olvay’s Thai affiliate Vinythai is to serve the vast and growing Chinese epichlorohydrin market with a new production plant in Taixing, China. The plant with an initial capacity of 100,000 tons epichlorohydrin per year requires an investment of €155 million and should become operational in the second half of 2014.

The Chinese epichlorohydrin market is expected to grow on annual basis by 8% and

Borealis and Borouge bring Renault weight-saving benefits

B

orealis and Borouge have introduced a new grade of polypropylene (PP) specified for use in lightweight bumper applications for two new Renault automotive platforms.

High flow Borcom™ WH107AE was specified for the recently introduced Dacia Lodgy, a minivan produced at Renault’s

represent 35% of total world demand in 2016.

Epichlorohydrin is an essential feedstock for the production of epoxy resins, increasingly used in applications such as corrosion protection coatings as well in the electronics, automotive, aerospace industry or wind turbine industry.

The new plant located in the Taixing Economic Development Park will be based on Solvay’s proprietary bio-based Epicerol® technology.

The plant will use as feedstock natural glycerin obtained as a by-product from the production of biofuels. This cost competitive and eco-efficient process requires less invested capital, has a 60% lower CO2 balance (cradle to gate), while dividing the volume of chlorinated by-products by eight compared to the conventional propylene based process.

Visit: www.solvay.com new plant in Morocco, and for the Renault Twizy, Renault’s first electric car produced at its plant in Spain. Borcom WH107AE is already in use for new generation bumper applications in other Renault platforms including but not limited to the new Dacia Duster and Sandero in South America and Russia. Borealis and Borouge are amongst the first suppliers of a portfolio

SIBUR and Sinopec sign cooperation agreement

D

mitry Konov, CEO of Russian petrochemical company SIBUR, and Wang Tianpu, president of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation (Sinopec Corp.), have signed a cooperation agreement.

The agreement sets the framework for two cooperation projects to establish a joint venture, manufacturing nitrile rubber (NBR) and isoprene rubber (IR) in the Shanghai area of China. The joint venture will use the patents and technologies of SIBUR. The NBR and IR plants are expected to have an annual capacity of 50,000 mt each, subject to finalisation based on the feasibility study.

Visit: www.sibur.com

of PP materials that are recognised as TogozaÏ materials, i.e. materials that fulfil Renault’s worldwide specifications. In addition to the commercialisation of Borcom WH107AE for exterior parts, Borealis and Borouge have also developed a complete new TogozaÏ portfolio for Renault interior applications.

Visit: www.borealisgroup.com Industry Europe 11

NEWS

New developments in the Chemicals industry

DuPont celebrates world’s largest solar boat’s successful global journey

T

he world’s largest solar-powered boat has completed the first trans-world trip with DuPont photovoltaic materials helping make it possible. DuPont is an official supplier to PlanetSolar, a 31 metre-long and 15 metre-wide catamaran covered by 537 square metres of photovoltaic solar panels that power an electric motor. The project was undertaken as a way to demonstrate that renewable energy and technology can be applied right now to achieve sustainable transportation.

The photovoltaic panels used to power the boat were exposed to a harsh marine environment, dayafter-day for 19 months, and needed to be highly durable. DuPont™ Tedlar® polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) film was used as an essential component of the photovoltaic backsheet and was key to protecting the PlanetSolar panels.

Visit: http://photovoltaics.dupont.com

New Dow production facility for Schkopau, Germany

T

he Dow Chemical Company has announced that construction is underway for a new production facility for making ENLIGHT™ Polyolefin Encapsulant Films in Schkopau, Germany. Scheduled for completion in late 2012, the facility will bring about 35 new jobs to Dow and the region.

“The proximity to leading photovoltaic companies and research institutes in Central Germany and the good conditions at the Schkopau site offer excellent opportunities for cooperation,” said Ralf Brinkmann, president of Dow in Germany. “This investment will also strengthen our research and product development in a growing market.” The global market for solar panels expects an annual sales increase by about 25% in the next years.

Visit: www.dow.com

Tessenderlo Group inaugurates new CTS plant in China

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essenderlo Group has officially inaugurated its new CTS production plant in Changsu, China. The new plant will produce high-performance, thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) and slush moulding compounds for automotive applications.

CTS occupies a leading position in the

12 Industry Europe

INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe considers strategic options for its HDPE businesses

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NEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe has confirmed that it is considering strategic options for the future of its HDPE businesses at Rosignano and Sarralbe, including a divestment to interested third parties.

The decision follows a recent strategy review of INEOS O&P Europe.

Rosignano (Italy) and Sarralbe (France) have been a part of INEOS since December 2005, when the company acquired the Innovene business from BP. Since that time INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe has significantly improved the performance such that today both sites are highly ‘cycle-resistant’, producing a sophisticated range of differentiated polymers with top quartile SHE, reliability and cost leadership of both sites. Today, both sites are profitable and cash generative.

INEOS Olefins & Polymers Europe plans to focus on the growth of its assets that are highly integrated upstream and downstream.

Rosignano and Sarralbe are not integrated with INEOS feedstocks and hence are being considered for divestment; however, both have the potential to grow further in response to the increasing demand from the market for their differentiated products.

Visit: www.ineospolyolefins.com automotive market with compounds for airbag covers, glazing seals and dashboard skins. CTS Automotive Compounds (Changsu) Ltd. will produce the Marvyflo® and Tefabloc® brands that have been successfully marketed by CTS in China and Asia for more than 10 years.

Tefabloc® TPEs are used in airbag covers, sealing applications, cables and

interior parts. The Tefabloc® TPE has a lower density than traditional rubber solutions like EPDM. In some specific parts, the weight reduction is more than 30 per cent.

The MarvyfloÆ free flowing powder compounds are the reference material for slush moulding of dashboards and door panels, as well as other interior surfaces.

Visit: www.tessenderlogroup.com

INDUSTRYNEWS AkzoNobel wins contracts for major Brazilian stadia

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kzoNobel has reached an agreement to supply coatings for the roof of Brazil’s famous Maracanã Stadium – which will host a major soccer final in 2014. The contract was secured via a dedicated team which offers complete coatings solutions for large infrastructure projects around the world.

In addition, AkzoNobel has also secured a contract to paint the mezzanine of the Grêmio Arena located in Porto Alegre.

Jaap de Jong, of AkzoNobel Brazil, said, “Brazil is one of our key high growth markets and has a pivotal role to play in our strategic agenda. AkzoNobel is therefore fully focused on capturing the opportunities offered by Brazil’s prominent place in the sporting spotlight in the years to come.”

The Maracanã Stadium contract involves the supply of Interseal 670HS protective coatings, while both Interseal 670HS and Interfine 979 will be used at the Grêmio Arena. Both are supplied by AkzoNobel’s Marine and Protective Coatings business.

Visit: www.akzonobel.com

WACKER develops new VAE dispersion for difficult-to-bond surfaces

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ACKER has developed a new dispersion specifically suited for bonding various surfaces in the paper and packaging industry. Vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymers (VAE)-based VINNAPAS® EP 8010 reliably and permanently bonds challenging paper and cardboard surfaces, such as coated or painted paper, and polymeric film.

Aside from its excellent adhesive strength, the new product is characterised by outstanding heat resistance, very high setting speed and ease of machine processing.

Visit: www.wacker.com

SABIC’s first shipment of ethanolamines and ethoxylates

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he Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) has shipped its first consignment of ethanolamines and ethoxylates from its manufacturing plant in Jubail, SAUDI KAYAN, making Saudi Arabia the first ever country in the Middle East to produce and market these advanced products.

Sachtleben to acquire crenox titanium dioxide production assets

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emira Oyj’s and Rockwood Holdings Inc.’s titanium dioxide (TiO2) joint venture Sachtleben GmbH has reached an agreement to acquire the TiO2 production assets and inventory of crenox GmbH, based in Krefeld, Germany, from the insolvency administrator.

Sachtleben will acquire the crenox KrefeldUerdingen plant and all inventory of the facility. The acquisition will add over 100,000 metric tons of TiO2 production, increasing total capacity to approximately 340,000 metric tons, further enhancing Sachtleben’s position as a leading global supplier of high quality TiO2 pigments.

The joint venture Sachtleben (Kemira ownership 39% in the joint venture), which was formed in August 2008 by combining Kemira Oyj’s and Rockwood’s TiO2 businesses, is a leading producer of speciality TiO2 pigments for the synthetic fibre, packaging inks, cosmetics, pharmaceutical and food industries.

Visit: www.kemira.com

This marks the beginning of a new era for the Kingdom and the company in the production of speciality chemicals. The first shipment has gone to customers in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region. Ultimately customers across the globe will be served.

“This pioneering effort will strengthen our position in the performance chemicals segment, while establishing a platform for

the competitiveness and growth of existing users of these materials in the region as well as entrants to the many new industries that can be established with these value added products and the world class services that SABIC brings,” said Koos Van Haasteren, SABIC executive vice-president, Performance Chemicals.

Visit: www.sabic.com Industry Europe 13

INTELLIGENT CHEMISTRY Sustainability and innovation are the growth drivers for BASF.

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ASF says that alongside the further development of its established business portfolio, the main research emphasis is being placed on growth and technology fields that address social challenges and offer BASF relevant business potential. This new orientation is based on BASF’s ‘We create chemistry’ strategy through which the company is intensifying its focus on sustainability and innovation as growth drivers. For 2012, BASF is planning to increase its research and development spending to €1.7 billion (previous year 2011: €1.6 billion). “To seize growth opportunities we are systematically expanding our product and technology portfolio, establishing an even more global presence and increasing our efforts to develop solutions for a sustainable future,” says Dr Andreas Kreimeyer, member of the board of executive directors of BASF. In 2020, BASF wants to achieve sales of around €30 billion with products that have not been on the market for longer than ten years.

To accomplish this, BASF is strengthening its collaboration with key industries and concentrating on growth fields relevant to society such as ‘heat management’, ‘water treatment’ and 14 Industry Europe

‘organic electronics’. These are new business areas for BASF with high growth potential. At the same time, enabling technologies have been defined – such as raw material change, material systems and nanotechnology as well as white biotechnology – which are needed to generate solutions for the growth fields.

In order to implement the new orientation most effectively, the research platforms have been tailored to the various business and technology areas and assigned specific topics.

Thus, the activities of the platform ‘Process Research & Chemical Engineering’ concentrate on new technologies, processes and catalysis. The topics crop protection, organic electronics and white biotechnology are being pursued in the research division ‘Biological & Effect Systems Research’. In the research platform ‘Advanced Materials & Systems Research’, activities are focused mainly on new polymeric materials and system solutions and the fourth platform, ‘Plant Science’, is continuing its research into plant biotechnology.

In addition, BASF Future Business, which opens up new business areas for the company, is being expanded. It is responsible

for developing and marketing business areas new for BASF. At present, the focus is on the topics ‘energy management’, ‘organic electronics’ and ‘medical solutions’. In addition, BASF Venture Capital, a subsidiary of BASF Future Business, is investing in start-up companies specialising in innovative chemistry and system solutions in BASF’s growth and technology fields.

“The aim of the new structure is to significantly expand our portfolio of functionalised materials and system solutions and continue improving our position in the emerging markets,” explains Kreimeyer. “We want to strengthen our technological and operational excellence, create value from interdisciplinary innovations and position our activities on a global scale to meet the needs of the markets.”

Solutions from chemistry for better health One of the customer industries on which BASF will be concentrating further in future is the branch ‘Health and Nutrition’. BASF already supplies numerous products for this market.

With the introduction of new photostable UV

filters, for instance, the company has established itself as a global technology and market leader. About every second sunscreen product contains BASF’s UV absorbers. Two important innovations are the broadband UV filters Tinosorb® S and Tinosorb® M, which protect the skin against both UVA and UVB rays. Tinosorb S is an oil-soluble, organic UV absorber which is also used in daily care products. With Tinosorb M, BASF has the first and only insoluble, organic UV absorber on the market. It is often used in products with a high sunscreen factor and in sun creams for children.

BASF is also making a significant contribution in the health sector with its pharmaceutical excipients. The bioavailability of pharmaceutically active substances is a topic of growing importance because active substances are becoming ever more complex, often with an associated loss of solubility. The body cannot absorb undissolved active substances. With Soluplus®, BASF has developed a polymeric solubiliser which can also make high active substance concentrations available for the body. Another new polymer is the tablet coating system Kollicoat® Smartseal 30 D, the first polymer for this application which is marketed as an aqueous solution. Kollicoat Smartseal 30 D protects the active substance against moisture and masks the bitter taste of some active agents because the coating does not dissolve until it reaches the stomach.

The topic ‘water’ also plays a central and increasingly important role in the health sector. The need for clean water is increasing

because of the growing world population and industrialisation. Worldwide consumption of this resource has increased tenfold over the past 100 years. BASF’s products and solutions for water treatment include flocculating and coagulating agents for waste water treatment and also membranes for (ultra)filtration, for example of drinking water, an area of work that BASF also establishes with the acquisition of inge watertechnologies in 2011. The plastic membranes also contain pores that are only 20 nanometres in size, allowing germs, bacteria and even viruses to be filtered out of the water. BASF estimates the market in the growth field water of €20 billion, representing a growth potential of more than €800 million.

More innovative strength through global research “Effective and efficient research is an important success factor for achieving our growth targets and is simultaneously a factor distinguishing us from our competitors. Research and development will therefore have even greater priority in future than before,” emphasises BASF’s research executive director.

In 2011, the number of employees working in research and development increased to around 10,100 (previous year 2010: 9600).

The markets of North and South America as well as Asia are important for the chemicals business; however, BASF research is still underrepresented. “We will have to expand our presence and speed up our activities in these regions.” A first step in this direction

is the new Innovation Campus in Shanghai scheduled to open at the end of 2012. “By creating innovations in Asia for Asia, we want to grow with our customers. By 2020, we want to double our research activities in Asia and the Americas and conduct 50 per cent of our research and development outside Europe,” explained Kreimeyer.

An important asset for globalised research is an international network of outstanding external researchers. BASF is already working in around 1950 cooperations worldwide with universities, research institutes, start-ups and partners from industry. One example is the ‘Joint Research Network in Advanced Materials and Systems’ (JONAS), a new initiative for researching functional materials in partnership with the universities of Strasbourg and n Freiburg as well as ETH Zurich.

For more information about the new research strategy, please go to: http://www.basf.com/group/research

Dr Andreas Kreimeyer Industry Europe 15

NEWS

New contracts and orders in industry

Saab receives order for maintenance of airborne radar system Erieye

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efence and security company Saab has received an order from the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) for maintenance of the Erieye airborne radar system. The order amount is SEK 125 million.

“We’re proud that FMV is showing continued confidence in us and we look forward to further developing the Erieye radar system together with

our Swedish client,” says Micael Johansson, head of Saab’s business area Electronic Defence Systems. The contract covers services for the Swedish Erieye-system (Airborne Surveillance and Control, ASC890). This work will include providing technical support for the unit operations, and research and development for the ASC890 sensor and command-and-control system. Work will take

Ferrari chooses Stringo for vehicle handling

Cobham wins six-year Santos Fly-in Fly-out contract

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obham has extended its Fly-in Fly-out (FIFO) service contract with energy company Santos to the remote Cooper Basin area until 2018, securing a six-year contract valued at over AUD$50 million.

Peter Nottage, vice-president of Cobham Aviation Services said: “This strengthens and extends our 22-year relationship with Santos and we are delighted to provide what will be enhanced services to Santos and its people at Moomba and Ballera.”

The 99-seat RJ100 to be servicing Santos is the fifth in Cobham’s 20-strong FIFO fleet and is ideally suited to the harsh conditions of the Australian outback due to its robust construction and exceptional hot weather performance capabilities. The RJ100 navigation system is fitted with new satellite-based technology, ADSB, which is being introduced in Australia and is seen as essential in managing rising aviation congestion in mining areas.

Visit: www.cobham.com

Volvo Group to supply engines to airport fire-fighting vehicles

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olvo Penta is to supply engines for a number of airport fire-fighting vehicles from the company Rosenbauer. This entails a strengthening of the Volvo Group’s cooperation with Rosenbauer, which already builds conventional fire trucks using chassis from Volvo Trucks.

16 Industry Europe

place between 2012 and 2014. Erieye is mainly developed and produced by Saab in Gothenburg, but work will also be undertaken at other sites. The sensor and command-and-control system provide access to a detailed situational awareness that can be used for border surveillance, rescue operations and for tackling terrorism and organised crime.

Visit: www.saabgroup.com

F Skanska awarded contract for Bermondsey Dive-Under

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kanska has been awarded a contract worth up to £60 million, about SEK 640 million, by Network Rail Infrastructure for the construction of the Bermondsey Dive-Under and associated structure strengthening works.

This project forms part of the Thameslink Development Programme. Under the contract, the Skanska team will be responsible for the design and construction of the Dive-Under, a rail underpass structure, and associated strengthening works.

Wherever possible, existing structures will be reused to minimise disruption and reduce waste.

Enabling works will begin shortly, and main construction works are scheduled to start in 2014 with full completion of the project planned for spring 2017.

Visit: www.skanska.com The new agreement applies to the delivery of more than 100 16-litre diesel engines per year. They will be fitted into such specially built, rapid-deployment vehicles as the Panther, which is used at airports worldwide.

“For this area of application, we have certified an industrial engine to comply with the Euro 5 emissions standard, jointly with Rosenbauer. The format for

errari has chosen Famek as its supplier of a newly developed vehicle mover for its racing cars. Ferrari’s racing cars have an extremely low ground clearance of 60mm.

“The model we developed for Ferrari’s racing cars is probably the lowest in the world,” says Anders Bergkvist, marketing director at Famek AB, developer and manufacturer of Stringo Vehicle Movers. “It was technically challenging, since no one had ever developed a product like this before.”

The extremely low ground clearance of 60mm is at the rear of the car. It’s even lower in the front, so the lifting device has to go underneath the car from the back. The press arms that prevent the racing car from rolling forward were specially designed so they could be folded in under the car. A brake pad prevents backward rolling.

Visit: www.stringo.se

emission requirements varies in different parts of the world; using our solution, we will have the same base engine and still meet these differing regulations,” says Miron Thoms, business development manager at Volvo Penta.

The cooperation also expanded to include conventional fire-fighting vehicles.

Visit: www.volvogroup.com

WINNINGBUSINESS Alfa Laval to supply equipment for world’s first FLNG facility

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lfa Laval has won an order from a Technip Samsung Consortium (TSC) to supply Alfa Laval equipment to Shell’s Prelude FLNG (floating liquefied natural gas) facility.

FLNG opens up new business opportunities for countries looking to develop their gas resources, bringing more natural gas to the market. Shell is the

first to go ahead with an FLNG project, Prelude FLNG. The Alfa Laval equipment consists of desalination units, heat exchangers and filters. The desalination units will convert seawater into fresh water to be used for steam generation, process water and potable water. The heat exchangers will use seawater in the vital cooling applications in the gas liquefaction process.

“We are very proud to be part of this technology breakthrough in the energy field,” says Lars Renström, president and CEO of the Alfa Laval Group. “This order confirms our strong position as a reliable partner to the major players in the oil and gas industry.”

Visit: www.alfalaval.com

Viking Supply Ships awarded contract by Chevron Canada

RMK Marine selects paramarine ship iking Supply Ships, one of TransAtlantic’s two VMagnebusiness areas, has along with the AHTS-vessel design software from Qinetiq Viking been awarded a contract by Chevron

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aramarine advanced marine design software developed by QinetiQ GRC has been selected

by RMK Marine for manoeuvring analysis. RMK Marine is one of the leading shipyards in Tuzla Bay and provides turnkey solutions to the military, commercial and luxury yacht sectors.

Ersin Koyunoglu, CAD Application Engineering, IT Department, RMK Marine said: “We were looking for a software solution that had extensive manoeuvring functionality that would be easy to use and integrate

into our existing systems. We selected Paramarine based on its track record and its proven capabilities gained from operating in both the commercial and defence markets.”

Paramarine is based on over 20 years’ experience in marine design. Thousands of concept vessels have been modelled and their stability analysed using Paramarine.

Vittorio Vagliani, managing director, QinetiQ GRC said: “The sale of Paramarine to RMK Marine represents another step in the take-up of our solution in the commercial market. In addition to establishing ourselves in Turkey it demonstrates the increasingly global nature of our extensive customer base.”

Visit: www.qinetiq.com

Canada Ltd for operations on one well. The contract is on subject and is not yet fully signed by the parties. The well support operations are estimated to last between 150 and 180 days and the charter will commence during the third quarter 2012. The vessel is going to support the drill ship Stena Carron with supply duties, anchor handling, towing, standby and rescue services, passenger movement and iceberg management.

Magne Viking is especially designed for subarctic operations and harsh weather conditions. The crew on board is especially trained for working in cold environments and has extensive experience in iceberg management from Greenland.

The vessel is ice classed, which is a requirement for operating in Canadian waters, and will be upgraded to a full stand-by class in accordance with Canadian regulations. The total contract value is estimated at about CAD 11.1 million.

Visit: www.rabt.se

DHV restores Waterkant in Paramaribo

River and various structures will be built.

The first sheet pile was driven into the ground this month and the construction work will take roughly one year to complete. The total building contract is worth approximately €7 million.

The site where the work will be carried out is directly adjacent to the government buildings and historic centre of

Paramaribo. As a subconsultant of ILACO Suriname, DHV is responsible for the design and for overseeing the work in progress. “The ground in this area is very weak so this is something that needs to be carefully addressed when erecting structures,” says DHV geotechnical consultant Andries van Houwelingen.

Visit: www.dhv.com

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utch engineering and consultancy firm DHV is restoring the Waterkant, the river bank in the historic centre of Paramaribo, the capital of Surinam. The foreland of this UNESCO-protected part of the city is flooded a few times each year by 50 to 80cm of water. Sheet pile retaining walls will be fitted in the Surinam

Industry Europe 17

NEWS

Combining strengths

BASF takes over Equateq Ltd B

ASF has announced the acquisition of Equateq Ltd., a global leader in the manufacture of highly concentrated omega-3 fatty acids. With the acquisition, BASF extends its portfolio of omega-3 products for the pharmaceutical and dietary supplement industries with a new offering of highly concentrated omega-3 fatty acids.

Equateq has a production site located on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland with 47 employees.

Equateq with all its employees will be integrated

into the Pharma Ingredients & Services unit, which is part of BASF’s Nutrition & Health division. The integration is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.

Equateq’s proprietary chromatographic separation methods allow flexible formulation of omega-3 fatty acids at exceptional purity levels. “Equateq’s technologies will enable us to customise fatty acid concentrates with variable ratios of EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid)

at concentration levels of up to 99% purity. This is unique in the market,” explained Martin Widmann, senior vice-president, Pharma Ingredients & Services at BASF. BASF believes that highly concentrated omega-3 fatty acids are a global growing market.

Increasing consumer awareness of the health benefits of omega-3 is fueling double-digit growth for omega-3 products in the years to come.

Visit: www.basf.com

AAK acquires Crown Foods

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AK – one of the world-leading producers of high value-added specialty vegetable oils and fats – has acquired Crown-Foods AS. Crown-Foods is a Scandinavian market leader producing sauces and dressings for Food Service customers.

“This acquisition is an integral part of the AAK Acceleration program, which calls for organic growth as well as selective acquisitions. The acquisition of Crown-Foods will strengthen our ability to supply a broader portfolio of Food Service products, which is a major benefit to both existing and new customers,” says Arne Frank, president and CEO of the AAK Group.

“Crown-Foods is a natural addition to AAK Food Service. With the company’s focus on quality and with a product portfolio that is gaining market shares in Scandinavia, it fits very well with our strategy to increase semispeciality and speciality volumes,” says Søren Ask Nielsen, managing director Food Service Continental Europe.

Founded in 1988 and located in Mørkøv, Denmark, Crown-Foods employs approximately 20 people and had a turnover of approximately SEK 60 million in 2011.

Visit: www.aak.com

Aker Solutions buys Lyngdal Mek. Verksted

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ker Solutions is acquiring the mechanical workshop company Lyngdal Mek. Verksted (LMV), thereby increasing its capacity to assemble, test and overhaul drilling equipment especially for the North Sea market. This is the second recent acquisition by Aker Solutions’ drilling technologies business in its home region, following the takeover of Herman Hansen Mek. Verksted in March 2012.

“The takeover of Lyngdal Mek. Verksted is the latest example of our strategic moves to boost our capacity to serve drilling customers in the North Sea market. The acquisition of LMV will help us take a larger share of the upcoming overhaul market, facilitated by our growing installed base,” said Thor Arne Håverstad, head of Aker Solutions’ drilling technologies business.

Visit: www.akersolutions.com

PartnerTech acquires Aerodyn AB

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artnerTech has acquired Aerodyn AB, a company focused on contract manufacturing of heavy components for ship propulsion with propeller systems or water jets.

The company’s estimated yearly turnover is approximately SEK 40 million and it will be consolidated into the Machining

18 Industry Europe

operating segment from the second quarter 2012. Aerodyn employs some 20 people and is based in Karlskoga, Sweden.

“The aim of the transaction is to broaden our customer base within Machining as well as develop our offering within the Defence and Maritime market area.

Aerodyn’s deep expertise in advanced machining of large components is an

excellent complement to our existing offer.

The acquisition of Aerodyn means that PartnerTech can offer component weights from a few grams to several tonnes manufactured in accordance with high customer requirements in our units in Sweden and Poland,” says Leif Thorwaldsson, president and CEO of PartnerTech.

Visit: www.partnertech.com

LINKINGUP Dassault Systèmes to buy Gemcom Software International

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assault Systèmes has announced its intent to acquire geological modeling and simulation company Gemcom Software International (Gemcom) for approximately USD 360 million. Privatelyheld Gemcom is the world leader in mining industry software solutions, headquartered in Vancouver.

“With the acquisition of Gemcom, coupled with our 3D Experience platform capabilities, our objective is to model and simulate our planet, improving predictability, efficiency, safety and sustainability within the Natural Resources industry and

beyond,” said Bernard Charlès, president and CEO, Dassault Systèmes.

After the closing of the transaction, Gemcom’s 360 employees and management will remain in place and continue serving the mining industry. In addition, Gemcom’s current offices will further extend the overall geographic reach of Dassault Systèmes in Australia, Africa, Canada, South America, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Indonesia and Russia.

Visit: www.3ds.com

Mettler-Toledo and Konica Minolta join forces Hexagon acquires Norwegian

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ettler-Toledo and Konica Minolta Sensing have announced a strategic partnership in the field of Multi-parameter Analysis for the Flavours & Fragrances industry. The partnership will bundle the CM-5 or CR-5 Spectrophotometer from Konica Minolta with the Density, Refractive index and pH instruments from Mettler-Toledo to provide a complete system for automatic quality monitoring of raw materials and finished goods.

In contrast to heavy solutions, the benefits of the newly offered system are modularity and flexibility. The modular design of Mettler-Toledo LiquiPhysics allows for the bundling of different measurement instruments: Density Meters, Refractometers, pH- or Conductivity-Meters can be freely combined for a simultaneous determination of the needed parameters. Measurements of all instruments can be started with a single click on the user-friendly touch screen display. Sampling, cleaning and drying of the whole system is done completely automatically with the powerful automation units.

The CM-5 and the basic model CR-5 are compact and flexible spectrophotometers from Konica Minolta Sensing. These instruments are now integrated in the Mettler-Toledo LiquiPhysics system.

Visit: www.mt.com

Wärtsilä sells its share in MW Power to Metso

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ärtsilä and Metso have agreed that Wärtsilä will sell its 40 per cent share in the joint venture MW Power Oy to the other joint venture party Metso.

After the closing of the transaction, MW Power will be wholly owned subsidiary of Metso.

Wärtsilä will follow its strategy and focus on engine-based power plant solutions. Wärtsilä is a major supplier of flexible power plants operating on various liquid and gaseous fuels.

The Wärtsilä portfolio of power plants covers the capacity range from one to more than 500 MW. Wärtsilä and Metso signed a contract in September 2008 to form a joint venture combining Metso’s Heat & Power business

software company myVR

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exagon AB, a leading global provider of design, measurement and visualisation technologies, has acquired all shares in the Norwegian company My Virtual Reality Software AS (myVR). myVR provides software that offers a solution for 2D, 3D and 360-degree viewing for desktop and mobile. The company has developed a patented technology platform that enables high-resolution real-time viewing of interactive maps over networks with limited bandwidth. The platform makes it possible to view large-scale models on any 3D hardwaresupported client platform, including mobile phones and tablets.

“The acquisition of myVR will be of great value for Hexagon’s current offerings. Everything is going mobile, including our customer offerings,” said Ola Rollén, president and CEO, Hexagon AB. “In the past, the problem with displaying 3D data on a mobile device such as a tablet has been size limitations of data transfers, and also the ability to handle the transfer in a real-time environment. myVR has a unique solution to this problem, and Hexagon will make use of its technology in all of our divisions.”

Visit: www.hexagon.com

and Wärtsilä’s Biopower business. According to the contract, Metso owned 60 per cent and Wärtsilä 40 per cent of the joint venture, which supplies small and medium sized heat and power plants for the European market, and focuses on renewable fuel solutions. MW Power has approximately 250 employees in Finland, Scandinavia, the Baltics and Russia.

Visit: www.wartsila.com Industry Europe 19

NEWS

MOVINGON

Relocations and expansions across Europe

McLaren GT plans new engineering centre

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ew race car manufacturer McLaren GT is announcing plans to establish a dedicated engineering and vehicle assembly facility close to the McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) in Woking, southern England, one year after the stunning 12C GT3 made its racing debut as part of an intensive 2011 development programme. Close proximity to the headquarters of McLaren Racing and McLaren Automotive presents the McLaren GT team with an enhanced

opportunity to share resources, technology and exchange ideas with the design and engineering specialists working in the other McLaren Group brands, and will promote further integration of McLaren GT into the group.

McLaren GT was launched as a new brand within the McLaren Group early in 2011, and has supplied 25 12C GT3s for racing in Europe in 2012.

Visit: www.mclaren.com

EPR reactor Unit 1 at Taishan takes a major step forward T

he construction of the EPR reactor at Taishan in China, coordinated by EDF, CGNPC (China Guangdong Nuclear Power) and AREVA, has passed a key stage in its development with the lowering of the vessel into the Unit 1 reactor building, after which it was installed in its final location in the reactor pit. David Emond, Taishan project manager at AREVA, stated: “The installation of the vessel

for the first EPR reactor at Taishan power plant under the best conditions initiates an important new phase in the development of the site. With the success of this key operation, we have taken a further step towards the commissioning of the most powerful nuclear reactor in China.”

Visit: www.areva.com

Dow Corning’s new European development centre

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ow Corning has started research activities in the newly completed state-of-the-art Solar Energy Exploration and Development (SEED) research centre, which focuses on the development and discovery of new materials and technologies that will help advance renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Dr Gregg Zank, Dow Corning’s senior vice-president and chief technology officer, said, “The silicon technologies we develop alongside our customers at this

facility, and throughout our network, will continue to be a driver for growth and sustainable development not only in Europe, but all over the world.”

The SEED includes a Solar Application Centre and a Silicon Technology Centre. The centre’s solar cell laboratory is Dow Corning’s first of its kind, and completes the company’s network of solar research centres based in the United States and Korea.

Visit: www.dowcorning.com/seed

New UK thermal technologies innovation centre A

collaboration between the Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) and Tata Steel, the Thermal Technologies Centre is open for business in Middlesbrough. Based at Tata Steel’s Teesside Technology Centre, the £5 million centre provides an open access facility which will pioneer new ways of turning materials such as biomass into high grade fuels and energy.

Penlon Medical Gas Solutions opens new production facility

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enlon Medical Gas Solutions has opened a new production facility in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. Penlon Medical Gas Solutions, part of the Atlas Copco Group, is a leading provider of medical gas systems, medical vacuum equipment and pipeline components for hospitals.

20 Industry Europe

The facility, which is unique in the UK and one of only a few in the world, provides world-leading expertise, assets and capabilities to enable thermal processing businesses to innovate new products and processes. It brings together the thermal processing skills of Tata Steel and the technology innovation capability of CPI. Visit: www.tatasteel.com

This 20,000 sq.ft (1860m2) facility produces standard and customised medical gas systems, medical vacuum equipment and pipe line equipment for hospitals. Its products, for example, supply breathing air for hospitals and compressed air to drive surgical tools. The Penlon Medical business is part of Atlas Copco Compressor Technique’s Quality Air division.

Visit: www.penlonmgs.com

NEWS

INDUSTRYPEOPLE

Bentley appoints new chairman and chief executive B

entley Motors has announced the appointment of Dr Wolfgang Schreiber (54) as its new chairman and chief executive. Dr Schreiber joins Bentley from his current role as CEO at Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles. He will commence his new position on 1 September 2012 and succeeds Wolfgang Dürheimer (53) who, as part of an extensive structural and management realignment within the Volkswagen Group, moves to become the member of

the board of management for Technical Development at Audi AG. The chairman of the board of management of Volkswagen AG, Professor Dr Martin Winterkorn, said: “Dr Schreiber and Mr Dürheimer have one important thing in common: they are both thoroughbred engineers and represent the technical expertise of Volkswagen Group. This is why I am absolutely certain that Dr Schreiber is the right man to continue the successful strategy at Bentley.”

Jürgen Stackmann to lead Marketing at Volkswagen Group and Volkswagen Passenger Cars

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ürgen Stackmann (50) is to lead Marketing at the Volkswagen Group and the Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand effective 1 September 2012. He succeeds Luca de Meo (44), who becomes the board of management member for Sales and Marketing at Audi with effect from the same date.

Jürgen Stackmann qualified as a bank clerk and holds a degree in business administration. He joined the

Volkswagen Group in 2010 as member of the board of management responsible for Sales and Marketing at SKODA Auto a.s. Stackmann began his professional career with Ford in 1989, where he held various responsibilities in Germany and the UK, including marketing director for German plants, vice-president of Marketing at Ford Europe in London and finally general manager Sales and Marketing for German plants.

Ruud Wildschut is new sales director Central Europe North at Mitsubishi Electric

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uud Wildschut has been made sales director Central Europe North, taking over responsibility for northern Germany (north of the Main) and Benelux regions. These two high-revenue economic areas have been combined in order to benefit from the synergies between Mitsubishi Electric Factory Automation and sales partners Esco, Hiflex, Imtech and Koning & Hartman and to improve sales and support for Mitsubishi Electric products and solutions.

Hartmut Pütz, president of Mitsubishi Electric’s Factory Automation European Business Group, said: “Ruud Wildschut has many years of experience working in the automation industry, including the time he spent as sales director for our long-term partner Koning & Hartman. Since October 2011, he has been looking after the Benelux countries for Mitsubishi Electric in his position as business development manager.”

New managing director for NCT Leather

in 1980, with Andrews Weatherfoil in Paisley, William joined HOW Engineering Group – the company behind the construction of NCT Leather’s Phase 1 Wet Blue Plant. William was later employed as the engineering manager of this project in 1989.

In 1992 William was appointed as the works manager and later commercial director responsible for rawhide purchases and sales of wet-blue hides and splits across the business.

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illiam Riddell has been appointed as managing director of NCT Leather Limited, part of the Scottish Leather Group.

William has been involved with NCT Leather for over 20 years, having worked on the installation of the company’s Phase 1 Wet Blue Plant mechanical services in the 1980s.

After completing his engineering apprenticeship

Industry Europe 21

NEWS

TECHNOLOGYSPOTLIGHT

Advances in technology across industry

Tracking trucks in France

IN Compact and flexible thermal storage

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here’s a growing trend towards generating electricity from biogas. But roughly half of the total energy content of the fuel is released as heat, which typically dissipates into the atmosphere unused.

Large quantities of heat likewise escape from combined heat and power plants, not to mention many industrial installations. The root of the problem lies in the fact that the heat is not generally used at the time it is generated – and options for storing it are limited.

Working together with industrial partners such as ZeoSys GmbH in Berlin, scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB in Stuttgart are currently developing a new type of thermal storage system. This new system can store three to four times the amount of heat that water can, so it only requires storage containers around a quarter the size of water tanks.

Moreover, it is able to store the heat loss-free over lengthy periods of time and can even operate at temperatures well in excess of 100 degrees Celsius.

The new system contains zeolite pellets.

Normally this material is used as an ion exchanger, for example to soften water. Because zeolites are porous, they have a huge surface area: A single gram of these pellets boasts a surface area of up to 1000m2. When the material comes into contact with water vapour, it binds the steam within its pores by means of a physicochemical reaction, which generates heat. The water is in reverse removed from the material by the application of heat and the energy is stored, but not as a result of the material becoming palpably warm – as when water tanks are used.

What is stored is the potential to absorb water and in the process release heat; the term ‘sorptive thermal storage’ is frequently used to describe these systems. And provided the dried zeolite material is prevented from coming into contact with water, it can store the heat for an unlimited amount of time.

Visit: www.fraunhofer.de 22 Industry Europe

addition to the highways, bridges and tunnels already subject to toll payments, France plans to introduce a toll for the use of national roads and some country roads for trucks weighing 3.5 tons and more starting in mid-2013. The monitored road network comprises about 10,000 kilometres.

Siemens has received orders from Eurotoll and Total, two of the largest French electronic toll onboard unit issuers, to supply technology for this new toll collection system. The equipment comprises onboard units for the vehicles as well as the electronic detection system.

In contrast to conventional microwave systems, satellite-based tolling systems directly detect the position of the vehicles via the onboard units by using GPS satellite signals which are encrypted and transferred by GSM mobile telephony to the control centre for further processing. This satellite-based technology is therefore especially suitable for extensive road networks beyond the scope of the highways. Toll gantries are not required for data capture. The technology offers not only the accurate charging of distance and time-related tolls, but also flexible adaptation by means of software updates.

Visit: www.siemens.com/mobility-logistics

World’s first liquid surfaces X-ray machine

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he University of Nottingham will be the base for the world’s first Liquid Phase Photoelectron Spectroscopy (LiPPS) machine. LiPPS is a unique X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) machine which allows researchers to take atomistic measurements of the surface of liquids for the first time.

Current instrumentation in the XPS field allows only for the analysis of solid substances.

The potential applications of this technique are vast. Solute composition and interfacial structure

are dominant in a wide range of processes including catalysts and electrode-related systems. Insight into interfacial regions in these systems is crucial to the design of more efficient energy storage/ conversion devices. It underpins our knowledge of solution-based processes including electroplating and polishing which are key to high tolerance engineering processes throughout the automotive and aeronautics industries.

Visit: www.nottingham.ac.uk/nnnc/index.aspx

EURO-REPORT

FOCUS ON...

France Ian Sparks reports from Paris on the new government’s struggle to revive manufacturing.

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he honeymoon period is over, and France’s socialist president Francois Hollande is now facing the Herculean task of honouring his election pledge to revive France’s crumbling manufacturing industry.

Amidst deepening economic gloom, Mr Hollande has optimistically renamed his new industry minister Arnaud Montebourg as ‘minister for industrial renewal’and vowed to reverse the decline in output which has doubled in the past ten years alone.

Naturally, the new president blames his right-wing predecessors for the shrinking of wealth created by French industry from 27 per cent to 14 per cent since 2002. But after less than two months in office, Mr Hollande’s government has already suffered a major legal setback that could see the sector further diminished in the face of plunging sales that cannot compete with cheaper international imports.

Mr Montebourg had only been in the job for one week when France’s powerful CGT union came to him in May with a list of 46 companies it said were planning to shut production sites and directly or indirectly threaten up to 90,000 jobs. The new minister swiftly attempted to have a limit on the number of lay-offs firms can make enshrined into law – but this was struck down by France’s highest court as ‘unconstitutional’.

And the very next day, unions warned that car giant Peugoet was planning to announce the closure of a factory in the Paris suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois that employs 3600 people.

Two weeks later, in mid-June, elected officials from 60 car-producing towns and cities in France sent Mr Montebourg a 67-page report urging the government to do more to save the ailing auto industry. It warned: “Unless we react energetically, we will reach a critical point where industrial decline enters a fatally irreversible cycle. This is the situation the United Kingdom went through 20 years ago. It’s the one that’s happening in Italy. It’s

the one that is threatening the French car industry in 2012.”

It implored the government to slap heavier taxes on imported, high-polluting cars and give drivers ‘scrappage subsidies’ when buying more eco-friendly French-made vehicles.

But critics quickly responded that any plan to subsidise car purchases would cost the government hundreds of millions of euros it could not afford when it is bound by an EU agreement to reduce its budget deficit to 3 per cent of gross domestic product by 2013.

The new president blames his right-wing predecessors for the shrinking of wealth created by French industry.

In other sectors, loss-making Air France has announced 5000 job losses over the next two years but said it hoped to avoid compulsory redundancies by encouraging early retirement, voluntary departures, parttime working and work-sharing.

And unions have warned of another 10,000 cuts among mobile phone company call centre workers as jobs are moved abroad, mainly to low-wage French-speaking countries in France’s former African colonies.

Union demands And while private sector industries are insisting they need to reduce costs to avoid job cuts and closures, Mr Hollande is also facing demands from the hardline Force Ouvriere to fulfil campaign pledges to raise the minimum wage, reduce working hours and lower the retirement age.

Already there are signs Mr Hollande may feel he has promised more than he can provide, as he replied tentatively to the unions on the minimum wage issue: “There will be

an increase, but we have to be careful that this does not destabilise companies, especially small- and medium-sized companies which face competitiveness challenges.”

But Paris-based economist Bruno Cavalier believes the socialists are chasing the ‘impossible dream’ of a return to the 30 years after World War Two when unemployment fell, living standards soared and the economy boomed under state guidance.

He said: “Their whole focus on reviving industry is wrong from the start. This is an outdated struggle. Wages and social costs in industry mean France will continue to lose market share to foreign competitors, whatever we do. Instead we need to face up to the fact that we live in a service economy and it’s going to stay that way.”

But Mr Hollande does look set to live up to one manifesto promise aimed at balancing the country’s books by capping bosses’ pay at state-owned companies at €450,000 per year.

French finance minister Pierre Moscovici said the move was intended to make nationalised industries ‘more ethical’. The pay limit is meant to pin executive earnings to no more than 20 times the wages of the lowest paid workers employed by the state.

Mr Moscovici said: “Earning €450,000 a year doesn’t seem to me a deterrent if we want to have quality men and women at the head of our companies. This measure is needed to make state companies more ethical and to respond to the demands of justice and transparency at a time of economic crisis.”

Only 20 executives currently had salaries over the new limit, which would be voted into law later this year, Mr Moscovici said.

It would also include rules on stock options and ‘golden parachute’ packages, apply to all companies in which the state has majority ownership, including the postal service, nuclear power giant Areva, electric utility EDF, railway company SNCF and public transport operator RATP, he added. n Industry Europe 23

EURO-REPORT

FOCUS ON...

Germany Allan Hall reports from Berlin on the cost of Germany’s retreat from nuclear power.

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arely has a political decision in step with the public mood come with such a price tag. Cautious German Chancellor Angela Merkel knew she would upset noone but the atomic power station operators when she announced, post-Fukushima, that her country would retreat immediately and completely from nuclear energy.

But now the bill has been presented to her, or to the generations of chancellors to come; Martin Fuchs, head of the energy operator Tennet, said expanding Germany’s electricity grid to cope with the exit from nuclear power will cost about €20 billion over the next decade.

The cost is included in a 10-year plan for developing the electricity network. The plan was presented by Germany’s four high-voltage electricity operators – Tennet, Amprion, 50Hertz and TransnetBW – to Merkel during a visit to the headquarters of the sector’s regulator in the western city of Bonn in the last week of May. Fuchs said about half of the total investment would go towards modernising the existing network while the rest would be spent on constructing 3800 kilometres of new electricity lines, mostly high-voltage. The network needs to be significantly beefed up to carry electricity generated by solar and wind power to replace, in part, nuclear power which Germany has decided to abandon by 2022.

Germany lacks, in particular, electricity cables running from the north to the south.

While wind energy is essentially produced in the north, most of the demand comes from the more industrialised south and west.

Merkel has made the so-called Energiewende, the term used to describe both the end of nuclear power and the promotion of renewable energy sources, one of her government’s priorities. But the truth is that Germany has been importing energy – a lot of it nuclear generated – from neighbours since the decision to retreat from nuclear was announced.

24 Industry Europe

Berlin decided in March 2011 to permanently switch off Germany’s eight oldest nuclear reactors and to close by 2022 nine others currently online in the wake of Japan’s massive March 11 Fukushima nuclear disaster. But even while the government continues to talk-up the alternative energy programmes, the truth is that Germany – and ergo its thriving export led economy – is in real danger of seeing the lights go out unless speed is picked up.

“One year after the bold announcement, precious little has happened – save for painful price hikes that have hit consumers’ pocketbooks and companies’ bottom lines,” said influential news magazine Der Spiegel.

“Many offshore wind farms aren’t connected to the grid yet, and the massive power masts needed to transport the energy haven’t been built. To add to the problems, Merkel last week sacked her environment minister, Norbert Rütgen, the very man in charge of implementing the highly ambitious clean energy plans.”

De-industrialisation threat The aspect of the energy policy that draws the greatest criticism is the fact that it has been accompanied by higher electricity prices for companies and consumers alike.

Energy prices have been rising steadily since the introduction of Merkel’s policy, and Germany’s largest steelmaker, ThyssenKrupp, even blamed the policies for the sale of one of its steel mills, which is to be closed. European Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger has even warned: “High electricity prices have already initiated deindustrialisation in Germany.”

That is a stark statement for a country that has avoided the worst of the recessions sweeping Europe and one Germany must do something about if it is to remain a major export player. Mostly it is the famous Mittelstand, the small-to-medium-sized family

manufacturing firms, that have the most to fear from spiralling energy costs.

“Just over a year ago, the chancellor said that companies and consumers will have to be supplied with affordable electricity in the future, too,” said Die Welt newspaper in a recent editorial. “But that certainly hasn’t happened. Owing in no small part to the fact that the ‘energy turnaround’ is driven by the state and not the markets, taxes and levies on electricity are rising considerably – and today they represent greater revenues than automobile or tobacco taxes. That puts the people under pressure and threatens industry. EU Energy Commissioner Oettinger, who was handpicked by Merkel for the job, has warned of Germany’s deindustrialisation. One might want that as a goal, even though the British example is a bad one. But one cannot continue Germany’s tradition of small- and medium-sized manufacturers and major industries of production and manufacturing if the question is left open of where the affordable electricity that keeps all the assembly lines moving will come from.

“The pressure created by the shutdown of Germany’s remaining eight nuclear power plants over the next nine years is immense and counterproductive – because it will drive up electricity prices.”

Meanwhile, daily tabloid Bild warned; “The energy turnaround cannot be allowed to make electricity so expensive that factories are forced to close and people lose their jobs. The energy turnaround cannot become so expensive that the average family must pay €100 a month for electricity alone.

“That’s why the state must stop driving up energy costs with its special taxes. That’s why a stop must be put on soaring profits at energy utilities that come even as the people moan under the weight of rising energy costs.”

The clock is ticking. Whether it will stop for want of electricity remains to be seen. n

BREAKTHROUGH IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF LABELING ADHESIVES A new generation of casein-free labeling adhesives from Henkel now offers extended properties and a performance profile that ensures trouble-free production processes for beverage manufacturers while extending their options. Henkel is dedicated to application-driven research and development of innovative solutions that respond to the growing needs of the market and the environment.

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the course of their life cycle, beverage bottles can encounter a whole range of conditions. The same applies to their labels. The label is also exposed to a large variety of influences, such as fluctuating temperatures, changes of air, moisture and mechanical stress. The adhesives employed therefore have to do far more than just stick the label to the container. For instance, the label should not become detached from the bottle on exposure to condensation but still come off cleanly when the bottle is washed in preparation for re-use.

The trend toward sustainability has been making a lasting impression on the labeling adhesives market. Demonstrating entrepreneurial responsibility in its bid to efficiently satisfy consumer needs, it is investing heavily in application-driven research and development. The beverage industry, for instance, often uses water-based casein adhesives to label glass containers.

The rising cost of renewable resources Despite their proven properties, such adhesives have their constraints. For example, seasonal effects and climate changes can impact on the available quantities of the derived renewable raw materials. Markets also tend to respond in a volatile and speculative manner to fluctuations in the supply situation. The price of casein, for example, has soared in the last few years – and experts anticipate that this trend will continue.

For many years now, both beverage manufacturers and adhesives manufacturers have been looking into alternative substances that are less susceptible to price fluctuations, and that contribute to environmentally compatible processes. Casein-free adhesives are increasingly being used, as they offer not only a longer shelf life and temperature stability, but also a whole series of further advantages over conventional labeling adhesives.

These novel products based on robust polymers feature exceptionally good initial tack, for example, while supporting fast setting and drying, thus helping to reduce adhesive usage rates. They represent an effective alternative to products based on traditional resources and make it possible to save up to 30 per cent on adhesives. For the industry, this expansion of the range of adhesives means greater production and budgeting security.

However, anyone considering a switch to casein-free labeling adhesives should bear in mind that the adhesive should be able to withstand wide-ranging conditions without showing any changes in its product characteristics.

At the same time, it should be versatile in order to cover a broad range of labeling applications, have a neutral odour, ensure rapid drying and not disrupt the cleaning cycles of labeling machines. Furthermore, the adhesive should support the beverage bottler by reducing the consumption of cleaning agents, additives, water and energy. These tough requirements are fully satisfied by Henkel’s improved generation of casein-free labeling adhesives.

Innovative and casein-free – performance without constraints As the leading supplier of adhesives technologies, Henkel embarked on the development of casein-free adhesives with equivalent bonding and processing characteristics back in the late 1990s. With its second generation of casein-free adhesives, the company now has a product series for glass bottle labeling that has a broader and more comprehensive performance spectrum.

Long-term tests have shown that the Optal XP product line meets the high customer expectations. In addition to their excellent wet tack, the adhesives exhibit good adhesion even to chilled glass surfaces. The food and

beverage industry can therefore turn to a powerful and efficient range of products that cover the entire spectrum of bottle labeling needs, including sophisticated adhesive solutions with high ice-water and condensationwater resistance.

Economic and ecological process benefits Unlike their conventional counterparts, these adhesives are based on synthetic polymers and are hence independent of the dairy industry. The raw materials employed are therefore subject to lower price volatility than casein. The elimination of casein also yields further benefits, as this resource then becomes available for food production instead of being processed for technical purposes.

The use of Optal XP adhesives also yields benefits in terms of mileage and their fieldproven wash-off behaviour. Long-term use by various national and international beverage bottlers has shown that the labels can be detached with ease in bottle washing plants using standard cleaners and settings. In addition, these second-generation adhesives give no cause for concern during wastewater treatment. The products also have FDA approval, are free of toxic ingredients and contain no alkylphenol ethoxylates, zinc or borax.

The new generation of casein-free adhesives thus eliminates existing familiar drawbacks and presents an excellent alternative for many different applications. Whatever the requirement – high-speed machines or slow labeling processes, cold or hot, dry or wet conditions – the Optal XP product series always provides a suitable adhesive. Market testing was recently carried out for further Optal products that offer labeling solutions for PET returnable packages and even for containers with the up-andn coming no-label look.

Industry Europe 25

GO WITH THE FLOW Technologically-advanced project management company InterApp AG sets high standards with its proprietary valve and fluid technology. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to head of global sales and projects Tom Niessen to find out how the company is utilising its excellent global growth potential.

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amous for its ‘Fluids under control’ slogan, flow control systems expert InterApp AG develops, manufactures and implements state-of-the-art projects for customers worldwide. With its headquarters in Rotkreuz, Switzerland, the 40-year-old company has steadily built up its reputation for customer-focused technology and project management.

InterApp AG has its own dedicated research and development, manufacturing, assembly and testing facilities in both Switzerland and Spain, with additional subsidiaries in Austria, Italy, Spain and Singapore. These wide spread facilities allow it to provide technical flow solutions to customers anywhere in the world, particularly as it has been part of the global AVK Group since 2010.

Being customer-focused is described by head of global sales and projects Tom Niessen as a ‘brand cornerstone’. He told

24 Industry Europe

Industry Europe how understanding customer requirements is where every project starts. He said, “It is imperative that we listen carefully to our customers’ needs in order to develop a technologically-driven solution that meets their approval. It’s about behaviour, know-how and technology all working together. We have a very highly skilled team where each and every person is committed to the end goal of delivering a superior solution, so we are always listening carefully.”

Delivering better solutions Mr Niessen admits that InterApp is ‘not the biggest company in the world – we have just 180 employees worldwide’, but he is also clear that it is able to provide what ‘the large conglomerates don’t’. InterApp’s ability to deliver world class technical back up, with complete control over product quality and process quality, means that it reliably

provides a technically innovative solutionsdriven service for flow control systems.

He continued, “We have technical back up of the highest level, which really helps to set us apart from the competition. So we have advantages at all levels – from listening to customers at the very start of a project, to ensuring an innovative approach to the project itself and then completing the project on time and on budget. We pride ourselves on being able to solve our customers’ problems in such a way that their costs don’t increase, or may often even decrease, whilst we are providing a far superior product and service. And then of course the technical back up kicks in and we can maintain that superior solution. It’s a winning combination.”

A recent example of this is a Flue-gas desulphurisation solution provided to a customer that had not actually considered this process as a possibility but, thanks to careful project

Industry Europe 25

management from InterApp, has already seen reduced costs and lowered downtime.

InterApp develops flow solutions for industries including water treatment, power generation, chemical process and life sciences.

To facilitate this, it produces industrial butterfly valves as well as valve automation, which allows the valves to be opened and closed remotely, pneumatically, electrically or hydraulically. Delivering solutions to both OEMs and end-user customers, InterApp’s teams are certainly technically minded, but also able to communicate appropriately depending on the requirements of the project.

Knowing what’s needed Mr Niessen added, “As a rule we avoid overcommunicating electronically. With advanced

26 Industry Europe

internal technical support, sales support and whatever else working together to create a superior solution, it can all get pretty complex. We are careful to not to give our customers what they don’t need as it is our job to simplify it as much as possible so that our customers can get on with doing what they do best. We see ourselves as supporting our customers with technology. We make sure we understand their processes and have our engineers on site with the customer locally to provide immediate support.”

While Mr Niessen has only recently joined InterApp, his industry experience spans more than 21 years. He appreciates that he has joined InterApp in order to kick-start a faster growth curve, and as such is passionate about identifying potential opportunities for the

company’s innovative flow control systems.

InterApp is not currently looking to make acquisitions, as it was an acquisition of the AVK Group itself, so the future is more likely to include InterApp exploiting the potential of its parent group’s worldwide customer base in markets where it is not yet present itself.

Mr Niessen concluded, “The Group has a strong vision for growth and we certainly intend to be a part of it. AVK is diversifying into industrial flow control by acquiring InterApp so we are excited to be in a position where we can be integrated into that process, particularly as AVK is active in some global markets with great opportunities. We have the best of both worlds as we have a large degree of flexibility within the Group but also n its support as we continue to grow.”

SPECIALISTS IN INDUSTRIAL VALVES ZETKAMA SA is one of the largest manufacturers of industrial valves and iron casting in central and eastern Europe. Dariusz Balcerzyk talks to Leszek Jurasz, the company’s president and general director, to find out more about its activities and the wide range of industry sectors it serves.

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ETKAMA SA is the European leader in the production of high grade industrial valves and iron castings, serving a wide range of sectors including power engineering, heat and thermal engineering, ventilation and air conditioning, shipbuilding, water supply systems, sewage systems and industrial facilities.

The company offers over 2000 valve products, such as stop valves, bellow stop valves, check valves, butterfly valves, strainers, ball valves and other valves. New Balancing valves, which were designed and launched in 2010, are the company’s flagship kind of valves. They are highly rated both by customers and competitors.

ARMAK Sp. z o.o. products

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From state owned company to a capital group “ZETKAMA has been operating since 1946.

During this period it has changed from a state enterprise to employee-owned company, gaining a strategic investor and created a world-renowned brand. Being listed on the Warsaw stock exchange enables us to raise capital to increase production capacity and to develop dynamically,” says Mr Jurasz continues.

“The creation of the capital group has become another turning point for our company. Together with our subsidiary companies, SRUBENA UNIA S.A. in Zywiec

and MCS sp. z o.o. in Zory, we have created ZETKAMA Capital Group. SRUBENA UNIA S.A. is a manufacturer of fasteners (screws, tap bolts, nuts, etc.) with using hot and cold technologies in various sectors of industry.

MCS sp. z o.o. is a manufacturer of pipes for exhaust systems used in the production of passenger cars. The company offers various metal and aluminum components.

Beginning this year we are also the majority shareholder of ARMAK sp. z o.o. Company, which specialises in the production of safety and electromagnetic valves.”

The group employs around 1000 people today and achieved a turnover in 2011 of

CEO and President of the Board, Mr Leszek Jurasz

ZETKAMA S.A. warehouse

SRUBENA UNIA S.A products

MCS Sp. z o.o. products

Industry Europe 29

PLN 239 million (around €60 million). Exports make up 70 per cent of total sales, with Germany, Italy, Belgium, Russia, France, Ukraine, the Netherlands and the UK being the key markets. ZETKAMA’s clients include some of the global leaders in their fields, including KSB in Germany, LOG-EAST, BROEN and Niemen in Russia, LEENGATE from the UK, ETNA from Ukraine, VIR from Italy and GFC from Germany.

Overcoming the crisis Like many other European companies, ZETKAMA was affected by the global financial crisis. “We felt the impact of the global crisis in 2009 and 2010 in the form of decreasing turnover. However, our marketing strategy allowed us to return to full production capacity

ZETKAMA S.A production line

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Air Products Air Products is ZETKAMA’s another long time partner. The company touches the lives of consumers around the globe in positive ways every day.

For GK ZETKAMA Air Products provides the gas compressed in cylinders for a variety of applications, including: carbon dioxide for hardening cores, oxygen and acetylene for cutting processes, the Linx® innovative shielding blends and argon for welding. GK ZETKAMA also uses the CryoEase® services ensuring a continuous supply of liquid argon of high purity in a small tank to the spectrometer in the laboratory.

ZETKAMA S.A products

and the year 2011 was a record one in terms of sales. It is worth noting that the operational activities undertaken during the crisis helped us to achieve high profit margins despite the drop in turnover,” says Mr Jurasz.

ZETKAMA’s ability to survive the financial crisis was in part down to its modern R&D department, which carries out product development and manufacturing processes.

In response to customer demand, the

company is implementing an environmental management system according to the ISO 14001 standard and the ISO/TS standard relating to the automotive industry.

In addition to this, the company has numerous certificates confirming its high standards of production and quality, including: the BVQI Certificate of Quality System ISO 9001:2008; a quality certification in accordance with the 97/23/EC Directive,

certificates of approval for the Russian and Ukrainian markets; the Germanischer Lloyd Certificate for the production of ductile cast iron according to DIN EN 1563; Lloyd’s Register Certificate for grey iron castings and ductile cast iron; and the Det Norske Veritas certificate for the production of iron castings, amongst many others.

Shaping the future The company does not intend to stop at what has been achieved. Mr Jurasz concludes: “We want to be trustworthy and able to offer the highest quality service to our customers. We want to become the leader in the manufacture of industrial valves and pressure casts used in liquid and gas flow regulation. ZETKAMA’s strategy for future development involves the dynamic growth of the group. We build this growth by acquiring new entities, the introduction of new products and by finding new markets. In the near future we plan to develop in all the above-mentioned directions. If our customers associate ZETKAMA with confidence, safety and loyalty, our main n objective will be met.”

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ALL REVVED UP

The small town of Oroszlány, Hungary is home to the second largest production site of the world-leading automotive supplier, BorgWarner. Established in 2001, the factory has seen dynamic growth and investment to date of €25 million. Edina Beale reports.

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he American BorgWarner group is a technology leader in the field of turbocharging and today has 59 locations in 19 countries. The group achieved USD 7.2 billion net sales last year; two-thirds of their products are turbocharger systems that allow customers to meet current and future emission standards whilst achieving significant reductions in fuel consumption.

The company sets high standards with regards to performance, smooth running,

reliability and durability. BorgWarner Turbo Systems have established sites in Mexico, China, South Korea, Poland and Germany in addition to the Hungarian site in Oroszlány.

The German manufacturing site in Kirchheimbolanden is the European centre.

Dynamic growth BorgWarner turbo chargers are made for cars as well as for light trucks and commercial vehicles. The Hungarian production facility was

built in 2001. The factory, located in Oroszlány, was originally built to serve the Audi factory in Hungary. Initially it was only a site to assemble the turbochargers, but soon began to manufacture and assemble the products. The company has seen dynamic development ever since, and has doubled its turnover every year. Parallel to its increasing turnover, the capacity of the production site has also continuously grown, requiring greater investment in infrastructure. Most

recently was in November 2007 when a new 4000m2 production hall opened, increasing the company’s total area to 13,386m2.

Initially BorgWarner only manufactured turbo systems for passenger cars in its Oroszlány plant. The plant was recently successful in adding a first commercial vehicle turbocharger customer to its portfolio.

The company’s largest client is still Audi but its client base is expanding and now includes other prestigious car manufacturers including Renault, Fiat, VW, BMW, GM/Opel and Volvo.

The demand for cars with turbochargers is on the rise because of their reduced carbon-dioxide emission and increased performance. Therefore it is not surprising that whilst the growth of the global automotive sector was an average 3 per cent in the last decade, BorgWarner achieved five times greater growth in the same period.

The company will continuously improve its product range with newly developed, improved products whilst maintaining

high quality. “The company has a really balanced customer portfolio of mass- and premium segment OEM which at the very moment is very beneficial.” admits Mr Attila Bogár, managing director of BorgWarner Turbo System Kft. In order to cope with expected growth the company, which currently employs 700 people, plans to recruit more staff as well as investing in new equipment and the implementation of new production lines. “At the time of its foundation in 2001, BorgWarner Kft had one customer here; today we have 10 different clients. The complexities of the projects are getting harder, but our excellent team of professionals and existing capacities provide the basis to fully meet the needs of our partners,” says Mr Bogár. Currently more than 90 per cent of products are exported abroad, mostly in Europe, but the company’s turbochargers are also distributed to North America and Asia. “Maintaining the relationships with our

MSR Technologies – a specialist for precision parts MSR TECHNOLOGIES is a specialist for mechanical machining and installation of precision parts. Amongst other things, the company manufactures turbo chargers and fuel injection components for petrol and diesel engines, hydraulic manifolds, hydraulic and solenoid valve bodies and components for dual-clutch gearboxes and drive systems.

These components have been tried and tested millions of times during daily use in the most challenging fields. Products manufactured by MSR TECHNOLOGIES can be found, amongst others, in models by Mercedes, Audi, Ford and Renault as well as Porsche, VW, BMW and Volvo. MSR TECHNOLOGIES relies on integrated solutions and accompanies its customers as development partner from the product idea to the start of production.

www.msr-tec.com

partners on a daily basis is fundamental.

We only need to make small changes on our well-developed site to smoothly realise our planned growth.”

Lean management Besides significant technological investments BorgWarner puts great emphasis on training its human resources, using a new and unique training method. “In order to maintain our competence we have to continue to produce market-leading products and this requires excellent engineering staff that speak many foreign languages,” says Mr Bogár.

Predominantly the company is aiming to maintain its lean concept whilst developing its current site. For example the assembly equipment will be implemented in one direction, whilst the factory will aim to take full advantage of its existing equipment and bring in changes that will increase the efficiency of the production.

“We would like to manage our operation based on a concept where decisions are made at the lowest possible levels, which will increase the quality of our products and improve our customer service,” reveals Mr Bogár. “This is quite a serious investment,

which is not put into bricks and iron but into our human resources. It is a serious training concept which is only used by a very few companies in Hungary.”

Although there are no rivals in the domestic market, there are many competitors in the region especially in Germany and Slovakia. The managing director of the Hungarian subsidiary however has a clear view how to maintain the business for the long term future: “In the long run we want to be the most effective turbocharger factory that also gains everybody’s support; most importantly we would like to gain the full satisfaction of our partners.” n

Industry Europe 37

For more than 100 years, Webasto in Stockdorf near Munich has been setting new technological standards. The company counts as one of the world’s largest 100 suppliers for the automotive industry and as one of Germany’s top 15 automotive suppliers.

WEBASTO –

A TRADITION OF PROGRESS For more than 100 years, Webasto has been setting new technological standards again and again with its developments.

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ebasto, headquartered in Stockdorf near Munich, has been developing and manufacturing products for the automotive industry for more than 75 years. It counts today as one of the world’s largest 100 suppliers for the automotive industry and as one of Germany’s top 15 automotive suppliers. Webasto’s core competencies include the development, production and sales of convertible systems and sunroofs as well as heating, cooling and ventilation systems for passenger

38 Industry Europe

cars, recreational vehicles and boats as well as commercial and special vehicles. The company has been family-owned ever since its foundation in 1901. In 2011 the group achieved sales of around €2.3 billion and employed 9,500 employees worldwide.

Global footprint Webasto is a global automotive supplier and has more than 50 locations worldwide – 30 of which are manufacturing plants. The

company started its global footprint very early. In 1974 the first international subsidiary in the USA near Detroit was established.

For years later the first Asian subsidiary with production plant was opened in Japan (Hiroshima). Webasto has been active in Korea through the joint venture Webasto Donghee since 1988. The market leader for roof systems has also has been active and successful on China’s growth market since 2001. The European production sites can

Webasto develops innovative solutions for comfort and safety in various types of vehicles following the company’s motto “Feel the Drive”.

Webasto has more than 50 locations worldwide – 30 of which are manufacturing plants. For example, the retractable hardtop roof is produced in Palmela, Portugal. Today Webasto is the global market leader for roof systems.

be found in Germany, France, Italy, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia and Romania.

Original equipment and aftermarket Webasto develops innovative solutions for comfort and safety in various types of vehicles following the company’s motto “Feel the Drive”. When developing new products and services, the company focuses on the wishes and requests of its customers. In this way, innovative and market-specific solutions are created for OE partners as well as for the aftermarket. This includes the

The trend moves towards panoramic roofs, even in small vehicles. Thereby the development with lightweight constructional components is important, like with polycarbonate as used by Webasto.

development and production of complete convertible systems and sunroofs for car manufacturers as well as heating, cooling, and ventilation systems for cars, commercial and special vehicles, boats and trains (OE and retrofitting).

Webasto constructed the first automotive folding roof that could be opened or closed with just a few simple steps. That happened in 1932 and Webasto turned into an automotive supplier. Since then Webasto developed e.g. the panorama roof and introduced it to the market. Today Webasto is the global market leader for sunroofs, offering a broad

OE product portfolio: tilting/sliding sunroofs, spoiler roofs, panorama roofs and solar roofs.

The technologies are all based on technologies developed and produced in-house.

The first parking heater system was developed and produced by Webasto in 1935.

Today Webasto is market leader for parking heaters for cars and delivers auxiliary and parking heater to all well known automotive manufacturer. In addition special installation kits make it possible to retrofit cars with parking heaters.

As of January 2010 the convertible roof business of Edscha AG and the Webasto convertible business unit were combined to make

Industry Europe 39

The first parking heater system was produced by Webasto in the 1930s.

Webasto has been the market leader in this field for years.

Commercial vehicles like trucks and construction machines pose special challenges to manufacturers. Webasto offers solutions to improve the comfort in the driver’s cab with its air and water parking heaters and airconditioning systems.

Webasto-Edscha. In addition the Karmann business in North America with sites in the US and Mexico was taken over in August 2010.

That makes Webasto-Edscha the leading suppliers of convertible systems. As part of the Webasto Group, its core competences are the development and production of complete soft tops and retractable hardtops. And it offers a comprehensive range of services: concept development and styling, product development including simulation, serial development as well as planning and support for the complete production process.

Special requirements for commercial vehicles Commercial vehicles like trucks and construction machines pose special challenges to manufacturers. As an example, several Euro-

Webasto has been developing and producing for the marine industry for about 15 years. The company provides its customers with complete solutions for heating and cooling, as well as roof systems from one source – a unique position in the marine market.

pean countries have laws that regulate the idling of engines when the vehicle is parked.

Webasto offers solutions to reduce idling with its air and water parking heaters and airconditioning systems. These non-idling solutions run independently of the engine, thus lowering the fuel consumption and associated pollutant and carbon dioxide emissions. And drivers benefit from the improved comfort in the driver’s cab.

Webasto offers comfort “on board” Webasto also has been developing and producing innovative equipment for the marine industry for about 15 years. Today, the company provides its customers with complete climate control solutions for heating and cooling, as well as roof systems from one source – which is a unique position in the marine

market. The comprehensive product portfolio has given the company a decisive advantage over the competition.

What the Future holds The demands of politics and society for the vehicle of the future are clear: it should be safe, economical and environmentally friendly.

This is also the challenge for Webasto. In addition to alternative drives, solutions made of alternative materials must be developed for all areas of the vehicle, enabling the highest levels of safety, weight reduction and design freedom. With its advanced technologies in the fields of lightweight construction (like polycarbonate and Webasto Glas ProTec®), solar applications for sunroofs as well as ecofriendly heating systems of e-cars, Webasto n is strongly positioned in this area.

Industry Europe 41

CONTINUED GROWTH The BorgWarner group is a global leader in the development of powertrain solutions. In December 2010 it acquired the Stockholmheadquartered Traction Systems Division of Haldex Group, enabling it to expand its European customer base and range of all-wheel drive solutions.

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he takeover by BorgWarner in 2010 transformed Haldex Traction into Borg Warner Traction Systems and brought significant benefits to the group. The move has boosted BorgWarner’s growth in the global AWD market – Haldex’s speciality – as well as front-wheel drive (FWD) based vehicles. It has added to the group’s base of FWD/AWD technologies and also allowed it to tap into Haldex’s well-established European customer base.

At the time of the acquisition, Timothy M. Manganello, chairman and CEO of BorgWarner, said: “This acquisition supports our continuing strategy to be a global technology leader in providing powertrain solutions.

With the acquisition of Haldex Traction Systems, BorgWarner has added a strong and well-respected brand of all-wheel drive products that will complement our current portfolio as well as our customer and geographical mix.”

The BorgWarner Group’s global technology leadership continues apace. It is currently present in 19 countries worldwide with around 19,250 employees across 60 different sites. It achieved sales in 2011 of $7.11 billion.

A global leader

Advanced AWD systems

Now operating as BorgWarner’s Traction Systems division, Haldex produces its worldrenowned electronically-controlled four-wheel or all-wheel drive systems for cars. These systems are controllable which means they can interact with other systems in the car, making them highly functional and versatile.

Haldex’s traction technology was patented by the Swedish engineer Sigvard Johannsson in 1998. It began by producing intelligent all-wheel drive (AWD) systems. The first generation Haldex Limited Slip Coupling (LSC) appeared in the VW Golf 4MOTION that year.

The first generation Haldex LSC was based on a unique patented differential pump that created a hydraulic flow proportional to the difference in velocity over the coupling. The ‘stiffness’ could be varied and the torque transfer controlled with the help of a linear valve throttle activated by a stepper motor. Subsequent generations of the LSC are still based around the original technology but with further developments such as pre-emptive torque capacity (Gen III) or a proportional pressure-reducing valve in place of the proportional throttle (Gen IV).

The standard Haldex AWD systems run from the Gen I model to Gen V. They are all electronically controllable all-wheel drive coupling units for cars but with slightly different features as we move through the different generations. The Gen I includes an electronic control unit with vehicle dynamics software. It can be viewed as a hydraulic pump in which the housing and annular piston are connected to one shaft, and a piston actuator is connected to the other.

Moving on to the Gen V model, the front and rear axle of the car are connected via the wet multi-plate clutch which now makes it possible to vary the torque distribution between the two axles. The function of this generation system allows for greater functionality, as it is independent of the differential speed between the front and rear axle. This means that full locking torque is available at any given time and speed if it is needed. All of these systems can be customised to meet the needs of BorgWarner’s

global automotive clients in terms of driving characteristics and traction.

Aside from the standard AWD systems, the eAWD is a new innovative concept for hybridisation and pure electrical drive. It allows for torque vectoring and the improvement of stability and vehicle dynamics. It is a system whereby AWD and hybridisation are carried out in one package to reduce the fuel consumption by up to 20 per cent.

As the Haldex website states: “The AWD system solves a dilemma facing electric and

hybrid vehicle manufacturers: how to provide all-wheel drive traction and stability without adding the driveline losses that increase emissions and reduce fuel economy.”

The system consists of an electric traction motor that provides both propulsion and regenerative torque to the rear wheels through a planetary gear arrangement on each side. By locating the electric drive on the secondary gear axle, the system provides the benefits of all-wheel drive with minimal changes to the vehicle layout. n

Digital Print Technology

TOP CLASS GLASS The Polish independent company PRESS GLASS is regarded often as Europe’s leading producer of processed glass for the construction industry. The company’s glass is an essential element of many residential and striking public buildings in Poland as well in Scandinavia and other European countries. Joseph Altham spoke to Gerard Plaze, Promotions Manager at PRESS GLASS, to find out about the company’s new products and the investments it is making to expand its newest factory in Poland near Łódź.

Industry Europe 45

Toughening furnace in traditional technology

New releases

S

ince its foundation in 1991, PRESS GLASS has experienced extraordinarily dynamic growth. Today, there are more than 1500 people working for PRESS GLASS, and the company’s glass can be found in many landmark buildings in Poland including the Intercontinental Hotel in Warsaw and the Sky Tower in Wrocław.

Its glass is also found in many buildings in Europe, including the Lietuvos Nergija and Grand Casino in Lithuania, the Department of Defence and Head Office of Public Works Department in Ireland, the Halmstad Arena in Sweden and many others.

The headquarters of PRESS GLASS is located in Nowa Wieś near Częstochowa, in the south of Poland. PRESS GLASS carries out its manufacturing in four highly efficient factories located in Poland with a total area of almost 70,000m2, using up to 15 assembly lines and five toughening furnaces. Its

Premium Toughened glass furnace

46 Industry Europe

factory in Tychy, near Katowice, specialises in the production of toughened, laminated, machined glass and units for building façades. At its factories in Nowa Wieś and Tczew near Gdańsk, it mostly produces glass units for residential purposes “This factory, near Gdańsk, was developed in 2004 to bring us closer to our markets in the Scandinavian countries,” stated Mr Plaze. Its newest company factory was built in 2008 in Radomsko near Łódź. PRESS GLASS is now expanding this factory, and, when completed in 2012, the Radomsko production site will be the biggest factory in Europe processing glass for the construction industry, covering an area of 30,000m2. “Our size is important, because it enables us to meet the growing volume and expectations of our clients related to it. But size is only one of the most important considerations, alongside technological supremacy, a wide range of products, Europe-wide certification and individual logistics systems. Ultimately, our size is a reflection of our history and the growth we have achieved by delivering a good service to our customers.”

Heat soak test for toughened glass

PRESS GLASS has developed a wide range of products in order to meet the varied needs of the construction industry.

The company offers many types of glazed units (glass panes), even up to 3x6m in size, together with 8x6m standard toughened glass which is machined for both the exterior and interior of buildings. PRESS GLASS continues to update its range and has just brought out an improved version of its edge of glass unit, called Premium Edge. “Premium Edge provides the warmest possible insulation and can be used both in residential buildings and for the façades. Premium Edge has three insulating layers and spacer a made of silicone foam. Together with another product, combined stainless steel and the plastic Chromatech Ultra spacerbar, they are a very interesting offer in the Warm Edge category.”

In the last couple of years, PRESS GLASS has introduced several interesting additions to its special glass range. With a state-of-theart Benteler glass laminating line and Scholz autoclave, the company can produce layered panes in-house. “Often the standard offering in laminated glass is quite narrow, based on float glass. This machinery, installed in 2009, allows us to connect different types of glass, such as toughened , ornament or solar control

Sky Tower

Dow Corning Dow Corning is collaborating with industry professionals around the world to develop solutions to improve the energy efficiency of buildings, reduce the ecofootprint of construction materials, and improve the health and safety of building occupants. Taking a holistic approach, Dow Corning brings together expertise from across the company to help customers find solutions to a wide range of high performance building challenges. Dow Corning High Performance Building Solutions include proven materials for structural and protective glazing, weatherproofing, insulating glass, window and door fabrication, and building materials protection, as well as innovations for high-efficiency insulation, LED lighting, thermal management systems, and the incorporation of photovoltaic cells and solar panels into building design.

Laminating process

glass to the laminated glass with PVB, sound control and colour foils, for applications including balconies or glass partitions, glass beams, columns or staircases and floors.”

Premium Toughened Glass and Digital Print While strength and durability are important attributes of the company’s toughened glass, architects also require an attractive visual effect. In 2010, PRESS GLASS therefore introduced its Premium Toughened glass, designed for the façades of buildings. The Premium Toughened glass was developed to avoid the problem of ‘roller waves’, which create a distorted reflection in the glass. The roller wave effect is the result of the way toughened glass was traditionally produced, using rollers in the furnace. To solve this problem, PRESS GLASS makes the glass using a kind of air bag method, on which the glass is positioned at an angle in a furnace. The rollers will then only touch the panel on one cut edge, so that no

Premium Edge production

waviness will be visible once the glass is used on the exterior of a building.

PRESS GLASS also makes glass that can be digitally printed. The company’s Digital Print glass, introduced in 2011, is ideally suited for displaying individually created projects on the internal or external walls of a company’s office.

“The process for printing is made in three short steps,” said Mr Plaze. “Once we receive the photo, we can prepare the digital graphic file, then print the image onto the glass and preserve in a toughening furnace. With Digital Print, no additional processes are needed. This avoids extra costs for the customer related to the preparation of printing sieves and ensures the job can be done really quickly.”

Prospects The new production hall for the factory at Radomsko is scheduled for completion by the summer of 2012. This was a substantial investment decision, particularly in last year’s European economic conditions, but PRESS GLASS believes its confidence is justified. “In this factory we are now installing a continuous toughening furnace. Its main task is to render toughened glass production more efficient and

Glass storage in Radomsko

prepare us for big volume orders from both solar and construction branches. Of course, further assembling and machining lines are also scheduled for installation in Radomsko.

“Our main goal is to develop by cooperation with demanding companies and strengthening their brands and market position thanks to fulfilling their requirements.

“We still see possibilities for development in Europe. Scandinavian markets are very important for us, because they are major producers of windows in Europe, and we do our best to serve them perfectly. In Scandinavia and other European countries there is still also a lot of investment in public buildings, which need glass façades. We are able to serve even the biggest ones, as can be seen from our most recently completed project, the Sky Tower in Wrocław, where Premium Toughened glass was used.

“The Polish window producers can also develop thanks to serving new markets in Europe. We make it easier thanks to giving them certification matching national standards of a number of European countries. We also continue to increase our exports to other European countries for windows and façade producers and, thanks to our implementation of new products, we are also serving new client groups such as solar panel producers.

We try to be as green as possible in terms of our products and the production technologies n we use.”

Factory in Radomsko

48 Industry Europe

Sikasil® IG-25 HM Plus - Lowest Argon Loss Rates Argon-filled IG units have not been used in SG facades for many years. Hence structural facades were supposed to be banned for colder climates, due to ever stricter energy saving regulations. With the development of the high-modulus IG secondary edge seal Sikasil® IG-25 HM Plus the glass panes in IG units are very tightly held together. Movements in the butyl layers, caused by temperature and pressure changes, are minimised. As a consequence leakages in the butyl primary seal, the main barriers against argon penetration, are prevented. In tests complying with the European IG standard EN 1279-3 the best test units have proven an annual argon loss rate as low as 0.3%. The maximal limit in the standard is set with 1% per year.

Kuraray Kuraray Europe’s brand TROSIFOL is one of the leading manufacturers of PVB film for laminated safety glass worldwide. TROSIFOL products are mainly used in applications for automotive and architectural glazing, special TROSIFOL films are used in PV modules.

TROSIFOL operates its headquarters in Troisdorf (Cologne/Germany) and an additional plant in Nishny Novgorod, Russia. There are marketing subsidiaries in the United States, Malaysia, India, China and Ukraine.

The Kuraray Europe GmbH namely TROSIFOL congratulates his valued customer Press-Glas on his prominent reference – Sky Tower in Wrocław, the highest building in Poland. We are very happy to supply such a competent company like Press-Glas with our TROSIFOL PVB film.

INTELLIGENT LIGHTING Modern prestigious buildings call for light management solutions that satisfy the highest standards – and they increasingly turn to German specialists Insta for just that. International Sales Director Alexander Wiepen told Julia Snow about the launch of the new ‘lightment’ brand.

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uminous indoor walls without frames, handrails that are invisibly lit up from within or spotlights that make an architectural feature stand out across a night skyline … modern buildings are not just lit up, they are enhanced in function and design by intelligent lighting. Leading architects and planners all over the world choose LED for indoor or outdoor projects, because of the convincing advantages that this futureproof technology can offer: it is impressively flexible, shows limitless design possibilities, and scores highly on sustainability, energy efficiency and low maintenance.

German lighting specialists Insta Elektro GmbH are operating at the premium end of the market, and repeatedly winning high profile projects – like the St Georges Tower,

1 Hyde Park or the Lighthouse project for the London Olympics. With the launch of a new website and the introduction of four new product groups at this year’s Lighting and Building show in Frankfurt the company is setting its sights on further growth.

Competence in electronics shining through Founded in 1970 by three well-known installation sector companies (Berker, Gira and Jung), Insta has been developing and manufacturing modules, components and systems for the lighting industry as well as for intelligent electric installation of buildings. As a family owned company Insta operates as a part of the Gira and Jung group, which provides a strong background in electronics and

high tech and achieves a turnover of approx. €500 million with around 2000 people. The headquarters in Lüdenscheid employs around 600 staff and houses all production, R&D and administrative functions.

Around 11 years ago Insta entered the market for LED lighting, and the success has led to the creation of a separate business unit called ‘Lightment’ as of January 2012. A dedicated team and a new website are supporting the launch, with the aim of building a strong, clear identity for the company’s excellence in lighting systems.

Project families Insta makes LED luminaires, light controls and lighting components, and around 50 per cent of products are tailored to individual

Industry Europe 51

requirements. The offer is complemented by accessories and control technology right from small applications or the operation of complex systems.

The instalight® LED luminaires are available as light lines and line systems, illuminated surfaces and surface systems or as spots and light points. The LEDLUX® LED-Lamps are produced in linear, plane or point shapes and can be configured for the whole range of professional lighting and accentuation.

Insta also offers the full service solution of ‘insta project’, for customers who want

a complete, preprogrammed light management solution out of one hand, with support throughout the whole process.

Integration in building control systems Forward-looking and sustainable LED lighting solutions require an intelligent and powerful control. “One of our key strengths is that we understand the importance of integration,” says Mr Wiepen. “Due to our background and expertise in building management systems we can implement

a lighting project so that the client ends up with one panel, one central point of control for all building functions like heating, doors or windows and lighting.” Insta holds multiple patents and guarantees solutions on a technologically very advanced level.

Shining bright – for years to come Lighting systems have to be of uncompromising quality in order to withstand the heat, dirt, moisture or adverse weather conditions of outdoor or public environments. “Our systems are installed in shopping malls, hotel lob-

bies and public buildings.” says Mr Wieping.

“Municipalities have to justify the spending of public or European funds, and our solutions provide excellent value for money. We offer high quality at a reasonable price, and against the backdrop of energy prices our lights represent a good return on investment. Our highly reliable and vandalism-resistant products also contribute to improving the safety, economy and well being in inner city areas.”

“We have many good relationships with architects and lighting planners who regularly work with us; and in addition we gain customers who have an existing LED

installation that needs to be replaced after a series of problems with an initial ‘lowcost solution’.”

Lightment – the brand of the future Currently Insta’s main markets are in Europe, Russia, the Middle East and in South-East Asia. “We felt that it was time to give our exceptional expertise in LED lighting a separate brand identity. With our commitment to production in Germany and the global reach that we gain from our partners InstaUK, InstaRUSSIA and InstaIBERIA , we are in a great position to benefit from the move to

LED worldwide. We know that LED is not just a trend, but a technology shift – and our solutions are among the best.”

At the Light + Building in Frankfurt Insta will offer visitors a “firework of innovations”, according to Mr Wiepen. “We are very proud of our five new product families, all of which are featured on our lightment.com website.

They all feature new generation state-of-theart light directing optics that make them fit for the modern workplace – aesthetic, emotional n and functional.”

www.insta.de

GREEN TECHNOLOGY

FOR THE BLUE PLANET Schüco is a worldwide leader for energy-efficient buildings, driven by the company’s competence in solar and façade technology combined with willingness to take responsibility for the environment.

Julia Snow reports on the most recent developments.

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ounded in 1951, Schüco is today Europe’s largest system supplier of doors, windows and façades. Operating with 5000 employees and 12,000 partner companies in 78 countries, the company has its global headquarters in Bielefeld, Germany and realised a turnover of €2.38 billion in 2010. A wide range of tailored solutions is provided for all market sectors – from private homes to commercial and industrial projects.

In spite of a drop of more than 50 per cent in the company’s core window business in Germany between 1996 and 2005, Schüco managed to increase turnover and growth, thanks to the right strategy. A solar department, founded in 1999, quickly developed into a core strength. Schüco was also first

in its field to go global, targeting customised products towards various international markets. Today’s export share stands at 47.8 per cent, a testimony to the company’s product quality and marketing prowess. Thirdly, Schüco was not content with aiming for the ‘best windows in the world’, but developed other market leading products, like sun protection products or windows with integrated motors such as the TipTronic.

systems for solar power and solar heating.

Schüco’s window and façade systems not only save energy owing to their optimum thermal insulation, but also generate energy thanks to efficient solar solutions. The excess energy can then be used intelligently, for building functions as well as for everyday life. The result is a significant step towards energy selfsufficiency and the sustainable conservation of natural resources.

Reinvention as energy experts

Up to date product portfolio

It is not an exaggeration to say that Schüco has ‘reinvented’ itself, extending its expertise from simple building components for windows and doors to a full ‘building envelope specialist’ and leading developer of comprehensive

Schüco offers solar thermal and heat pumps for domestic hot water, as well as heating and photovoltaic installations that can make a clean and efficient power station out of every building. Whether it is for private homes, commerIndustry Europe 55

cial and industrial projects, or ground-mounted installations, Schüco offers solutions that combine technological expertise with a sense of responsibility.

The new generation of windows, Schüco AWS (Aluminum Window System), is a system that meets the highest standards in thermal insulation and integrated ventilation. Narrow face widths and concealed fittings are designfriendly and also offer a resistance to break-in of up to WK3, monitoring of opening and closing, and convenient integration within the building management system.

56 Industry Europe

Doors must meet the highest requirements for thermal insulation, security, functionality, design and comfort, all of which the new Schüco ADS (Aluminum Door System) has achieved. With the benefit of excellent insulation values this system is easily integrated into the building automation system, by either biometric access control or video surveillance.

Impressive façades give buildings an unmistakable character. Today, energy-saving features are increasingly in demand, along with the need to harmonise technological and architectural requirements. Comprehensive,

modular aluminum systems allow architects, developers and fabricators to achieve the highest standards of energy efficiency, security, automation and design – from mullion/ transom façades, steel and timber add-on constructions, through to structural glazing and unitised façades.

With the new Schüco ProSol TF façade module, the company has passed a milestone in the development of integrated solar modules. It achieves the highest standards in design and boasts an innovative combination of photovoltaic thin-film technology with

tried-and-tested Schüco window and façade systems. The result is extraordinary solar architecture, which sets new standards in terms of efficiency and design.

More news from 2012 Schüco impressed this year’s international jury of experts with the 2° System and the Schüco Door Control System (DCS), both of which won the red dot: design award. The new Schüco ASS 77 PD.SI sliding system was awarded the red dot: best of the best – the highest accolade from the largest design competition in the world.

Earlier in 2012, the company also launched a new generation of profiles for the conservation of historical buildings: slimline steel profiles with a profile chamber of just 10 mm. The thermally insulated Janisol Arte profiles are perfect for renovation projects in the industrial and loft glazing sector. These new profiles create a fine-lined framework around the glazing, as is characteristic of 20th century factory buildings.

Recently, Schüco’s E2 façade special construction with CTB high-performance solar shading was used in the prestigious new Brillux offices building in Muenster, Germany. Designed by Vervoorts & Schindler Architects, the tower dominates with a solid black façade, which intelligently combines the building services with the building envelope using the modules for decentralised ventilation technology, high performance solar shading and solar energy generation.

High global profile Schüco underpins its high global profile by attending relevant international trade fairs and by sponsoring events like the Schüco Open, a high profile invitational golf tournament in July, as well as supporting local soccer team Arminia Bielefeld.

According to its mission statement, Schüco aims to provide the link between climate protection and commercial success – and it looks like one is leading to the other n very nicely for the company.

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PROFILGLASS, A SUCCESSFUL

THIRTY-YEAR-OLD In 2012 Italian based Profilglass SpA celebrates its 30th birthday. Barbara Rossi reports on the company, which is unique in the aluminium sector for having implemented vertical production.

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rofilglass, which started its activity in 1982, is located in Bellocchi di Fano, on the Adriatic coast of central Italy. This territory, unlike other Italian areas such as that surrounding Brescia, is not the historical home of aluminium production, but this has become an asset for the company, because it has meant that it employs young and enthusiastic staff. Profilglass started as a family company and even nowadays it is led by the Paci family. It started its activity as a producer of aluminium profiles for window and balcony double-glazing. However, it soon realised that diversification of products, technology and markets was the way forward for a smallmedium business such as itself, competing with large companies and multinationals. A deep transformation process, leading to diversification, while also maintaining specialisation, was initiated in 2002, with a crucial investment in a rolling foundry. This strategy proved 62 Industry Europe

extremely successful and the ensuing diversification of markets, as well as of products, has brought the company positive results. These even persisted during the economic downturn, during which the construction industry and the geographical markets with a strong dependence on this sector, such as Spain, were particularly badly hit.

Currently with its rolled product division, also offering custom-made solutions, the company has an outlet to various industries, including building and construction, but also transport, domestic products, refrigeration and a wide range of industrial applications.

Vertical production Today the company is a worldwide leader in the production of spacer bars and decorative profiles for insulating glass, but its rolled product division is also of increasing importance, now accounting for 70 per cent of total

turn-over. This division offers circles, sheets, tread plates, thin strips, triangles, coils, embossed coils, strips, and plates.

Since the early 2000s the company has implemented a verticalisation of the production process, using own metal scraps and reclaimed aluminium, as well as primary metal, as a base for its products. The primary aluminium is sourced from Egyptalum, an Egyptian company which has not only been Profilglass’s designated supplier of aluminium since 1994, but which is also a real partner, for which Profilglass is the most important client (and sole Italian distributor), and to which Profilglass supplies technological solutions, therefore acting as a bridge between the Egyptian plant and the European markets.

All of this means that Profilglass is the first and only aluminium company in the world that, starting from raw materials, namely ingots, t-bars and aluminium scraps, has achieved

AIR LIQUIDE - A SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT MODEL The activity of Air Liquide - the world leader in gases for industry, health and the environment - is inscribed in a contest of Sustainable Development. Its responsibility commitment goes hand in hand with the values the Group has expressed in its Principles of Action.

Air Liquide has developed a sustainable development model that is specific to the Company: • Preserving life and the environment in the Group’s operations and at customer sites; • Innovating for tomorrow to guarantee the growth of the company and its customers; • Developing the potential of the company’s men and women (promoting diversity, facilitating and speeding up knowledge transfer, motivating and involving, making commitments socially and humanely); • Creating value for shareholders by developing the company’s business performance over the long term and with transparency.

A practical example of sustainable development is the nitrogen generator on site installed at Profilglass, which allow cutting the energetic consumption for the nitrogen production and transportation, by reducing the CO2 footprint of the process.

At a worldwide level, supplying large customers via pipeline from the Group’s production units, Air Liquide considerably limits truck transportation. These pipeline systems, which are environmentally friendly and safe, total over 8,700 kilometers worldwide.

Aluminium final product quality strictly depends from Roll Grinder quality It is generally known that the quality of the final rolled product is greatly dependent upon the capability of the roll grinder to repeatedly grind rolls with consistent surface roughness along the entire roll barrel and with surface quality free of visual defects; such as, spirals, chatter marks, and feed lines. Roll grinding and measurement precision are essential requirements for aluminium strip processing; current specifications require roll profile tolerances lower than 0.002 mm.

Through the POMINI brand, TENOVA is worldwide leader in the design and supply of Heavy, Medium and Light Duty Fully Automatic CNC Roll Grinders for flat product rolling mills, as well as of special machines for grinding of heavy components. POMINI know-how and products are intended for the aluminium, steel and paper industry, where it offers specific technologies. The constant pursuit of innovation in automation and machine integration for the rolling mill process combined with the high precision, lead to products that represent the highest level in roll grinding, with excellent performance in term of tolerances and surface finishing, high reliability and internationally patented measuring and control devices.

It is important to highlight that POMINI improved grinder measurement technology by introducing the fully automatic measurement station consisting of an independent calliper positioned in front of the grinding wheel to measure roll profile, roundness, and eccentricity and to provide eddy current and ultrasound scanning at the operator’s command independent of the grinder carriage position. The great advantage of the POMINI machine is the unmatched capability to consistently produce superior roll quality completely independent of the operator’s skill, ensuring consistent rolling mill quality.

Profilglass initially selected TENOVA POMINI in 2007 for the supply of roll grinder equipment creating a long lasting partnership rather than the standard relationship between customer and supplier. TENOVA POMINI regularly cooperates with Profilglass to improve grinding technologies for aluminium mill applications. The first grinder TENOVA POMINI supplied to Profilglass in 2007 was a type HD 409-9-9 capable of grinding work rolls without chocks. This grinder was equipped with unique features; such as, an independent calliper and eddy current system to detect surface defects on the roll barrel. The second grinder supplied by POMINI is a type HD 478-2-7 with the capability of grinding backup rolls and work rolls without chocks. This grinder was installed at the end of 2011 and is currently in the commissioning phase. Even during the actual economic scene, POMINI TENOVA successful and continuous co-operation with Profilglass is a confirmation of the validity and solidity of POMINI high technology and reliability in the metallurgical industry.

Tenova: advanced technologies for the metal and mining industries Visit our website at www.tenovagroup.com

Albero Turbina 30 Ton

BRUNO PRESEZZI BRUNO PRESEZZI is an Italian engineering and manufacturing company of machinery for production of aluminium strip (twin roll continuous casting lines). Five machines are installed in Italy, one in Turkey, and two complete lines with related melting and holding furnaces are now at commissioning in the Emirates. BRUNO PRESEZZI has also been for over 30 years a worldwide, reliable supplier of cores and shells for twin roll casters, with top performance for durability and strip productivity. Hydro Aluminium has selected BRUNO PRESEZZI as a key supplier for these products, and has recently assessed it at top level for quality and reliability. New design and materials solutions for rolls are being introduced to improve product quality and productivity, as well as cost effectiveness. The BRUNO PRESEZZI Patented design of caster rolls with grooved shells is well established today and is going to be further improved to fully exploit its capability for enhanced performance. New steel grades are under development with the same goal of improving the cooling efficiency. Hydro Aluminium is testing and well recognizing the potential of the innovative solutions of BRUNO PRESEZZI for the improvement of its continuous casting process and of the quality of its flat rolled products.

The company occupies a productive area of 10000 m², divided into departments supplied with the most modern and sophisticated machinery and fitted with lifting equipment of different sizes (loading capacity from 5 to 80 tonnes). Specialised operators take turns on two shifts in these work areas characterised by flexible and rational use: each area has its own operative capacity and type of production able to satisfy any customer request with precision, punctuality and guaranteed total quality.

Great financial investments have enabled the Milling and Boring, Turning, Structural Work, Grinding and Assembly departments to achieve levels of technological and productive excellence. With the passing of time the company has gradually turned towards the processing of parts with increasingly larger dimensions, at the same time raising the quality standards, for which the company obtained certification of the quality system in 1997.

Tel: Fax: Email:

+39.0444.566388 +39.0444.566983 info@officinezanetti.com www.officinezanetti.it

a wholly independent production process.

Profilglass operates from its sole production site, now covering a 250,000m2 area, employs more than 600 staff, and can boast four rolling mills, one hot rolling mill under construction, one cast-house for slabs, six continuous casting lines, twelve slitters for coils, six machines for sheets, seven machines for circles and ovals production, one machine for the production of triangles, and twenty-one machines for profiles production.

The company uses both continuous and traditional casting technologies, seeing the two as complementary, rather than in competition with each other. Thanks to its five subsidiaries, such as Eurotubi Srl, a leader in the production of aluminium high frequency welded tubes in different alloys, dimensions and surface finishings, the company can directly manage all production phases, thus offering, with its diversified and complete range of products, unbeatable flexibility and an extremely high level of quality. Another company of the group, Mecc Al, operates in the field of solar energy, producing heat sinks and mechanical components for photovoltaic panels entirely made of aluminium.

An aluminium paved future Profilglass considers that the only way to remain in the market is through investing in innovation and guaranteeing an excellent 66 Industry Europe

customer service, both for mass produced and special products, as well as implementing diversification and ensuring highly specialised and high-quality products (quality assurance is not just limited to the finished products, but also includes all the phases prior to profiling, as well as raw materials). The company channels ten per cent of its turnover into developing processes and products, in the form of new investments and technological innovations.

In the last six years it has implemented a slab casting line, a hot mill plant, a couple of cold mill plant, and has increased its casting lines from four to six. Beside Profilglass developed an innovation new scrap area solution where mills, separates, divides and selects approximately 3000 tons/month of general aluminium scrap bought in the market through end user and scrap dealers.

Parallel to this it has seen particularly strong market growth, so much that its objective is that of achieving a production and processing capacity close to 150,000 tonnes, exceeding a €400 million turnover.

In terms of superior customer service, Profilglass can be proud of its wide range of products (from 0.10mm to 8mm thickness, from 10mm to 1550mm width, alloy 1000-3000-4000-5000-8000 continuous and discontinuous casting) with short term

deliveries (3–4 weeks from the order) possible thanks to its high storage capacity.

Superior service is seen as a distinguishing feature, as stated in the Profilglass vision “you can only be successful, if you can fulfil the needs of your clients”.

As well as increasing production capacity and turnover, the Profilglass strategy also focuses on increasing the number of clients. The company is already exporting its products (about 75 per cent of production) to more than 85 countries worldwide, particularly to Germany. The future prospects are good, considering that the use of aluminium has significantly increased in the last ten years, due to the fact that, as Mr Paci of Profilglass pointed out, aluminium is very light, it’s easily cast, and can be recycled at a cost significantly inferior to that of steel.

Aluminium can be used for a very wide range of applications, as it will be possible to find out in September/October, when as part of its 30th birthday celebrations, Profilglass will open the doors of its plant to visitors. While in terms of aluminium product manufacture there is a strong growth in emerging countries, namely China, India, and Brazil, this doesn’t constitute a threat for a company such as Profilglass, which offers a high quality product, service, and post-sale management, elements which are highly demanded n by the European market.

PIONEERING GENOME EDITING TECHNIQUES Sigma-Aldrich Chemie is a global leader in genomic bio-technology diagnostics. Philip Yorke talked to Ian Jennings, the company’s director of marketing EMEA about its latest pioneering genome editing technology: ZFN, and its strategy for future growth.

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igma-Aldrich is a leading life science and high technology company, whose chemical and biochemical products are used in a wide variety of scientific research projects including those for genomic and proteomic research, as well as for biotechnology and pharmaceutical development.

Founded in 1934 in the USA in St Louis, Missouri, Sigma-Aldrich is a truly global concern with a major presence in more than 40 countries and over 8000 employees. The company is also listed on the New York Stock Exchange (Nasdaq:SIAL) and in 2011 posted sales of $2.3 billion.

Reaching new milestones in gene editing technology Sigma-Aldrich recently announced a major breakthrough in the development of its proprietary ZFN Technology (CompoZr zinc finger nuclease), which provided the release of substantially more knock-out ZFNs than ever before and covering the entire genomes of both mice and rats. At the same time the company achieved significant cost reductions of around 50 per cent of its broad ZFN product portfolio through investment in advanced manufacturing techniques.

“We have recently restructured the company and established our European headquarters

here in St Gallen, Switzerland, which has enabled us to become even more efficient and flexible in response to our customers in the EMEA countries,” Mr Jennings said. “Our chemical and biochemical products and kits are used by our customers in life science companies, universities, government institutions and hospitals. We probably have the largest and most diverse range of chemical and bio-

chemical products in the world, with more than 120,000 entries in our catalogue. We are well known for our very high service levels and our commitment to quality and innovation and are currently focussed on the expansion of ‘whole gene manipulation’ product lines.”

Furthermore, the latest ‘zinc-finger technology’ (ZFN) products have recently won awards for innovation and efficacy and

are unique in the marketplace. “One of our fastest growing market sectors is in academia where we are major suppliers to many well-known universities and institutions,” remarked Mr Jennings. “Today these leading seats of learning are much more commercial in their research operations and partner with the big pharmaceutical companies and life science specialists such as ourselves.”

“As far as the future is concerned, we are projecting good growth in our European market sector whilst keeping the door open for acquisitions, and in fact recently acquired a

leading biotech testing company in Maryland, USA,” Mr Jennings revealed. “However, the strongest growth prospects for us exist in the emerging Asian and Pacific-rim countries and Australasia. Most of our manufacturing capability resides here in Europe with three major facilities in Germany, one in Switzerland and three others in the UK. Although we have extensive R&D facilities in Switzerland, most of our bio-genetic research is carried out in the US.” Today ZFN technology has been widely recognised as the most efficient and versatile

method of genetic engineering for cell lines and whole organisms, offering precisely targeted, permanent and heritable modifications at a fraction of the time required using more traditional technologies. However, until the launch of Sigma’s latest ZFN technology, the high cost of manufacturing ZFNs has at times limited the research community’s access to this advanced technology. To address this issue, Sigma Life Science invested heavily in advancing both its design and production processes to drive down costs and also in an effort to help researchers accelerate scientific discovery.

Delivering the world’s most advanced neurobiological antibody arrays A few months ago Sigma Life Science in the US launched its most comprehensive antibody array for neurodegenerative disorders and for neuronal development. George Lipscombe, market segment manager at Sigma Life Science said: “The neurological community is moving quickly towards investigating how networks of proteins affect brain development and function. However, few multiplexed immunoassay tools exist for surveying panels of neuronal proteins and their expression levels.

Those tools that do exist have been limited in breadth of targets represented and focused narrowly on specific diseases.”

However, the Panorama Neurobiology Antibody Array from Sigma Life Science enables, within a single day, direct comparisons of neuronal protein expression patterns using a variety of serum, cell or tissue extracts derived from humans, mice or rats.

The unique Sigma-Aldrich array of 224 polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies are spotted in duplicate, high-density spots on a nitrocellulose-coated slide specially treated to reduce background fluorescence. Antibodies in the array are also available separately from the Sigma Life Science catalogue of more than 50,000 antibodies. The company’s catalogue

includes more than 11,000 prestige antibodies, which with over 700 images generated per antibody by the Human Protein Atlas project, are considered among the most highly characterised antibodies available. Quality is further backed up by the company’s ‘Sigma Bioguar-

antee’ which offers a full credit replacement for any antibodies that do not meet published n performance expectations.

For more information about the Sigma Life Science antibodies collection simply visit www.sigma.com/antibodies

A LEADER IN INDUSTRIAL GASES

Sico SpA is a producer, trader and distributor of technical gases, in liquid and compressed form, as well as a supplier of these at local level, through a pipeline. This Italian family company is the only one in its industry to have its own production capacity. Barbara Rossi spoke to co-owner Claudio Grigato.

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ico SpA, whose legal headquarters are is in Milan, but whose operative headquarters are in Saronno, near Varese, was established in the 1950s by Mr Grigato’s parents, operating in the field of compressed technical gases production and commercialisation.

Over the years, due to the appearance of liquid gases on the scene, the company has also added these products to its range, and since 1970 it has been operating under the name of Sico SpA. Currently all of the company’s shares are owned by Mr Claudio Grigato and his brother Giovanni, the second generation of the founding family, and recently the third generation has also joined the company, bringing new passion and enthusiasm. Mr Grigato is particularly proud of the family dimension of his company which, with its success, proves that even in a sector such as his, where due to the presence of multinationals, investments are of 72 Industry Europe

particular significance, a family company can be in a prominent position. In fact, in terms of productive capacity, in its sector, the company ranks second in Europe and, with its portfolio of prestigious clients, it’s in an absolute leading position in Italy.

Sico has a daily liquid oxygen, nitrogen and argon production capacity of 560 tonnes, when the European benchmark to maintain competitiveness is 300 daily tonnes. While the main range of products on offer is made up of base gases, these can also be mixed together or with external elements of noble gases, a task carried out by Sico’s own mixing laboratory. As well as oxygen, nitrogen, and argon, the company also supplies hydrogen, helium, xenon, krypton and carbon dioxide.

In addition to hosting the operative and administration offices, the Saronno site also houses the R&D department, staffed by

engineers and chemists, the laboratory for the preparation of pure gases, a filling station for helium bottling and also serves as a secondary production site (an operative unit). The main production sites are situated in Cesano Maderno (Lombardy), home of the air fractioning and hydrogen production plant, and in Brescia, where acetylene is produced. Furthermore Sico is part of a consortium for the mineral extraction of carbon dioxide in Caprese Michelangelo, near the Tuscan town of Arezzo.

Sico can also avail itself of its nine operative units which include not only those in Saronno, Montichiari (Brescia) and Cesano Maderno, but also in Bari (Apulia), Camposampiero (near Padua, Veneto), Camucia di Cortona (near Arezzo, Tuscany), Crevalcore (near Bologna, Emilia), Nettuno (Latina, Lazio), and Villastellone (Turin, Piedmont). Moreover the company owns a 51 per cent share in two subsidiaries,

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Iron Gas, near the southern Italian town of Avellino, and Full Gas, based at Noventa di Piave, in the province of Venice, both of which operate in the field of technical, food, and cooling gases.

97 – 98 per cent of Sico’s products are distributed directly, either delivered by tankers in the case of liquid gases, or in bottles in the case of compressed gases, while the remaining part is distributed by a network of agents.

In the case of compressed gases, the gases are first delivered to the local operative unit in liquid form, where they are converted into compressed form and tested for quality, before being supplied to customers in bottles. Alongside the traditional industrial sector, Sico also supplies industries, namely the laser, medical, and food sectors, where gas purity is vital. The company distributes its medical gases through an internal division called SicoVita, which also offers medical gas home care services.

In terms of new products, the company is very active in supplying gas for carbonating water distributed through roadside drinking water facilities, aimed at reducing the volume of bottled water consumed and therefore

plastic packaging produced. In addition to this, despite the difficult phase that the market is undergoing, Sico is currently developing other technological applications for the chemical and metallurgic industry and for the environmental sector, such as air emission control and waste water treatment.

Running on steam Sico has made important investments in different projects, such as the construction of a new facility near Treviso, which, both in terms of the area covered and of machinery, will be three times as large as the current Padua operative unit which it will replace. Important investments have also been made in the extension of the existing 15 km SaronnoCaronno Pertusella-Lainate-Origgio pipeline through which Sico distributes its products to chemical, ironworks, and metallurgic companies located in this area of Lombardy. Last, but not least, Sico is involved in a partnership with other local companies for the realisation of a co-generating plant in Cesano Maderno, which will supply all the energy used

by Sico’s Cesano Maderno production plant

(currently equal to the energy consumption of a town of 15,000 people), as well as producing steam, which will be used for carbon dioxide production.

Sico supplies several sectors, namely the historical and core chemical, pharmaceutical, and engineering industries, as well as companies from other fields, such as ironworks and food. Sico has total coverage of the Italian territory, with the exception of Sardinia, and also exports several of its products abroad, in particular argon and pure bottled gases, specifically to Austria, Greece, Switzerland, Spain, and Egypt.

Future growth will be based around increasing sales in existing markets or the acquisition of new geographical ones, because, as Mr Grigato said, Sico is satisfied with its market penetration in Italy. The importance of increasing volumes is crucial for a company such as Sico, which in order to be able to carry on competing with multinationals, has to continuously further its technical potential. However future growth, as Mr Grigato stressed, will be solely of an organic n nature, without involving acquisitions.

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FRUITS OF THE EARTHGIVING NATURE A HELPING HAND TO FEED FUTURE GENERATIONS.

Tessenderlo Group is an international chemicals company employing more than 7000 people in over 22 countries worldwide.

The group’s Inorganic Chemicals division is a major manufacturer of potassium sulphate fertiliser and has an annual production capacity of 750,000 tonnes of sulphate of potash (SOP). Joseph Altham interviewed Dr Nicolas White, the group’s Marketing Director for Fertilisers, to find out why Tessenderlo believes there are new areas of opportunity for its water-soluble SOP products.

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agriculture, potassium and sulphur are essential nutrients for promoting plant growth. Tessenderlo is one of the world’s most important producers of potassium sulphate fertiliser, commonly known as sulphate of potash (SOP). Its plant at Ham in Belgium has an annual production capacity of 650,000 tonnes. The factory has been making SOP since 1926, employing the Mannheim process. This process involves a chemical reaction at a high temperature between potassium chloride and sulphuric acid, and the plant at Ham is the largest in the world to use this process. The Mannheim furnaces at Ham are particularly well adapted to producing high quality water-soluble SOP. Across the border, Tessenderlo also manufactures SOP at its French site in Loos, which has an annual production capacity of 100,000 tonnes. The key advantages of SOP as a fertiliser are that it is virtually chloride-free and has a very low salinity index. Certain crops, like strawberries, lettuce and tobacco, have a poor chloride tolerance, meaning that too

much chloride in the soil will have a bad effect on their quality. For crops like these, SOP is a much gentler source of potassium than alternatives such as muriate of potash (MOP).

Salinity is a particularly serious issue in the semi-arid climates where there is not enough rainfall to wash the salt away. Here, the wrong type of fertiliser can ruin the soil, as Dr White explained. “If chloride and salt accumulate, this can poison the soil. In one case in Jordan, repeated use of potassium chloride as a fertiliser for potatoes eventually turned the soil white. In soils at risk from salinity, sulphate of potash is the best product to use because among the main potash fertilisers it is the one with by far the lowest salt index.”

A global business Tessenderlo offers three different types of SOP. The company’s standard powder SOP is widely sold to manufacturers as a raw material for making compound fertilisers.

The group also produces SOP in granular form branded as GranuPotasse®. Granu-

Potasse is intended for blending with other fertilisers such as ammonium nitrate or urea.

“There is a difference between a compound fertiliser and a blend. With a compound, the nutrients are mixed together in each individual granule, whereas the granules in a blend remain physically distinct particles.”

SoluPotasse®, the third kind of SOP Tessenderlo produces, was specifically developed for use in drip irrigation systems. The market for SOP is global and the output of the Ham factory is sent to countries as far away as Africa and South America. With its

own inland harbour, the factory at Ham is in a unique position in terms of logistics. Fertiliser is loaded onto barges at Ham and then sent along the canal to Antwerp for transfer to sea ships. “We also load coasters directly at Ham for shorter voyages to destinations such as the UK and France.”

Soluble SOP for fertigation SoluPotasse, the company’s soluble SOP, is intended for use in fertigation. “As the word implies, fertigation is a hybrid of fertilisation and irrigation,” explained Dr

White. “The irrigation water is delivered as a droplet right into the root zone. This is an efficient way of delivering water and fertiliser, especially in hot climates, and can cut back water usage by as much as 40 per cent. The biggest market for our soluble SOP is Spain, where it helps with growing crops like cucumbers. Other important markets for SoluPotasse include Egypt and Morocco.” SoluPotasse is already the top soluble potash brand, achieving annual sales of more than 100,000 tonnes in over 80 countries worldwide.

Foliar applications Recently, Tessenderlo has begun to investigate new applications for water-soluble SOP fertiliser. “The main market for SOP has always been fruit and vegetables, although these only account for around 20 per cent of the global crop area. So we asked ourselves whether our product could bring benefits to broad acre crops like cereals, cotton and rice. We ran studies to investigate whether there were any benefits in a foliar application

of SOP as a complementary treatment – in spraying potassium sulphate on top of the crop at a key point in its growth.

“In the past, a foliar spray tended to be used only when there were symptoms of potash deficiency. But with crops like wheat, soya, sugar beet and potatoes, we found that a foliar application of SOP can improve yields by between 0.2 and 0.6 tonnes per hectare. One technique that works well in many cases is when about 90 per cent of

the potash is applied onto the soil, with the other 10 per cent applied as a foliar spray of SOP. You could say that foliar application of SOP is a bit like an energy drink for a tennis player in the middle of a match. With promising potential for foliar applications of SOP in broad acre crops the group is in the process of developing a brand new grade of SOP with properties specifically tailored to foliar application. We hope to launch the new product, K-LEAFTM, this spring.” n

LEADING BEAUTY BRAND JOANNA, a company with a leading position in the hair and body care cosmetics market in Poland, is this year celebrating its 30th anniversary of operations. With an excellent level of brand recognition and awareness amongst consumers at home, JOANNA is also increasing its presence throughout export markets. Piotr Sadowski reports.

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hanks to its many years of experience and knowledge of consumer needs, JOANNA has been able to guarantee that its products meet the needs of even the most demanding consumers. JOANNA is an expert in hair care products, conditioning and styling, as well as in lightening, dyeing and professional hair care products for hairdressers. Since 2007 it has also been specialising in body care cosmetics, especially in depilation.

“We are experiencing continuous yearon-year growth, at a level of 10–11 per cent in terms of both turnover and value, which positions us amongst the leading cosmetics companies in Poland,” explains managing director Marek Łaskowski. “Our turnover for 2011 reached PLN 120 million which gives us around a 4 per cent share of the cosmetics market in the country.

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Our average monthly output reaches four million items of cosmetics and last year our overall production amounted to 6000 tonnes of products.”

The company employs 297 people and continuously invests in their training and development. JOANNA is also expanding its export operations: five years ago this activity accounted for 4 per cent of overall turnover, while at the end of 2011 this stood at 8 per cent which was achieved through close cooperation with foreign distributors.

“We are strong in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and now in Hungary as well where we have a very important business partner,” says Mr Łaskowski. “We have a more difficult time in Belarus and Ukraine due to their currency problems, but we are increasing exports to Russia and are thinking of launching a direct marketing campaign

there. Furthermore, we have managed to secure contracts with distributors in the Arab region and in Scandinavia.”

Effective marketing The past few years have been very successful for JOANNA, despite the economic downturn. This was in part owing to the fact that female consumers, who found themselves with more constrained budgets, turned to more affordable but equally high quality hair and body care products offered

by JOANNA. Indeed, the addition of body care lines has proven to be a wise move, with products including body peels, bath and shower gels, body balms and others.

“Of course, the tougher situation in the market has also demanded the introduction of products in high-volume packaging,” adds Mr Łaskowski. “At the same time, while

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Katarzyna Grodzka We represent two respected brands of market leaders in the cosmetic industry; Jos.H. Lowenstein and Bruno Bock GmbH & Co. KG. Our 15 years of experience in the Polish market and great quality products allow us to be the market leader in hair colouring and hair care.

We fill all orders within 24 hours and we offer the support of experienced technologists.

Customer satisfaction is our speciality!

• Thioglycolic Acid • Ammonium thioglycolate • Monoethanolamine, etc.

• Oxidation/non-oxidation hair colours • Acid dyes • Bleach, etc.

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many companies have tended to reduce their advertising costs over the last few years, we decided to actually increase the budget for marketing. Coupled with the excellent work of our distributors, this move has resulted in the strengthening of our brand.”

The company’s marketing efforts have included the complete revamping of its website and developing its position in social media advertising through banners and Facebook

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messages. JOANNA has been also leading a very successful TV advertising campaign and a range of its TV ads can be viewed on its website, www.joanna.pl/en. “A significant investment in marketing to further strengthen the JOANNA brand, despite the challenging environment, proved to be the right move for us. We will continue to invest in the development of the different marketing channels,” states the managing director.

Investments In addition to advertising, JOANNA has also been investing in production tools as well as implementing a modern management support system, together with the company ASECO – an operation partly supported by dedicated EU funding. As a large company and an important market player JOANNA naturally works with major retail networks – and such partners require that regular audits take place

e-mail: biuro@fitoco.pl tel: +48 22 758 78 53 www.fitoco.pl

FITOCO produces natural plant and herbal extracts for the chemical and cosmetic industries.

The company was established in 1991, and now it is among the oldest Polish providers in the market segment. FITOCO delivers a wide assortment of high quality natural plant extracts, produced using traditional means. Thanks to its long experience FITOCO can achieve stable quality parameters to fulfil the requirements of common industry standards. Our products are now used in the most advanced cosmetic product lines manufactured by many well-known corporations.

at the company, all of which have always been completed successfully.

“Of course, the high quality of our products very much depends on the components used in creating our offerings,” says Mr Łaskowski. “This is why we invest in the best raw materials coming from leading eurozone suppliers. Our laboratory confirms their highest quality standards, which for us guarantees absolute consumer satisfaction.”

In order to continue developing products to meet the needs of consumers, JOANNA actively monitors the market in Poland.

The business continues to expand and it is also important to note that another key investment, to take place during the next five years, will be to expand the company’s production facilities. This expansion will come through either extending its own factory or through the long-term lease of another manufacturing facility.

“We certainly want to maintain our market position, something which we have worked so hard on over the years, through continued expansion of product lines and effective marketing,” concludes Mr Łaskowski. “Our development will also focus on more dynamic growth, which could also happen through the takeover of n another business.”

INNOVATIVE SLEEP SOLUTIONS John Cotton is Europe’s leading manufacturer of pillows, duvets and mattress protectors. Philip Yorke talked to John Cotton, the company’s chairman about its move into new export markets and its latest range of innovative, eco-friendly and anti-allergenic products.

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ince 1916 John Cotton has been an independent family business and continues to be a pioneer in its field. Initially the company produced sound-proofing material for the automotive industry before becoming a major supplier of fillings to the upholstery and bedding industry. The company has enjoyed steady growth thanks to its culture of innovation and customer service. This trend continues today and in 2010 John Cotton won a coveted award as ‘Supplier of the Year’ to ASDA, one of Europe’s largest supermarket chains. The company’s on-going commitment to quality and efficiency has earned it a special place in the industry, and its pro-active stance concerning new product development has kept it one step ahead of its competitors.

Today the company invests in excess of £3 million annually in new manufacturing technology and production efficiency programmes at its extensive, state-of-the-art facilities at Mirfield, in West Yorkshire, UK. The company owns some of the biggest brands in the business and these include, Snuggledown, a Norwegian brand, Slumberdown and of course the famous John Cotton brand itself. John Cotton supplies a wide range of bedding products to large retailers for their ‘own-label’ brands, in addition to manufacturing its own product lines. Famous brands such as Silentnight, Sealy, Rely-on, Debenhams, Marks and Spencer and John Lewis, as well as many of Europe’s leading supermarkets, depend on John Cotton quality and service. In 2011 the company recorded sales of more than £125 million and employed over 800 people at its plants in the UK and Poland.

market and carries out extensive research into consumer trends and their buying habits, and every year refines its product range to satisfy changing demand. Furthermore, investment has not been restricted to R&D and new technology at John Cotton. In 2008 the company acquired a pillow and duvet manufacturer in Wroclaw in Poland that employs 150 people and it has completely modernised the plant to produce high-quality pillows, duvets and mattress protectors for the European market.

Mr John Cotton said, “Our move into Poland was part of a strategy to extend our European footprint and in particular to serve the Polish and German markets which share a common border. We have invested heavily in the latest automated technology there in order to manufacture high-quality mattress toppers and mattress protectors, pillows and duvets. Last year we spent £4.5 million in capital investment and a further £3 million in new equipment. This

investment has resulted in our turnover going from just over £110 million a year or two ago to more than £125 million today.”

John Cotton added, “During the last few years there has been an explosion in the cost of raw materials and cotton prices have doubled. This has resulted in a lot of manufacturers dramatically reducing their cotton blend from 100 per cent cotton to 50:50 polyester/cotton and in some cases 90 per cent polyester and 10 per cent cotton. In our case we have virtually maintained our high cotton blends through improved efficiencies and employing new production technologies to keep manufacturing costs down as low as possible. This in turn has brought other benefits to our customers as we can now turn around a large volume order within 3 days of receiving it. For example, our pillow volumes can be huge, currently we produce more than 300,000 pillows per week and over 180,000 duvets. We have our

Innovation and investment driving sales In addition to its investments in manufacturing technology the company also invests heavily in new product development, marketing and packaging innovation. John Cotton continually tracks and monitors changes in its

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own extensive warehousing facilities and our big supermarket and retail customers collect their orders directly from our own warehouses located close to our plants in Yorkshire.”

Natural, anti-allergy filled bedding John Cotton is the clear market leader in Europe when it comes to filled bedding products and regularly carries out extensive research into the bedding market. The inhouse laboratory daily monitors all aspects of raw materials and finished product while maintaining a commitment to bringing new sleep solutions to market. Every part of the product is tested and refined working closely with customers to produce the right product at the right price.

The company’s latest range of pillows and duvets offers allergy sufferers chemical-free protection against allergens with a natural barrier that prevents house dust mites from entering the bedding.

The company carried out extensive research in the UK that has proven that fabrics that are very densely woven with a particular thread pattern, will by their very composition act as a natural barrier to house dust mites. These are the most commonly found allergen in bedding that both aggravate and trigger asthma and other allergies. The company’s range therefore offers chemical-free protection and the bespoke cover ensures that consumers are naturally protected at all times.

In another ‘first’, John Cotton has launched an all-new ‘Eco-responsible’ range of bedding products, which uses 100 per cent cotton and recycled PET (polyethylene) products. This new range of pillows and duvets is called ‘Eternity’ and follows the wel-known principle, commonly known as the 3R’s approach: Reduce, Re-use, Recycle. The company’s sales and marketing director, Phil Atherton said, “Eternity is a new concept from John Cotton that allows consumers to make an ethical decision when purchasing pillows and duvets without compromising on either quality or comfort. We are proud to be able to offer a range of products that has been produced with the impact on our planet in mind, at a price that consumers n can really afford”.

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BEST FOOT FORWARD Poland’s largest footwear retailer NG2 operates more than 720 stores in Poland and the Czech Republic, with ambitious plans to expand across central and eastern Europe within the next five years. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to vice-president Piotr Nowjalis to find out more.

Dariusz Milek, CEO

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ith a 16 per cent domestic market share, NG2 SA is Poland’s largest footwear retailer. Founded in 1991

by Dariusz Milek, who holds a 40 per cent stake and remains an active CEO, and listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange since 2004, NG2 manufactures and sells footwear for men, women and children.

Primarily active in Poland and the Czech Republic, NG2 currently has 720 standalone stores, of which 667 are located in Poland. Its three core brands – CCC, Boti and Quazi – offer three distinct distribution channels and have been carefully created to respond to the market needs of its customers. Vice-president Piotr Nowjalis told Industry Europe, “We have been strategic in our development in these three core brands as we know that our customers have grown

to value and trust these names. Thanks to the diversified price points available, we can meet the footwear needs of each of our customers within the NG2 family.”

CCC is the company’s mainstream brand and has its feet firmly in the economy sector, offering price-sensitive products that are stylish and appealing for men, women and children. Boti is a super-economy brand and NG2 mainly operates these stores in small- to mid-sized Polish towns. Quazi is a mid-market brand with broad appeal, offering both economy and mid-priced shoes that match the profile of the customer in larger towns and cities in Poland and the Czech Republic.

Mr Nowjalis continued, “We are confident that our proposed expansion plans will see the CCC brand in particular brought to a wider audience, both in our strong Polish and Czech Republic markets and across central and eastern Europe. We believe that CCC offers the best mix of profitability and effectiveness, so this will be the main focus of our expansion.”

Stepping out over central and eastern Europe In 2011 NG2 announced its plans to expand geographically and this is already proving successful, with the first stores now open in Slovakia and Romania. While the company Industry Europe 91

has invested considerably in its domestic sales channels, it is also keen to exploit the potential in central and eastern Europe. Mr Nowjalis said, “Poland will keep being our most important market as there is an excellent structure of small towns and medium and large cities that suit our brands, a high population and the relatively high disposable income of Polish people compared to many other European countries. We expect to reach a 20 per cent domestic market share by 2014.”

He continued, “But it would be foolish of us to disregard the excellent opportunities in the wider region, especially as our business model allows us to deliver a range of appropriately priced footwear for men, women and children.

Our involvement in the Czech Republic initially started five years ago when we set up a subsidiary company and we now have a five per cent market share. In Slovakia, we expect to have 10 stores by the end of 2012. Our next

growth targets are Russia and Romania, and we have chosen a different way to expand as we will cooperate with franchisees to open stand-alone CCC stores. Currently NG2 has five franchise stores in Russia but is aiming at 20–30 stores by the end of next year.”

NG2’s unique business model sees it offer footwear produced both at its Polkowice, Poland headquarters and from its facilities in China. Only leather footwear is produced in Poland, owing to the excellent technical skills and raw materials available locally, whilst synthetic footwear is produced overseas. The most popular of its 67 different brands is Lasocki, which offers fashionable leather shoes for men, women and children.

Looking good NG2 is committed to meeting the fashionable demands of its customers and, thanks to its 20 years in the footwear industry, has an excellent knowledge of upcoming and lasting trends as well as a strong network of contacts to keep it aware of the latest colours and styles driving consumer behaviour in its active markets. In 2011 alone, NG2 sold nearly 20 million pairs of shoes, with the production capacity of its Polish factory standing at 5000 pairs of high quality leather shoes each shift and 10,000 pairs per day.

From a financial standpoint, NG2 is well aware of its appeal to potential investors. As a highly profitable company that generates excellent returns on equity, the company’s net

margin is more than 11 per cent. With low debt and payment of regular dividends, Mr Nowjalis is clear that foreign investors can benefit from its solid base due to a strong financial investment in its shareholder structure.

Mr Nowjalis concluded, “We’re always moving forward, both in terms of our product development and our geographical expansion. Last year we added Disney-branded shoes to our offer and in 2012 we will be introducing respected sports-branded shoes such as Nike and Adidas too. And as we move into rapidly developing markets such as Russia and Slovakia, we appreciate that our strong presence in the domestic market will be further enhanced by a growing market n share across the wider region.”

FULL OF ENERGY Italy-based Belleli Energy (CPE) Srl is one of the world’s leading suppliers of critical process equipment solutions. Barbara Rossi talks to the company’s sales and marketing director Mr Mori to discover the reasons for its success.

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elleli was founded in 1947 and soon became one of the market leaders in highly reliable EPC and Critical Process Equipment in both Europe and the Middle East. After a major expansion in the Middle East and various other developments, in 1997 the company was re-established as Belleli Energy Srl. In 2003 it was bought by the US-based company Hanover and was subsequently split into

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two separate entities: Belleli Energy Critical Process Equipment (CPE), located in Italy; and Belleli Energy (EPC) based in Dubai.

Belleli Energy (EPC) mainly serves the needs of customers in the Middle East and focuses on the manufacturing and installation of desalination plants and tank farms, providing clients with a complete range of services on an EPC basis. Belleli Energy (CPE) is a manufacturer of highly reliable equipment for

critical processes. Mr Mori explains: “Our in-house design, engineering and manufacturing allow us to ensure the integrity of the materials, processes and products, from raw materials to the finished product. We manufacture some of the world’s largest equipment and transport it from our docks to facilities around the world.”

The company’s Mantua headquarters with a total area of 280,000m2, of which 60,000 m2

are covered, host the largest facility in Europe for producing heavy wall reactors and shell and tube exchangers. This very combination of space, large manufacturing equipment and favourable transport conditions for international shipping (through its Mincio river harbour the company can have direct access to Venice International Seaport) enables Belleli to satisfy all kinds of requests for sophisticated process equipment of any size and weight.

Product range Belleli designs, engineers and manufactures critical process equipment for the hydrocarbon and power industry, supplying the refining and

petrochemical industries, the industrial and chemical as well as the nuclear sectors. For example, for the refining and petrochemical industry the company produces hydrocracking and hydrotreating reactors, breech lock type heat exchangers, tubular reactors, methanol reactors, EB/SM equipment, GTL reactors and high-pressure hot and cold separators.

For the industrial and chemical industries Belleli supplies high-pressure heat exchangers, urea equipment, ammonia converters, synthetic gas equipment and heavy wall vessels. The range of products for the nuclear sector consists of reactors, steam generators and heat exchangers. This range of products

makes Belleli one of the most important worldwide producers of critical process equipment for the energy sector.

Research, people and the environment Whilst maintaining the high quality standards that made it well known in every corner of the world and which gained it the ISO 9001:2000 certification, the company has diversified its activity in order to combat the effects of the financial crisis. In addition to its technical competence and on-time deliveries, Belleli can also guarantee the high quality of its entire manufacturing process from innovative design to after-sales service.

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In the last few years the company has added the production of urea to its portfolio, as well as becoming one of the very few Italian companies which hold the ‘N’ stamp. In fact, Belleli Energy (CPE) also holds the ASME codes, such as the nuclear pressure vessels ‘N’, ‘NPT’, and ‘NS’, as well as the U, U2, U3, S, and PP stamps. Other certifications held by Belleli are the Gost pressure vessel and heat exchanger certificates, the TUV certificate, and the CSEI (Manufacture license of special equipment – People’s Republic of China).

Within the equipment division there is a dedicated engineering team which is fully qualified to carry out engineering services for

sophisticated equipment design, including the design and development of basic data supplied by the client, thermal and fluid-dynamic design, stress analyses and mechanical design. Belleli also has a long tradition in developing innovative industrial design solutions and performs sophisticated in-house design activities such as 3D simulations, stress analysis by finite elements methods, fracture mechanics analysis, static analysis in steady and unsteady conditions, fatigue analysis, creep fatigue damage evaluation, and the thermohydraulic design of heat transfer systems.

There is also an energy plant engineering division – a dedicated team, support-

ing the contracting divisions with all the engineering services they provide for the construction of power plants, chemical and petrochemical plants and desalination plants. The plant engineering division is equipped to perform all engineering services such as general layout, piping, structural, instrumentation and the related support services to the procurement and construction divisions.

Belleli has also an excellent after sales service, with a team of multidisciplinary specialists with years of knowledge and expertise who are continuously looking for ways to better serve n clients anywhere in the world.

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UNINTERRUPTABLE PROGRESS IN POWER SUPPLY SYSTEMS GUTOR is a global leader in the design and manufacture of uninterruptable power supply (UPS) systems.

Philip Yorke talked to Eran Freiwald, the company’s head of business and product development about its latest switch mode power supply systems and its move into new market sectors.

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UTOR is a wholly owned subsidiary of the large Schneider Electric Group and is based in Wettingen, located close to Zurich airport in Switzerland. Schneider Electric SA is the world’s leading specialist in energy management systems and the group produces advanced solutions for using energy safely, efficiently and productively worldwide. The Schneider Electric Group is number one in the global UPS market with more than 120,000 employees in over 120 countries. Together with its strategic partners, GUTOR offers a global business and service network that is unrivalled in its field.

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For many years GUTOR has been the supplier of choice for industrial UPS systems to the oil and gas industry, as well as to the fossil and nuclear power industries. Today GUTOR systems are highly regarded for their performance and reliability in a wide range of critical industrial applications that also includes water treatment and transportation.

More complete solutions Recently GUTOR launched a new secured power product line named Mxx, aimed at industrial customers in market segments such as oil and gas and power generation. This advanced

new modular platform addresses both AC and DC requirements and is designed specifically for industrial environments. Its launch allows GUTOR to provide more complete solutions to customers, as well as to address a new section of the power supply market.

Mxx is a fully modular platform based on well established, modern switch mode (SMPS) technology. Within the platform, different modules can be combined to form a wide range of systems. These include Rectifier systems (MDC), UPS systems (MXP), Inverter systems (MXW) and DC/DC converter systems (MDD).

GUTOR’s Mxx is designed to meet customer-

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specific requirements in a low rating range up to 25kW DC and 12kVA AC. The main benefits of Mxx include N+1 redundancy, scalability and flexibility, CAN-bus communication and advanced monitoring and diagnostics.

Driven by growing investments in energy markets and the increasing need to protect automated processes, GUTOR’s business has seen double-digit growth in the last year. Freiwald notes, “We are continuing to see strong growth across the board and have increased our presence in key markets such as the Middle East for our oil and gas business, where we now have an extensive service and sales network in place, and in Asia where we have established a small production capability in China to serve the 100 Industry Europe

Chinese market.” To further accommodate the revenue growth, GUTOR is currently expanding its factory in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which is able to produce all the company’s product lines.

When asked what distinguishes industrial UPS vendors such as GUTOR from those supplying IT and networking applications, Freiwald pointed to several factors: “First of all, industrial environments are often subject to harsh conditions – the UPS must be able to withstand extremes in temperature, high humidity, high vibration, and seismic shocks.

Secondly, because of the long lifespan of industrial installations such as offshore rigs and the difficulty in servicing them, the UPS must have a long lifespan and require minimal

service interventions. Finally, unlike with commercial grade systems, industrial customers require a high degree of customisation. This is where GUTOR really stands out from the rest – through our ETO (engineered to order) approach, every system we deliver is highly engineered according to our customer’s specific needs.”

Building on its dominant position in the nuclear market, GUTOR recently announced a major contract with Westinghouse Electric Company for the supply of Class 1E battery chargers, inverters and voltage regulating transformers for four AP1000 nuclear reactors, which are currently being built in the USA. In fact, since 2001, GUTOR has been awarded similar contracts for 47 new-build

commercial nuclear power reactors in seven countries, along with many contracts for replacement systems in operating reactors.

In the oil and gas market, GUTOR has recently delivered large contracts to the Jubail Export Refinery complex in Saudi Arabia, as well as to the Habshan 5 processing plant in Abu Dhabi.

Looking to the future, GUTOR is planning to build on its strong position in its core markets while expanding into other areas.

Freiwald comments: “There are several areas where GUTOR solutions can bring a strong added value in terms of industrial secured power. We see for example strong growth potential in sectors such as mining, n desalination and transport.”

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SAILING

OFFSHORE Rosetti Marino is a shipbuilder for the oil and gas industry and a turnkey manufacturer of oil platforms, providing oil extraction solutions for the upstream oil and gas sector. The company’s general manager, Mr Deserti, speaks to Barbara Rossi about his listed company.

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Mr Deserti, general manager

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osetti Marino SpA is an integrated group of companies employing more than 700 people in Italy and 1300 people worldwide; its consolidated turnovers have reached and exceeded €350 million in recent years. About 80 per cent of its turnover comes from engineering and services for the upstream oil and gas sector, while the remaining 20 per cent is generated by shipbuilding, mainly for the upstream oil and gas sector. Rosetti Marino clients are major oil multinationals and local oil companies.

Rosetti Marino’s headquarters are located on the outskirts of Ravenna, a town in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna.

Here, occupying a three-hectare area, lie the company’s headquarters and workshop. The workshop is where prefabricated components are manufactured, to later be assembled at the Piomboni shipyard.

There are two shipyards, Piomboni and San Vitale, which are based in nearby Marina di Ravenna. The Piomboni shipyard covers an 11-hectare area located on the Piomboni Canal, and is part of the port of Ravenna.

This is where equipment for the upstream oil offshore sector is assembled and shipped.

The other shipyard is the nearby San Vitale yard, which covers a five-hectare area and is responsible for the shipbuilding.

In addition to these facilities, Rosetti Marino also owns two engineering companies, Basis Engineering and Fores, respectively based in Milan and Forlí. Both of these companies are independent and do not work exclusively for Rosetti Marino. Fores, which deals mainly with supplies in the field of communication and control systems for the upstream oil sector, carries out about 30 per cent of its work for Rosetti Marino. Basis is engaged in engineering for offshore projects for the oil and gas upstream sector, and the work it carries out for Rosetti Marino varies from 10 per cent to 80 per cent according to the year.

Important projects Three years ago, Rosetti Marino also established the company KCOI in Kazakhstan with a Kazakhstani partner, in which it has a 50 per cent share. An area of 90 hectares was acquired for this purpose and the first phase of the project, which cost €50 million, has been completed and went into operation in January 2012. While this first phase of the develop-

ment was being carried out the new company completed its first project. It now has another important ongoing project in another location in Kazakhstan, on the D artificial island in the Kashagan area – the largest oilfield discovered in the last 30 years.

Rosetti Marino is also present in other countries, where it constructs offshore oil platforms. For example, it has a branch in Tunisia where it employs 50 people and is currently in the process of revamping three offshore oil platforms. In Croatia, the company works with a local partner. Mr Deserti tells us: “In the last few years, with our partner we have constructed more than 90 per cent of the Croatian offshore platforms.”

Rosetti is also present in Egypt, where it has produced three platforms with a local partner, and maintains a presence in Algeria through

its subsidiary Fores. Furthermore, it has its own subsidiaries in Libya and Iraq, although the latter two are currently only operational at commercial level.

One of the projects the company has recently completed in the offshore sector is the construction of three Jasmine jackets for the Jasmine North Sea oilfield project. Mr Deserti adds: “We are also currently engaged in a project in the North Sea for Total UK, involving the construction of two process modules for two offshore platforms, respectively called West Frankin and Elgin B. Completion is planned for June 2013.”

Another project which has been completed recently, this time in the shipbuilding sector, is the delivery of the platform supply vessel ‘F.D Remarkable’, one of ten service vessels that Rosetti Marino is building for

the same shipowner Fratelli D’Amato. The next one, ‘Incomparable’, is going to be delivered in early June 2012. The company is also developing an anchor-handling supply vessel, which is very innovative in terms of anchor control in deep seas. It has a winch-pulling capacity of 500 tonnes, which, thanks to its UT712CD clean design, can be used in areas with very strict environmental legislation.

Furthermore, Rosetti Marino is involved, through one of its subsidiaries, Tecon, in the consortium that is working on the salvage of the Costa Concordia ship, which recently sank very close to the coast of the island of Giglio.

Geographical expansion At the moment Rosetti Marino is mainly working for offshore facilities located in the North Sea (40 per cent), in the Mediterranean (10 per cent) and in the Caspian Sea (50 per cent).

However, as Mr Deserti points out: “It is difficult to give exact percentages, as the company carries out projects of very significant volumes, therefore percentages can vary dramatically from year to year according to where current projects are based. Next year the situation could be very different.” The vessels built by the company travel all over the world, are certified to operate at global level, but are currently mainly employed in the North Sea. Mr Deserti expects future growth to be of an organic nature, through geographical

expansion involving joint ventures with local companies. Sustained growth is expected, continuing the trend of the last five years, thanks to the fact that the oil and gas sector is an industry that offers opportunities for growth.

This growth will mainly come from expansion in new areas such as Turkmenistan, the Persian Gulf, West Africa and Mozambique. Mr Deserti says: “These are the areas that we are looking at to have a local presence and expand our production basis.”

Rosetti Marino holds all relevant certifications (ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001) and was among the first to achieve the ISO 9001 certification in the early 1990s. Mr Deserti stresses that the company has a strong focus on staff training and that he is particularly proud of the n company’s safety record.

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POWER FOR THE FUTURE As a leading specialist in energy plant construction, Hitachi Power Europe benefits from the growing demand for electricity and the boom in power plant construction across the world.

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ased in the traditional coal mining area of Germany, and backed by the global Hitachi Group, Hitachi Power Europe designs, constructs and retrofits fossil-fired power plants. The company, known as Babcock-Hitachi Europe until 2006, is considered a market and technology leading provider of cutting-edge, ecologically sound and economic plants. They are a preferred partner for all key components of power plants and play a prime role in securing the supply of electricity in market economies worldwide.

Hitachi Power Europe’s history goes back to the establishment of Deutsche Babcock & Wilcox Dampfkesselwerke AG in Berlin in 1898. In 2003 Babcock-Hitachi K.K., a subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., acquired the power engineering business and the know-how in steam generation and combined-cycle power

plants of the former Babcock Borsig Group, Oberhausen. Following complete takeover by the Hitachi Group, the company was renamed Hitachi Power Europe GmbH (HPE) in 2006.

The Hitachi Group has revenues of approx.

USD 112.2 billion and a 360,000 workforce worldwide. HPE is responsible for the markets in Europe, Africa, Russia and India within the group, as well as being the Centre of Competence for the electrification of lignite / anthracite.

Full range of solutions for fossil fuels With a track record going back over a century, HPE has extensive know-how on fossil-fired power plants. The offer ranges from the all-in Power Train to the key components such as utility steam generators, environmental engineering equipment, steam turbines and pulverizers.

The company will take on every facet of the operation, from preparing approval applications through every aspect of technical planning, construction, assembly and commissioning to upstream and downstream integration. The engineering capabilities cover all disciplines: plant, civil and process engineering, mechanical equipment, electrical and control systems as well as piping engineering. HPE has its own manufacturing facilities for all principal components through its subsidiaries of Donges SteelTec GmbH, Meeraner Dampfkesselbau GmbH and Babcock Fertigungszentrum GmbH. HPE develops, designs and supplies steam generators for unit capacities up to and over 1,100 Mwe with 300 bar plus pressures, 600°C live steam temperatures and reheater temperatures up to 620°C for all the available

fossil fuels. References include over 370,000 megawatts of installed power plant capacity set up since 1970.

References across Europe The highly successful and globally deployed H-25 / H-15 gas turbines from parent company Hitachi are the optimum solution for maximum reliability, efficiency and economy.

Designed as a heavy duty machine (30 MW rating class), over 120 Hitachi gas turbines are in service throughout the world, proving dependable under continuous operation, particularly for plants with cogeneration/district heating supply. H25 projects in Europe recently carried out include upgrading work for Matra Kraftwerke AG in Hungary (2 x H25), a new power plant for E.ON Energy Projects and E.ON Hungary (H25) and a new power plant for Wuppertaler Stadtwerke AG (2 x H25).

Joint venture in India In August 2010 HPE set up a joint venture with BGR Energy Systems Ltd. in Chennai, India. The facility for producing 660–1,000 MW class utility steam generators in Tamil

Nadu, due for completion in 2012, will deliver up to four highly efficient utility steam generators (3,000 MW in total) a year. It is envisaged that some 2,100 skilled employees will be working in the production by 2017. Modern coal power plants attain efficiencies of up to 46 per cent – against average efficiency figures of 30 per cent for the world and 38 per cent in the EU. This is achieved by “supercritical” utility steam generators (300+ bar steam pressure and 600°C+ steam temperature), which will be built by the joint venture. The Indian power plant sector is an important future market for HPE: with a 1.2 billion population, the Indian sub-continent’s electricity generating need is set to double to over 330,000 MW by 2017.

String of new plants in Africa HPE is also carrying out a major installation in partnership with Hitachi Power Africa (HPA), where the fixing of the first boiler column at the Kusile site in South Africa took place last November. Customer Eskom has ordered six utility steam generators sited some 100 km east of Johannesburg, which will have an

overall output in excess of 4,800 MW (el.).

This is the same output as that at the Medupi power plant, for which HPE and HPA are also supplying the utility steam generators. In Kusile 2,700 jobs have already been created for building the utility steam generator, and the training and qualification programme has trained 322 apprentices – with twothirds coming from Mpumalanga Province.

Once finished, the new utility steam generators at Medupi and Kusile will be the most up-to-date of their kind in South Africa with efficiencies 15 per cent up on the average for power plants in the country.

Currently a quarter of the world population is still without electricity, and with energy consumption set to rise rapidly, experts predict a doubling of demand by 2030. In the EU alone it is expected that 300,000 MW (almost half of the current installed capacity) will have to be replaced by 2020. With its extensive references, strong parent company and innovations like the installation of the first 50 per cent efficiency plant (planned for 2015), Hitachi Power Europe is exceptionally well placed to ‘power ahead’ in this growing market. n

TAILOR-MADE THERMAL SYSTEMS “Flexibility is what makes our offer unique. Each heat substation is produced on the basis of an individual design; tailor-made production provides a guarantee that it will be adjusted to the network parameters and internal installations. Our client can order everything that makes sense from a thermal point of view, and we can make everything, from the initial project up to the final installation and start-up,” says Slawomir Jarecki, vice president of Elektrotermex, based in Ostroleka, Poland, a leading producer of heat substations and thermal insulation of pipelines.

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lektrotermex was established in 1988, with 100 per cent Polish capital. Initially it employed a few people and was based in a small basement of a rented private detached house. The stockroom was in the garage.

Now Elektrotermex employs 140 people and its headquarters and factory cover an area of two hectares, which is fully owned by the company. The production facility has an area of 3500m2. The company’s annual sales are estimated at more than PLN 45 million and profit for 2011 at more than PLN 2 million.

Specialists in compact heat substations A heat substation is a device which converts the water parameters in a municipal heating network into parameters appropriate for the installation of a heated facility. The heat distribution system allows for regulation of the parameters of water in the central heating installation, as well as their remote monitoring and reading.

Elektrotermex, as the first such company in Poland, started production of compact heat substations. “It was 1992 when we proIndustry Europe 109

duced the first ever compact heat substation in Poland. Earlier we tried to install this kind of heat substation imported from Denmark.

However, it didn’t work properly since the substation was designed for different working conditions. So we decided to make our own, original compact heat substation. It met with great enthusiasm from our clients,” explains Mr Jarecki.

Elektrotermex’s annual production capacity is around 1600 substations (140 units per month). “What also makes our offer unique is the fact that the modular structure of the system allows for its manual transportation into a selected facility through narrow cellar corridors and door frames,” Mr Jarecki continues. “Each system is made in our factory, which enables us to put it together in more favourable conditions. Then it is delivered free-of-charge to any place in Poland.

Furthermore, the well-thought-out structure

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of the system allows for easy access to all devices of the heat distribution system during its standard operation.”

In the early 1990s the company was selling its products locally in Ostroleka and close surroundings. Then it expanded throughout Poland taking part in public auctions. It won many of them, including the big ones financed by the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Entrance to the prestigious Warsaw market was a breakthrough point in the company’s history.

“Now Poland is our key market,” says Mr Jarecki. “But we have also been selling our products abroad, mainly to Kaliningrad Oblast, which is very close to Ostroleka. Some substations have been exported to Serbia and Kosovo. Quite recently, just a few days ago, we established our sales representative in China. The export activity helped us to survive

the recent financial crisis in relatively good condition, as many local investments and installation repairs have been suspended.”

Range of products Elektrotermex makes various types of heat substations. EC single-function heat substation type systems supply a building solely for the purposes of central heating, e.g. factory halls, warehouses, shops, etc. They may also be used in the modernisation of central heating installations in residential buildings, in which the users have hot water from other sources (e.g. gas heaters).

ECWR, a two-function heat substation is the heat distribution system which operates in a system of parallel connection of the exchanger of central heating with the exchanger for preparation of tap water. The operation of the central heating system and the hot water system is completely inde-

pendent. The ECWR type systems supply facilities with a high disproportion in demand for heating power for the needs of central heating and hot tap water; heating networks with low available pressures; and systems where the main selection criterion is low investment output. ECWS two-function heat substation operate in serial-and-parallel circuit of the central heating system with the hot tap water preparation system.

Elektrotermex also offers large heating stations of several MW power, most often

assembled in large new office and residential facilities. “Several prestigious projects of this type are the best recommendation and confirmation of our potential”, says Mr Jarecki.

“The most important of them include the Hilton Hotel in Warsaw, the Olympic Centre in Warsaw and the Heweliusz Hotel in Gdansk.”

Elektrotermex also produces the ETX-PUR thermal insulation pipe covers in fish-plates from rigid polyurethane foam with galvanized iron, sheet aluminium and the “Izofrex” foil coating for overhead pipeline heat distribu-

tion networks with pipes from 200 to 1600 mm in diameter.

The company has the necessary technical approvals and sanitary certificates, and has passed the self-extinguishing tests carried out by the Department of Fire Research of the Building Research Institute in Warsaw.

Elektrotermex has also implemented ISO 9001:2000 system, is certified by BVQI, and all its systems bear the CE mark as a confirmation of compliance with the EU directives. n www.etx.pl

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POWER AND COMMUNICATION The Prysmian Group is a world leader in the production of hi-tech power and telecom cables and systems.

Barbara Rossi finds out about recent developments at the company.

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he Prysmian Group is a leader in the design, development, manufacture, supply and installation of a wide range of cables, components and accessories for the most diverse applications for both the power and the telecommunication sectors. Furthermore, it also provides value added services such as co-design, cable system project management, complete turnkey projects and installation and post-installation maintenance services, especially for the energy sector. In terms of turnover, Prysmian is the second biggest producer of power cables in the world and one of the main manufacturers of cables for the telecommunication sector.

Prysmian is subdivided into two divisions – Energy and Telecommunications – which are completely integrated, sharing quality control, human resources and finance. The Energy division comprises wires and components for power transmission, construction and infrastructure, and industry. The Telecoms division, on the other hand, deals with wires and accessories for telecommunication solutions, optical fibres and multimedia segments.

The Prysmian Group’s main brands are Prysmian and Draka, two of the strongest and most respected commercial brands in the industry worldwide. They meet the needs of two distinct sectors: energy cables and systems for underground and submarine power transmission and distribution; and telecom cables and systems for video, data and voice transmission. Prysmian has a long history, having started out as part of the Pirelli group in 1879. After having evolved and

expanded both in terms of production and geographical coverage over the years, the company was bought from Pirelli by Goldman Sachs in 2005, when it was renamed Prysmian and listed on the Milan stock exchange.

The Prysmian and Draka brands were recently merged and the group’s major strategy is now to preserve and develop both brands. This will translate into a strengthened geographical presence, particularly in Europe, as a result of the complementary geographical presence of Draka in northern Europe and Prysman in southern Europe. It will also mean a greater presence in some attractive emerging markets, in key industrial cable markets and in the telecoms business across EMEA, North and South America, and China. This will result in an even faster customer service, regardless of the location of clients.

Currently the group is present in 50 countries, covering both mature and emerging markets, has 97 plants, 17 R&D centres and employs about 22,000 people worldwide. Its global operations are supported by a worldwide network of local subsidiaries, across five continents. In 2010 Prysmian, which is headquartered in Milan, had a turnover of €46 million.

Excellence, integrity, understanding Prysmian places great emphasis on research, as highly innovative technological products, high product quality and an outstanding customer service are crucial to its success. For this reason, as well as having numerous R&D centres staffed by 400 skilled professionals, the

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group also collaborates with major universities and colleges, such as CNR (the National Research Council of Italy), and participates in numerous fairs and conferences. In terms of quality, the group employs a ‘zero defects’ and ‘right first time’ approach and is committed to understanding the needs of its clients, so as to provide them with the best solution for their particular case.

The principles of environmental sustainability are embedded within the group, playing an

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important role in its competitiveness. Prysmian constantly strives to manufacture products with an even lower environmental impact and it holds up-to-date ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001 certifications. It is particularly proud of its Ecology line of power land transmission systems, where lead has been partially or completely replaced by the lighter and more eco-friendly aluminium, as well as of its submarine high technology wires which carry power from the world’s largest offshore

wind farms to where power is consumed, and its P-laser technology for medium voltage power distribution. In addition to this, there is its wide range of low smoke zero halogen and low fire-hazard safety wires for the construction sector, and the fact that Prysmian also supplies wires to solar power parks, wind farms and photovoltaic plants.

Global clients Thanks to its wide and innovative range of products and services, the Prysmian Group is the partner of choice for some of the world’s

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key utilities companies, power grid operators, industrial groups and telecom companies.

Recently the group has been commissioned to carry out a €67 million project to link the Vietnamese national power grid to the island of Pu Quoc. This is the first submarine power link built by a utility company in Vietnam. In addition to this exciting project the Prysmian group is also going to supply over 200km of high power cables to Libya, for the Bengasi and Tripoli grids. Furthermore, through Draka, the group will be involved in supplying high technology cables for the lifts of the new

World Trade Centre in New York. The biggest contract win for the group is the €800 million Western HVDC Link assigned to the group in partnership with Siemens. In fact, this is the highest value project ever commissioned in the cable sector and involves a new submarine power link between Scotland and England, supplying energy from renewable sources. This strategic British infrastructure project is a real challenge in terms of power and capacity and the fact that Prysmian has won the bid with Siemens confirms the group’s n strong reputation.

PLEASURES OF

THE TABLE The Perutnina Ptuj Group is one of the most important poultry producers in Central and Eastern Europe. Joseph Altham spoke to Dr Roman Glaser, Perutnina Ptuj’s CEO, to find out about a company that has not only built up a flourishing export business but also wins awards for its wines.

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ased in Slovenia, in the ancient city of Ptuj, Perutnina Ptuj has a long history. The company was founded in 1905 and started exporting poultry back in the 1930s. Ideologies may come and go but people will always love roast chicken.

Perutnina Ptuj survived the establishment of communism in Yugoslavia, the collapse of communism in Yugoslavia and then the break-up of Yugoslavia itself. Today, alongside raw chicken and turkey, the company offers various added-value products such as turkey meatloaf and chicken dishes that are ready to be fried in a wok.

Perutnina Ptuj pioneered the development of the parboiled chicken sausage. The Poli chicken sausage, the company’s most famous product, came onto the market in 1974. As a chicken sausage, one of Poli’s advantages is its relatively low fat content.

Poli also has obvious attractions for those Industry Europe 117

groups whose religion forbids the eating of pork. Perutnina Ptuj offers versions of the Poli sausage with vegetables or with cheese. More recently, the company has widened the Poli range to include a spreadable pâté. However, the recipe for the classic Poli sausage is the same as when it was first created. “It’s a secret,” said Dr Glaser, “just like the Coca-Cola formula!”

Pullus wines While reluctant to divulge the recipe for Poli, Perutnina Ptuj is ready to offer many different suggestions on how to cook its turkey and chicken. To accompany these dishes, the company recommends various wines from its own subsidiary, Ptujska Klet. Ptuj, on the River Drava, is situated in the northeast of Slovenia, the country’s largest wine region. Ptujska Klet is Ptuj’s wine cellar, a labyrinth of underground passages beneath the old town. Perutnina Ptuj acquired Ptujska Klet in 2002 and later rebranded all its wines under the Pullus name. The Pullus wines have won many international 118 Industry Europe

awards. For example, the Pullus Sauvignon 2008 took the Gold Medal at the prestigious Concours Mondial de Bruxelles.

The wine cellar was established by a monastic order in the thirteenth century and Ptujska Klet is proud of its heritage, even though its employees no longer have to take a vow of poverty and chastity. To appeal to the young at heart, Pullus offers a decidedly non-monastic rosé, Pinky Chick, described as “probably the sexiest wine in Slovenia.” Pullus also produces a popular local speciality, Halozan, a refreshing blend of different grape varieties like Furmint, Riesling, Chardonnay and Pinot Grigio that are all grown on the hills around Ptuj. Production at Ptujska Klet combines respect for tradition with modern winemaking techniques. “Our region has some very special wines. Following the acquisition, we made improvements to the structure and quality of the wines and introduced computer-controlled technology. The Pullus wines have won gold and silver medals and the export market for them is global.”

Growth Dr Glaser took the helm at Perutnina Ptuj in 1992. At the time, the turnover of the business was about €30 million. Twenty years later, the turnover is €260 million and Perutnina Ptuj accounts for 45 per cent of Slovenia’s total meat exports. Achieving this kind of growth, says Dr Glaser, takes hard work. “The 1990s were not an easy time but I was lucky because I had a good team of managers around me.”

A distinctive feature of the company is that it is a “vertically integrated” poultry business, giving Perutnina Ptuj control of production from farm to fork. This structure allows the company to guarantee the consumer a high level of quality.

The business even prepares its own animal feed, ensuring the diet of the chickens is free from genetically modified grain.

Perutnina Ptuj has used acquisitions to expand into Croatia, Bosnia and Serbia, while retaining its characteristic vertically integrated approach in all three of these countries. In Bosnia, Perutnina Ptuj built its own meat processing plant near Sarajevo, completed in 2008. “After any acquisi-

tion we bring in our own organisation and production know-how. We are strong in the Balkans but we are also actively promoting exports of the chicken sausage to Germany, Austria and Scandinavia.”

Fitness Dr Glaser was educated to be a vet and Perutnina Ptuj has a strong commitment to animal welfare and hygiene. “Bacterial contamination is a big issue and we have strict procedures in place to cover this.” Perutnina Ptuj also tries to encourage its customers to lead a healthy lifestyle, in the belief that health and fitness can be reconciled with the enjoyment of food and wine. The company sponsors the town’s cycling club and also supports a recreational cycling event for less serious athletes, the Poli Marathon.

“Chicken contains essential amino acids and is a good source of protein. The health benefits of chicken are one reason why this business has a future. Another is that we meet the high standards of quality that n modern consumers demand.”

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A CENTURY OF SUCCESS Due to its iconic square design and constant introduction of new, innovative varieties, Ritter Sport chocolate has become a firm favourite in households around Europe. Julia Snow looks at how Alfred Ritter GmbH & Co. is celebrating a ‘century of chocolate’ in 2012.

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lfred Ritter GmbH & Co. KG is a traditional family enterprise, today led by Alfred T. Ritter of the third generation.

The year 2012 is a very special one for the chocolate makers, because the company is celebrating 100 years of business.

Around 2.5 million bars are produced each day by 900 employees in the single production site in Waldenbuch near Stuttgart. All ingredients are chosen carefully and each bar is produced with equal care.

The company’s story began in 1912, in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, where the master confectioner Alfred Eugen and his wife Clara

Göttle, a sweetshop owner, started their own chocolate and sweets factory. Chocolate was in high demand, and the company grew quickly, until in 1932 Clara observed that rectangle-shaped chocolate was a poor fit for the pockets of spectators at local sporting events. The revolutionary square shape and the name ‘Ritter Sport’ were born and in 1960 the company decided to focus on the square shape exclusively.

Building an unmistakable identity The slogan ‘Quadratisch.Praktisch.Gut.’ (English version: Quality. Chocolate. Squared.)

was used in nationwide TV advertising during the 1970s and quickly became a part of the German language. The strong brand identity, coupled with the characteristic colour coding of each flavour and the user-friendly design of the ‘snap’n’open’ packaging rounds off the unmistakable identity of the product.

With an enviable brand awareness of 99 per cent in Germany, the company also exports products to over 90 countries. The product range includes 24 varieties of the 100g square bar, seven large format (250g) bars and five ‘organic’ varieties, as well as various minivarieties. In marketing terms the company

maximises the use of seasonal varieties and ‘relaunches’ particularly popular varieties to create interest and keep consumers engaged with product innovations.

Going strong in 2011 A moderate profit was declared by Ritter Sport for the year 2011, along with a growth in turnover of €32 million (up 10.2 per cent) to a total of €330 million. In the German home market Ritter was able to gain 9.9 per cent growth in turnover, and export sales grew by 10.4 per cent. The total export share was 35 per cent, compared to 31 per cent in the previous year.

“This success is a great basis for our 100year celebrations this year – my grandmother invented the chocolate square and we will honour her memory by continuing this innovative tradition,” says Alfred T. Ritter.

In 2011 Ritter Sport was also honoured with the ‘Sustainable Producer’ award by the ‘Verbraucher Initiative e. V.’ for displaying environmental and social responsibility.

Lively plans for the centenary During the year 2012 a three-storey, mobile ‘chocolate house’ will be on of tour through 19 different cities around Germany, inviting chocolate fans everywhere to join in the celebrations. A chocolatier on board will explain the Ritter family’s sweet secrets of chocolate making and there will be opportunities for chocolate tasting and ‘bespoke’ production of customised prototypes.

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To celebrate the occasion on the retail shelves a new chocolate bar was launched, containing a mix of luxury nuts in milk chocolate, with its packaging featuring the striking new anniversary logo ‘100 Jahre Ritter’.

Caring for people and the planet Ritter is also characterised by a responsible attitude to both its employees and environmental resources. As early as 1991 the company replaced aluminium and paper packaging with a one-component packaging material made from fully recyclable polypropylene. It also owns and operates a block power station, which provides energy and heat for production. In addition, over the past 10 years Ritter has been running a ‘no nuclear power’ policy, thereby demonstrating that manufacturing companies can become independent from nuclear technology.

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Since 1990 the company has been supporting cocoa farming in Nicaragua with the project ‘Cacaonica’, aiming to improve living conditions for farmers and using the premium cocoa for its organic range of chocolate.

A taste for tradition As a result of the rising costs of raw materials like milk and sugar, in 2012 customers

will see the first upward price adjustment in four years. For hazelnuts alone the costs exceeded the forecast by seven million euros, and Ritter chooses to maintain its high product quality rather than compromise owing to price pressures.

“Quality has its price,” says Alfred T. Ritter, “and as a family-owned enterprise we have to work to healthy business principles.

When it comes to a product that stands for pleasure and a bit of luxury, the price should be secondary to the enjoyment that the product brings.”

The founder’s grandchildren, who are today leading the board and executive committee, are carrying on in the family tradition: Ritter Sport will remain square, colourful and of n uncompromisingly high quality.

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CREAM OF THE CROP Lamb Weston/Meijer is a global leader in the field of frozen potato products. Philip Yorke talked to Dale McCarthy, the company’s director of manufacturing, about its diverse range of products, its innovative customer services and strategy for future growth.

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amb Weston/Meijer traces its roots back to 1920 when Kees Meijer’s family began a potato farm in Zeeland in the Netherlands, where they decided to grow only the very best quality potatoes. The company prospered and by 1950 had become a major producer for the Benelux counties. Meanwhile in the USA, another entrepreneurial potato grower called F. Gilbert Lamb started a company in Weston in the state of Oregon. That company was called Lamb Weston, and in 1960 Gilbert Lamb patented a revolutionary invention: the world’s first cutting machine to cut fries under high water pressure. By the early 1990s both companies had grown considerably and were brand leaders in the frozen potato industry in their respective geographical regions. Subsequently an alliance was formed resulting in a merger that created the Lamb Weston/Meijer group.

It’s headquarter is based in The Netherlands, with five factories across Europe.

Today the global Lamb Weston company is one of the top three largest potato product manufacturers in the world, employing more than 6,200 people and producing 3.1 million tons of potato products each year,

which is equal to more than 10 million portions of fries per day in Europe alone. Lamb Weston’s products are sold in more than 100 countries across all seven continents and it operates over a dozen modern manufacturing plants worldwide.

Innovation and consistent quality driving sales Lamb Weston enjoys a reputation of being the most innovative producer of potato products in the world and this differentiates it from its competitors. The company is committed to investing a great deal of time, money and resources into the development of new and improved potato products. Lamb Weston recognises that the wishes of its customers and consumers are paramount when it comes to the development of new products.

To this end it regularly carries out independent market and consumer research to understand what is happening in the market place and the latest trends. New concepts in the context of flavour, quality, consistency and convenience are all first tested extensively before being taken into production.

The company’s legendary status in the frozen potato market is based upon many factors including its introduction of the world’s first potato wedges in 1976, which took the market by storm and today is one of the world’s most popular frozen potato varieties, McCarthy said.

“The Lamb Weston/Meijer group is an equal partnership between Lamb Weston of the USA and Kees Meijer of the Netherlands and our combined creativity and state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities have resulted in an unparalleled combination of expertise, innovative recipes and technology. We are in a very competitive marketplace and we continue to succeed by bringing unique solutions to our customers and by exceeding their expectations. Our customers know that they can rely on our consistent high quality and the products that we develop in cooperation with them.”

McCarthy added, “We serve a diverse portfolio of clients with differing needs that range from quick-service restaurants and food service companies to the retail and general food industries. Quality, flavour, innovation and a low cost price form the ingredients of our

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success and of the success of our customers. And our customers include some of the biggest brand names in the business, such as McDonald’s and Burger King. Our continuous improvement policy and our special management process known as ‘Accelerator Methodology’ ensures that along with our customers, we stay one step ahead of the competition.”

Huge variety Lamb Weston’s product range is by its nature huge in the variety of cut styles, recipes and packaging innovations that it can create. A significant part of its activities is focused on the supply of products developed in partnership with its customers. The challenge is to offer or develop a suitable solution for each new food concept or demand. For example, the 30,000 tons of potato flakes that the company produces each year are used in a wide variety of products for the food industry. Companies

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all over the world process these high quality flakes to create a huge range of products, and they form the basis for instant soups, mashed potatoes, crisps, gnocchi, bread mixes and snacks. Lamb Weston potato flakes are of consistent high quality and available in a variety of colours and sizes and the great variation of products ensures that every meal is different but equally delicious.

Lamb Weston want their customers to be one hundred per cent satisfied, not only with their products but also with their service. The company therefore pays a great deal of attention to its customer support programmes and works at establishing a good and lasting relationship with all its clients, both large and small.

Furthermore, due to the company’s contacts throughout the world, Lamb Weston’s service staff are fluent in a number of languages, so the company can speak at a local level which in turn improves communications and efficiency.

However, it is not only its customers that are important to Lamb Weston, but its growers too and they are drawn from the best cultivation areas in Europe. They grow only the very best quality potatoes and the company assists them with professional advice on fertilisation, crop protection, irrigation and storage. In addition, Lamb Weston works with a group of leading growers to further develop their crop expertise and to remain at the cutting edge of improving crop technology. n

GRABBING OPPORTUNITIES Specialist mechanical engineering company Salzgitter Maschinenbau AG (SMAG) is the world market leader in the development and manufacture of grabs for bulk cargo applications. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to marketing director Jurgen Bialek to find out how the company expects to grow through continued strategic acquisitions and careful core business management.

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stablished in Salzgitter, Germany in 1919 by Anton Raky, a pioneer of the engineering industry, Salzgitter Maschinenbau AG (SMAG) today is the world market leader in grabs. A 500-person strong mechanical engineering company that specialises in the development, manufacture and operation of grabs for the loading and unloading of sea-going cargo vessels, SMAG operates worldwide.

Bought by the Salzgitter Group is 1937, SMAG has continued to acquire strategically beneficial companies throughout its nearly 100-year history in order to gain brands, skills and market presence. It bought the grab division of Peiner AG in 1986 and continues to operate under this well-known brand for its grabs. It uses the SMAG brand for motor, hydraulic and rope grabs. Both names are considered leaders in their fields.

Marketing director Jurgen Bialek told Industry Europe how SMAG’s core competencies continue to be boosted by clever acquisitions. He said, “Relatively recently we bought special technology company Herbst GmbH located in Braunschweig which has allowed us to enjoy rapid growth in this sector, as it was respected for its truck loading equipment specifically for the mining and steel mill industries. Now called

Herbst SMAG Mining Technologies GmbH, it has brought us increased activity in mining technology which works well with our existing mining equipment capabilities.”

Grabs and more SMAG’s core competencies see mining technology sit alongside its famous grabs and mobile antenna equipment. These three SMAG divisions all work separately from its Salzgitter head office, with further production facilities in Döbeln, Germany, and Shanghai, China. The mobile antenna equipment division primarily provides mechanically and hydrauli-

cally actuated antenna masts. The company also develops and manufactures fully automated drilling rigs specifically for salt mining applications. As the world market leader in grabs, SMAG’s Peiner grabs are ideally suited to bulk cargo applications such as the lifting and unloading of sand, gravel, coal, refuse, wood and agricultural commodities.

Mr Bialek explained how these core competencies work together to create a customer-focused offer. He said, “The blend of these services allows us to meet the demanding bulk cargo loading and unloading needs of the marine industry, particularly

for cargo shipping, as well as for steel mills, incinerator plants, construction and timber sectors. We have extensive in-house capabilities that we have developed throughout our history, and added to by clever acquisitions that highlight how closely we appreciate the needs of our customers.”

SMAG now has 100 per cent ownership of a Leipzig based company called Matec.

Matec’s expertise in manufacturing cabins for trucks for excavators and other applications is a welcome addition to the SMAG portfolio. SMAG now also owns 70 per cent of a joint venture in China, where a further

420 employees are based. Manufacturing grabs for the local Chinese market as well as other components, this joint venture contributed €35 million to the company in 2011.

Mr Bialek added, “We have been very pleased with our financial results in 2011 and see our upward trajectory continuing, particularly as the market is likely to be more positive in 2012. Our 2011 results saw us achieve a total turnover of €190 million, thanks to €140 million from the grabs business, of which €105 million was gained from the Peiner brand in Salzgitter and €35 million from our manufacturing in

China, with a further €20 million from the Herbst SMAG Mining Technologies GmbH business and the remaining €30 million from the Matec activities.”

Continuing investment Ongoing investment also plays a key role in SMAG’s continuing success, both in terms of adding to its existing capabilities and by increasing its technical offer. The company invests every year, with its 2011 upgrades including a new state-of-the-art paint shop and drying hall. This will ensure that SMAG is staying ahead of the changing EU regula-

tions requiring all companies to use only water-based paint for ecological reasons.

SMAG has also recently bought two new machines which offer the very latest plasma cutting technology. Already installed and working efficiently, this machine will boost its effectiveness and productivity in this department.

Already enjoying a broad global presence, SMAG can meet the needs of its customers worldwide, with a particularly strong position in Europe, the US, Australia, Asia and South America. Mr Bialek continued, “As yet we are not that strong in the Middle East or Russia, where we are keen to find new partners to enable us to bring our products and services to these regions. Strategic acquisitions have long been an important part of our business development strategy and we are cooperating closely with the German Chamber of Commerce to ensure that we are utilising all possible opportunities.”

SMAG is focusing its ongoing acquisition plans in the fields of coil tongs and paper tongs as these will add value to its current crane and grab offer. Open-minded to the location and specific capabilities of its potential acquisition targets, SMAG expects that its marine activities will steadily be eclipsed by its n growing material handling business.

COMPLETE

SORTING

Aweta grading and packaging BV is a global leader in the design and manufacture of packing and sorting systems for fruit, vegetables and flowers. Philip Yorke talked to Jean Luc Delcasse, the company’s CEO about its innovative new products and its latest company restructuring programme.

SOLUTIONS T

he Aweta Group is based in the Netherlands where it began by producing packing and sorting systems for greenhouse tomatoes almost 50 years ago.

Today the Aweta Group occupies a leading position in sorting equipment worldwide. All the company’s manufacturing, sales and logistics offices are located in major fruit, vegetable and flower producing areas. Furthermore, all the specialised sorting equipment is designed, developed, assembled and tested in-house.

Innovation has for many years been part of the company’s culture and the key to Aweta’s success. All over the world, Aweta’s researchers are collectively working on new systems and software programs based on a broad knowledge of advanced sorting technologies and automation techniques.

The leading specialist in post-harvest technology The face of agriculture is changing fast and often driven by consumers who demand ever better quality fruit and vegetables.

The consumer is also demanding new, innovative packaging that is more eco-friendly and sustainable in character. Here Aweta’s strength 130 Industry Europe

lies in its ability to think internationally, whilst at the same time being able to adapt to the specific characteristics and changing demands of each market. In the agriculture sector, the ability to think global and act local is more than an advantage for Aweta, it is a necessity if it is to move ahead with the times.

Delcasse said. “Recently we have undergone a major restructuring programme that has made us an even more flexible and efficient company. We are now able to present to market one common platform whether it’s greenhouse, kiwi, citrus or apple produce. In fact we can now include mango, avocado, pomegranate and lots of other produce on the same platform which gives an advantage in term of quality (reliability), service (local support) and price by the quantity of platform units built and installed all over the world. The big difference between us and our competitors is that we grew up in three sectors; Aweta G&P in Holland in the greenhouse sector, Aweta Sistemi, spa in the apple and kiwi sectors and Aweta Autoline, in the citrus sector, this has put us way ahead of the competition.”

“In addition, we have maintained our leading position as the biggest supplier of sorting and

packing equipment for greenhouse growers worldwide. We have a strong presence in the global market for all types of fruit, vegetables and flowers, as well as for exotic fruits such as avocados and mangoes. Our technology is the best on the market. We can look inside an apple, an avocado or inside an orange without touching it. Our sensors can detect the smallest amount of decay or browning and we can make clear, concise separation between 1st quality produce, 2nd market or juice products and 3rd quality, throw-away produce with total accuracy and reliability.”

Delcasse added, “A recent example of how our technology helped a local fruit producer was when a pear farmer discovered that most of his pears came out of the cold store with damage inside. We helped him to detect the problem in the pears and what was causing it, then we worked out a reliable solution and built a machine within six weeks to overcome his problem. This was a serious problem that was devastating his business. We are talking about 4,000 tons of pears being affected and we were able to help him to save his crop and his business and return him to profitability in less than two months.”

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Challenge us!!

OBS group: Construction, engineering and installation technique.

We are specialist in metal processing, Aweta is one of our highly valued clients we deliver their various machine parts We work for the following industries: • Machinery food / non food • Horticulture industry • Industrial automation • Offshore / shipbuilding • Logistic automation • Machine parts supplier Our specialism: • Welding • Water cutting • Sheet metal

• Robot Welding • Laser cutting • Industrial maintenance and repairs

We process the following materials: • Stainless Steel • Steel • Aluminum • Various materials on our water cutting machine from foam till glass Our strengths: • Accuracy • Quality

• Speed • Well priced

Address: Oosteindsepad 8 a | Zip code: 2661 EP | City: Bergschenhoek Tel: +31 (0) 880010000 | Fax: +31 (0) 88-0010099 | Website: www.obsgroep.nl

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Systek, realizing ideas together As technology partner we are used to work with multiple parties involved in the entire process from design to production and maintenance of your product. Based on our knowledge and expertise we develop technically complex and innovative projects. We work closely together with our customer to solve complex technological issues with demanding constraints.

In the early stage of the design a combination is made between electronics, programmable logic and software. Our customized project approach is focused on minimizing the risk for you. As partner and supplier we are proud to be involved with Aweta as trendsetter in technology.

Complete sorting and handling solutions Aweta always looks for the optimum solution to any sorting and packing problem and ‘blemish-sorting’ forms an important part of the company’s technology solutions portfolio.

To achieve absolute consistency and accuracy in detecting small defects on the skin of fruit travelling at very high speed, the company developed a revolutionary and unique sensor technology called “Power Vision 3D”. This product enables operators to determine the quality of fruit or vegetables, as well as any possible defects that may be present, both inside or on the surface of the product. This is all achieved by robotic selection at a high velocity without any resulting damage to the products in question.

Furthermore, internal quality sorting is achieved with another groundbreaking product called ‘Inscan-IQA” which is the best and most advanced product in its class on the market. This sensor can detect any internal rot or decay inside apples, citrus fruits,

avocados or mangos. This highly accurate sensor can also measure the sugar and acid content contained in many fruits.

In box handling systems too, Aweta is able to provide a complete system which is capable of conveying boxes, crates and bins at the infeed but also at the packing side. Aweta’s ability to design and supply customised palletization systems makes the difference in term of productivity and efficiency.

The world’s most intelligent grading machines As part of its diverse product portfolio, Aweta also designs and produces the most advanced grading machines on the market today and these offer significant advantages over competitive products. This is because the Aweta system operates using the same software and technological infrastructure regardless of the actual products being processed.

In addition to providing a uniform design

that enables efficient service and support worldwide, it also offers flexible switching between processed products.”

Aweta deliver unique systems with advanced Plant Integration The company’s electronic platform not only manages the grading parameters, but also supervises the whole sorting and packing line. ‘plant integration’ devices is a versatile device which is able to respond to any customer demands. This is the result of thousands of customised systems which have produced a modular device which can be easily customised. It integrates tracking and tracing, making the link with the customer’s data’s informations, as well as controlling allocations to specific outlets and controlling the packaging flow through the packing line.

‘Smart Supervision’ monitors and controls the sorter in real time and inform the operator of the sorting status. If for any reason, some fruits are not sorted, the device will immediately n display the source of the problem

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MTL Group is one of the fastestgrowing manufacturing companies in Europe. Philip Yorke talked to Dr Henry Shirman, the company’s managing director about its latest technology and move into new market segments.

GLOBAL REACH FOR

DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE Henry Shirman, managing director

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TL Group is a leading UK contract manufacturing specialist in the metal sector.

Since the company was founded in 1995 it has steadily grown to become the partner of choice for many of the world’s major OEM’s. The company’s head office is based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, and occupies more than 28,000m2 of manufacturing space set in over 12.4 hectares of private land. At the company’s second major site in the UK at Blyth, Northumberland, dockside fabrication facilities are located in a modern assembly plant where the company is able to produce fabricated metal assemblies of up to 300 tonnes and ship them directly from the deepwater port of Blyth.

The core business sectors that MTL serves include the defence industry, recycling, construction, quarrying and mining equipment, rail and the fast-growing renewable energy industries.

Optimising steel fabrication technology MTL has invested in eight high-tech laser cutting systems that combined have a capacity of over 1200 hours per week. The company’s wide range of state-of-the-art laser machines means that it is capable of handling every conceivable size and type of job, from carbon steels to aluminium, with around-the-clock working of 24 hours per day, seven days a week. The company’s recently installed Messer laser cutting machine is the largest of its type in the UK and capable of cutting both chamfers

and weld preparations of up to +/- 50 degrees, which greatly enhances cutting efficiency and productivity. This in turn significantly reduces costs and lead-times for its customers. The new Messer machine can cut parts up to 20m long and 3.2m wide and up to 25mm thick.

“We have invested more than seven million pounds sterling recently in manufacturing equipment including the latest laser cutting technology, two new plasma cutting machines with large cutting beds and advanced bevel capability,” Dr Shirman said. “In addition, we have installed a robotic plasma tube-cutter which can cut tubes up to 40mm thick. This machine is supporting MTL’s recent success in winning several multi-million-pound contracts in Europe for offshore wind energy farms. This is in addition to installing the world’s most advanced water-jet cutting equipment and processes. Today, water-jet cutting is the fastest growing method of profiling. For example, when cutting armour plate, the material’s properties can be altered by the heat generated in the process, whereas with our water-jet technology there is no heat-affected zone. Furthermore, we have a large press brake, which provides more than 640 tonnes pressure and is serviced by a robot capable of lifting 600kg, which together form the largest installation of its type in the world.”

Taking a closer look at MTL’s advanced water-jet cutting machine, it is a four head, 12m x 3m Bystronic cutter and offers the most advanced and efficient operation of any

water-jet cutter available on the market today.

This unique machine is capable of cutting exceptionally thick materials of up to 200mm thick. In addition, it is able to cut through the hardest materials including armoured steel f.e. SECURE made by ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe used on defence vehicles.

Adding value through Design for Manufacture MTL’s Design for Manufacture service adds value to its customers’ relationships. MTL’s design and engineering division takes the OEMs concept and makes recommendations that will make the product lighter, stronger or reduce the cost of manufacture. MTL is working closely with several global armoured vehicle manufacturers to improve the design of vehicle floors. In one example the original design of the floor was made from 7 pieces and subsequently welded together; MTL’s Design for Manufacture review resulted in the floor being produced in one piece, eliminating the need for welding which reduced the cost whilst increasing the protection level of the armoured vehicle.

Expanding into new geographical market sectors Traditionally, MTL’s most important market has been Europe. However, today the picture is changing and the company currently exports its products to over 35 countries worldwide.

Dr Shirman added: “We are increasing the sales of our exports to the Middle East, the Industry Europe 135

Essar working in partnership with MTL Group on Hot Rolled Sheet and Plate.

The UK’s only non-European Mill backed service centre.

The UK’s only independent coil to coil pickling line.

A fully opera onal SCS line - the only of its kind in the UK. A comprehensive range of sli ng facili es processing from 0.3mm to 6.5mm.

De-coiling facili es that offer processing from 1mm to 12.5mm.

www.essarsteel.co.uk

Moorwood

Electrical Design and Installation Ltd Moorwood Electrical Design and Installation worked with the directors of MTL in the re-location of their new state of the art manufacturing facility at Grange Lane, Rotherham.

We look forward to continued partnership with MTL and wish them every success for the future.

Vulcan Works, Tinsley Park Road, Sheffield, S9 5DP Telephone (0114) 243 3213 | Fax (0114) 243 3173 National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation Contracting

APPROVED CONTRACTOR

Contractors Health and Safety Assessment Scheme

South Yorkshire’s No.1 Supplier of Welding Products Kimberly-Clark PROFESSIONAL*, an industry leader in health and safety products, owns and markets the JACKSON SAFETY* brand of welding helmets, auto darkening filters and respiratory protection. In addition, they supply eye protection, hearing protection, gloves and apparel under their KLEENGUARD* brand.

Lincoln Welding Supplies Ltd have been supplying JACKSON SAFETY* Welding Safety products for over 15 years, to end users around the South Yorkshire area and other customers throughout the UK. Kimberly-Clark PROFESSIONAL* together with Lincoln Welding Supplies Ltd, have been able to provide MTL with a high quality cost effective PAPR welding helmet system. The JACKSON SAFETY* WH40 Element Welding Helmet, in conjucnction with the JACKSON SAFETY* Airmax R60 PAPR unit has made a major contribution towards meeting the customers health and safety requirements at an affordable cost.

www.lincolnwelding.co.uk Lincoln Welding Supplies Limited 31 Bold Street, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, S9 2LR Tel: +44 (0)114 244 6688 Fax: +44 (0)114 242 3005 E-mail: sales@lincolnwelding.co.uk

Far East, North America and South Africa.

However, our focus is increasingly on the BRIC countries where we see a lot of potential in the future, especially in Brazil. As far as our future growth is concerned, we plan to maintain our strong track record in terms of both organic growth and through acquisitions where the appropriate synergies exist. We also intend to develop our global manufacturing footprint in other world regions. Looking to the future, we have also established our own welder training school and recently hired a further 17 apprentices who will complete a traditional three-year apprenticeship in conjunction with our local technical college.

“Today more than one third of our business comes from the defence sector with the balance evenly spread between the construction, renewable energy, quarrying and

mining, recycling and rail industries. We see strong growth in power generation and are targeting the nuclear power and off-shore renewable energy sectors where we are now a global supplier of secondary steelwork.”

Advancing armour-plate protection capabilities As one of the world’s leading armour-plate protection specialists, MTL is pioneering new lightweight solutions for defence ministries.

The company showcased its latest add-on armour products, which are branded ‘IMPAS LITE’ and IMPAS ADVANCE” at the AUSA Trade fair in Washington DC in the USA last year. The new IMPAS product stands for ‘Interchangeable Modular Perforated Armour System’ and offers a cost-effective, lightweight alternative solution to composite

and ceramic add-on armours, with greater flexibility and better multi-hit outcomes.

MTL’s defence sales manager, Simon Hurst said, “IMPAS is an innovative state-of-theart product which is ideal for both RHA and aluminium hulls. One of the key benefits is that the solution provides low-cost, lightweight armour that can be rapidly fitted to any vehicle platform.”

MTL’s armour plate stock is comprehensive and the company holds and processes more than 8000 tonnes of quenched and tempered steel every year. MTL is also one of Europe’s largest stockists and suppliers of armour-plate products. In addition, the MTL Group specialises in the supply of components for blast applications that range from cut and formed parts, up to fully n finished fabricated vehicles.

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SWISS PRECISION WORLDWIDE Influential high precision metal component manufacturer Cendres+Métaux brings traditional Swiss quality products to global customers. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to CEO Freddy Lei about how the company is continually innovating.

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ounded over 125 years ago in Biel, the Swiss capital of watchmaking, Cendres+Métaux initially operated as a small precious metal smelter. The company today has been transformed into a dynamic, globally-operating group, yet still retains its dedication to quality and high precision micromechanical components, albeit on a far wider scale.

Active in dental and medical applications as well as in jewellery, watches and refining, Cendres+Métaux is focused on maintaining and enhancing its ability to turn precious metals into high quality products with the greatest precision. Manufacturing dental prosthetics and interdental products under its own brand name, supplying dental implantology components and supplying highly technical metal components to leading watch and jewellery brands are where Cendres+Métaux particularly excels.

CEO Freddy Lei told Industry Europe how the company’s long history continues to play an important part in its current and future activities. He said, “Over the years we have steadily built up our reputation for delivering high quality micromechanical components that are perfectly in tune

with each of our active areas. We have over 400 skilled staff that specialise in areas including engineering and product development to ensure that we are always at the very top of our game.”

A true innovation An important recent development from Cendres+Métaux is its innovative Pekkton material. Billed as ‘the pinnacle of thermoplastic high-performance polymer’, Pekkton is being launched following many years of both technical and customer-focused research and development.

Mr Lei explained the reasoning behind the development of Pekkton, and the benefits he believes it offers Cendres+Métaux’s customers. He said, “The cost of precious metals has increased considerably over the last three years, and shows no sign of slowing down either. This is proving to be a big issue for the dental industry as it makes suitable products much more expensive. As soon as we were aware of this macrotrend we appointed resources to look for complementary products that would still offer the high quality required for such a specific application.”

Mr Lei continued, “Following our careful R&D and communication with customers worldwide, we have created Pekkton. It’s the future of dentistry because the quality is easily comparable to those dental components made with precious metals, yet the material is a man-made high performance polymer. In terms of price, it is cheaper than an equivalent quality base material too, so there really are no downsides. It is now our intention to focus on exclusively presenting Pekkton across Europe in order to share this development with customers and potential customers.”

In order to bring Pekkton to a wider audience, Cendres+Métaux is attending a number of trade exhibitions across Europe, including the ITI World Symposium in Cologne, Biel’s ITI Congress and the Dental Technology Show in Coventry.

Preparing for launch Another recent product development to come from Cendres+Métaux is its latest medical device, which has been created by working alongside the University Hospital of Bern. Mr Lei explained, “This new product is also good for the future as it’s targeted at

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the blood transfusion sector, which is growing rapidly. Our product is a high precision metal medical device that helps to reduce pain when a blood transfusion is required.

It is a titanium implant that goes behind the patient’s ear, reducing both pain and resulting in fewer infections than current options.”

This implant has already seen the mechanical and technical phases completed, with field tests and clinical tests currently underway. Mr Lei predicts this will take around 24 months, with the product then able to go to market.

Cendres+Métaux’s core market is Switzerland, with the rest of Europe following closely behind. It also has a large distribution activity in Japan and is developing a similar channel in China. In addition to the state-of-the-art Swiss manufacturing site in Biel, Cendres+Métaux has sales subsidiaries in Italy, France, Spain, the UK, the USA, Hong Kong and Korea, giving it a considerable global presence and its customers the peace of mind that high quality precision parts can be delivered worldwide.

Mr Lei added, “We are committed to bringing the famous Swiss high quality precision components to our customers worldwide, so we only manufacture in Switzerland. Our global network allows us to quickly and effectively deliver wherever our customers require, but our precision manufacturing is proudly Swiss!”

With such a strong focus on the future, it is clear that Cendres+Métaux is well prepared for continued success in the coming years.

Having spent considerable time and money in developing its innovative Pekkton and blood transfusion implant technologies, the company is now even better positioned to utilise the opportunities in its active markets.

Mr Lei concluded, “Of course, I would love to be able to accurately predict the future, but in the absence of a crystal ball I can simply say that I know Cendres+Métaux’s product portfolio is perfectly suited to our customers’ requirements now and in the future. We have been able to make a perfect recipe using our research, our skills and our long experience in our active markets to make products and

components that are already being very well received. We also expect to grow by our planned investment in our Swiss facilities, which will see a further 25 million Swiss francs invested and, having acquired two companies in the last few years, we expect to continue to gain from their expertise in the luxury watch n and dentistry fields.”

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PRECISE IN THE ACTIONS Swiss company Tornos specialises in the manufacture of machines designed to produce parts requiring extreme precision and quality.

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ith a new subsidiary in Brazil and strengthened operations at its other bases, Tornos is looking to build its business in Europe and to achieve strong growth in the BRIC countries. This, according to vice-president and head of sales and marketing Willi Nef, will come through the continued development of innovative machinery.

“There is always a big demand in new markets for our machinery and with our new equipment, particularly the MultiSwiss, we are seeing a lot of interest,” he says.

Innovative new products Tornos specialises in the manufacture of machines designed to produce parts requiring extreme precision and quality. The company has a worldwide sales and services network. It primarily manufactures CNC Swiss type single-spindle turning machines for parts less than 38mm in diameter, multispindle machines with numerical or cam control for parts up to 34mm in diameter

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and machining centres for complex parts of 1 dm3 in volume, requiring high precision. And a completely new field covered

by Tornos is the surface treatment machine called Cyklos.

At the Hanover Fair in September 2011, Tornos launched a range of new products.

The Moutier-based company chose it as the arena to unveil no fewer than five world premieres, along with two new completely revolutionary product ranges – the MultiSwiss 6x14 and the Cyklos lines.

“The MultiSwiss is a very compact, high production machine for small parts,” explains Mr Nef. “There has been a very, very high level of interest in these unique machines and so we expect strong demand.”

The MultiSwiss 6x14 machine provides a link between multi-spindle turning machines and swiss type single spindle machines. Based on the ‘fully integrated’ concept and featuring innovative front access, this new machine is designed with three types of customer in

mind: users of numerical multi-spindle turning machines; users of cam-operated machines and users of single-spindle turning machines.

User-friendly The numerically-controlled machine features new technologies and contains all the peripherals required for optimal operation, at a lower price than any other CNC multi-spindle machine. It takes its name from the maximum bar passage diameter (14mm) multiplied by the number of spindles.

The user-friendly MultiSwiss has been designed to offer maximum user comfort and is the first frontal machine available on the market in this size. It is also the first machine not to use Hirth gearing to lock the barrel. This classic system, well-known to Tornos, has been successfully replaced with a torque motor.

The quill type spindles are equipped with a hydrostatic bearing to guarantee excellent damping. In addition, the MultiSwiss

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6x14 is the first multi-spindle turning machine on the market to offer an integrated peripheral concept.

Surface treatment Cyklos will be the first of a new kind of surface treatment machine. It is the first surface treatment machine that can be installed in a standard machine shop avoiding transport cost and logistic difficulties. No waste nor vapour will be outside the machine – all is collected for maximum environmental friendliness.

Unlike a traditional process, which works using vertical immersion, the Cyklos works by rotating, thus guaranteeing superior quality.

It was presented alongside the MultiSigma 8x28 Chucker machine. This machin-

ing solution allows Tornos to establish itself as a supplier of genuine solutions. The new concept allows its customers to make serious steps forward in how they organise the treatment of their large-volume parts. With Cyklos and MultiSigma, Tornos offers a real lean manufacturing solution.

Extensive range Tornos showed at EMO 2011 the first time the Delta 38/5 machine – its passport to the world of large diameters. This turning machine offers great rigidity and high power as well as specific G900-type programming help macros.

Now Tornos has the most extensive range of products in the world when it comes to swiss type automatic turning machines.

Also presented was the Almac CU1007 machining centre. With its de-greasing and cleaning cell, this enables parts to be fully machined, which means front and rear faces are machined on a single machine. The robot at the centre of the assembly enables the part to be loaded and transferred between machines, and also manages the palletisation and cleaning of the part. The machining centre will be used to produce a brand new medical part.

“All these machines are about improving efficiency and production levels for our customers,” says Mr Nef. “The MultiSwiss in particular is ideal for many companies as it is easy to access for set-up and because of its n modularity allows quick changeover.”

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INNOVATION AND

TRADITION

Lime products can be found everywhere – they act as an ingredient in toothpaste or ready-to-mix concrete as well as in wastewater treatment plants. Julia Snow takes a look at the surprisingly wide product portfolio of lime experts Schaefer Kalk.

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ased in Hahnstätten, Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany, Schaefer Kalk GmbH and Company KG can look back on a long tradition, which was marked with elaborate celebrations during its 150th anniversary in 2010. Five generations of the Schaefer family have managed the company since 1860, and they have based their ongoing success on an increasingly varied product portfolio.

Through strategic acquisitions in Germany and abroad, Schaefer Kalk has developed into a global supplier of specialised lime products. The lime production facilities in Steeden, Stromberg and Grevenbrück, which were purchased in 1999, together with Schaefer Kalk’s plants in Malaysia and China, have cemented the international reach of the company.

The most important factor contributing to the success of Schaefer’s products is the high quality of the limestone deposits in Hahnstätten, where Schaefer Kalk has access to raw material from one of the purest deposits in Europe: 350 million years-old Devonian lime rock with a very small mineral content. The company uses only the most advanced extraction and production technologies to satisfy the highest quality demands.

before being placed in 500,000-tonne hydrator units for further processing. After crushing and screening a small proportion of the extracted stones are delivered direct to customers, while the majority of the raw material is forwarded for further processing to the company’s 14 kilns. Depending on the required quality standard, the natural gas or solid fuel-fired kilns have a daily output of between 150 and 600 tonnes.

Active in many industries

Schaefer PRECAL

Schaefer is one of the leading companies in the German lime industry and operates one of the most powerful lime plants in the world.

The company quarries over three million tons of limestone per year, which is then crushed in grinders with an output of 700,000 tonnes,

The lime product range covers limestone and calcium oxide, calcium hydroxide and ready-to-use milk of lime, all offering a highgrade chemical purity and exactly defined physical properties under the brand name SCHAEFER PRECAL.

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The calcined lime products include lump lime, fine lime, white lime hydrates and milk of lime, while the uncalcined limestone based products are available as lime stones and limestone granules, crushed limestone and limestone powder.

The company is a major supplier for the iron and steel industry, where calcium oxide, calcium hydroxide and powdered limestone are used for the blast furnace process and to separate the secondary components contained in the ore. Schaefer products are found in a wide range of sectors including the building materials industry, chemicals, iron and steel, paints, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, food, paper, environment, plastics and sealants and adhesives.

For all lime products, the security of supply is a vital criterion. 700, 000 tonnes per annum of grinding production capacity and a lime hydrating production capacity of more than 500, 000 tonnes per annum provide this security. It is enhanced by a storage capacity for shipping of over 20,000 tonnes.

physical parameters for each of these precipitation products are optimised according to the desired application, for example particle size and granule size, single particles or agglomerations of primary crystals or specific surface and pore volume.

Its comprehensive know-how and use of state-of-the-art technology makes Schaefer Kalk one of the leading PCC producers, with an annual production capacity of over 350,000 tonnes. Wherever high chemical purity, brilliant whiteness and opacity, exactly defined crystal structures or exceptional fineness and tight particle size distribution are called for, Schaefer PCC is in demand. Its PRECAL products are needed for propylene oxide (an intermediate product for polyurethane), solvents and moisturisers as well as for antifreeze, resins, emulsifying agents and surfactants. Calcium oxide acts as a neutraliser and an important co-reactant for the production of citric acid, which is used in the beverage, cosmetics and phar-

maceutical industries. In petrochemistry, calcium hydroxide is used as an additive for mineral oils and to inhibit corrosion.

Schaefer PUTZ The factory mortar made by Schaefer Kalk, and the finishing plasters made by its partner company KRUSEMARK, are distributed by SCHAEFER KRUSEMARK. The product range includes a complete assortment of plasterer or painter trade supplies: base plasters, finishing plasters, restoration plasters, thermal insulation plasters as well as a thermal insulation composite system under the brand name SCHAEFER KALOTHERM. Schaefer Kalk has always put a great deal of emphasis on maintaining a diverse client base. To avoid being heavily dependent on the economic wellbeing of a limited number of clients or sectors, the company has successfully broadened its product range and acquired a broad spectrum of customers that will form the basis of future growth in n many fields of application.

Schaefer PRECARB Under the brand name SCHAEFER PRECARB, the company supplies specialised precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC) filler materials and pigments that have different properties with a defined grain structure. The company’s experience in PCC materials reaches back to 1954, and the modern production plants can be used to create specific solutions that match individual customers’ processes.

PCC can be produced as various crystal modifications and granule forms. The Industry Europe 151

STRENGTH IN SUSTAINABLE FLOORING Armstrong World Industries, Inc. is a global leader in the manufacture of ceiling systems and floor coverings for commercial and residential applications. Philip Yorke talked to Charles Irving-Swift the company’s CEO for floor products Europe, about its recent award-winning innovations and move into new, ‘sustainable product’ market sectors.

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rmstrong World Industries, Inc., headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA, is a global leader in the manufacture of ceiling systems and flooring products, with sales in 2011 of $2.9 billion, generated at 32 manufacturing plants in eight countries.

The worldwide flooring products business, with sales of $1.5 billion, produces a wide range of resilient and textile floor coverings, including linoleum, vinyl, designer tiles and fibre-bonded floorings for commercial and domestic applica-

tions. The European operations trace their origins back to 1882, when they were founded in Bremen in Germany. Today Armstrong Europe specialises in modern flooring solutions for healthcare, education and retail environments as well as for office buildings. Armstrong has been actively investing in improving the sustainability of its products and works closely with the relevant certification bodies in the industry to provide guaranteed sustainability ratings for all its DLW floor coverings.

Armstrong works closely with architects and designers to produce products that reflect the latest trends, styles and specifications that are shaping the future of the industry. The company’s resilient range of floorings is factory finished with the ‘PUR Eco-System’, a surface coating technology that guarantees quick and easy cleaning, in addition to offering low maintenance costs and a reduced environmental impact. This advanced system also makes

floorings more durable, as well as abrasion resistant and less susceptible to marks, scuffs and scratches.

Outstanding products offer a sustainable future For the last two decades, the flooring industry has been meeting the challenges posed by escalating manufacturing costs and lifecycle ratings. In response, for many years Armstrong has been working intensively with all the relevant certification issuers and is therefore qualified to make reliable state-

ments concerning the sustainability ratings of all its DLW floor coverings. This in turn is very helpful to architects and other specifiers, especially in the early planning phase.

DLW’s linoleum floor coverings meet high construction and ecological standards by the very fact that they are made from natural, sustainable raw materials. They are therefore the product of choice to meet the architecturally challenging buildings built to recognised ‘sustainable’ criteria.

Irving-Swift said, “Over 50 per cent of our portfolio of products is linoleum-based

with the balance manufactured in vinyl. The linoleum range is completely recyclable, being made from materials such as linseed oil, jute, resin and woodchips which are all organic. We are committed to continuing to work towards improving our green credentials even further in both our linoleum and vinyl ranges. We listen carefully to our customers who are mainly architects, designers and distributors and support them at the many trade shows that we attend. We also offer training sessions to our installers, which not only improves their professional efficiency, but also brings us

closer to them and introduces them to other new Armstrong products.

“Our main growth drivers today are our innovative materials, developed by our own in-house R&D department, and our increasing commitment to the development of sustainable, high-quality products. Our strategy for the future is to focus on our core strengths in R&D and in our manufacturing operations and to make our German plants Centres of Excellence in their respective fields, serving both Europe, North America and markets further afield. Our focus on growth is also about how we can leverage our cost base to greater advantage and build on the opportunities that present themselves in higher growth markets in eastern Europe and Russia, where we have recently opened a distribution centre. We are also expanding our sales team in the Middle East – we see great opportunities in the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.”

Promoting ‘green dialogue’ At the beginning of 2011 Armstrong initiated a Europe-wide ‘Green Dialogue’ in order to distribute a wide variety of information on sustainability with special emphasis on sustainable flooring products. By doing so, Armstrong provides professional assistance

where it is needed most: at the fingertips of architects and planners worldwide. At www.armstrong.eu/sustainability there is a dedicated section where the relevant product certificates can be found, as well as references, information on environmental management and PVC recycling. The company has also published a new, comprehensive brochure on ‘sustainable construction’ which covers every aspect of the subject.

Furthermore, Armstrong is a member of ERFMI which represents the interests of

manufacturers of elastic floor coverings. They have developed a tool which can create an environmental product declaration for a floor covering throughout its entire lifespan in just a few simple steps. This special EPD calculator is available as a free tool at www.erfmi.com

Award winning products Two Armstrong flooring collections have recently been awarded the prestigious ‘IF Product design award’ in the public design/interior design category. The first

is Lino Art, a collection that embodies the timeless beauty of precious metals. The company’s ‘Scala’ collection, with its fresh designs and exclusive embossed textures, has also been awarded this most coveted prize. This year’s ‘IF’ product design award winners were selected from 4322 submissions by 1605 participants from 48 countries worldwide. Among the international jury’s evaluation criteria were design quality, workmanship, choice of materials, degree of innovation and functionality. n

LOOKING TO NEW HORIZONS The Getinge Group, a leading global provider of products and services for the life sciences sector, is currently in the process of implementing a new strategy for improvement throughout the organisation.

Emma-Jane Batey spoke to business development manager Stephen Morley to see how this strategy is further boosting the company’s achievements.

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IN

the 18 months since Industry Europe last spoke with leading life sciences products and services provider the Getinge Group, the company has undergone a series of changes. Prompted by both positive and negative situations, the changes have nonetheless already proven to be beneficial to the organisation, its customers and its shareholders.

Stephen Morley, business development manager for the Getinge Infection Control business area, explained, “We sadly lost our business area CEO in the middle of 2010 and he was replaced in January 2011. We

are very fortunate that his replacement, Johan Falk, is an innovative, enthusiastic, entrepreneurial character who is already leading us to some new and exciting places. We recently hosted our strategy conference in Orlando where these traits were certainly in evidence, and we are currently in the process of rolling out our new strategy across the company worldwide.”

Totally customer focused The key focus for Getinge today is the customer. Even though the company has long been appreciated for its strong

customer-based products and services, the new CEO is clear that this can be taken a step further. Mr Morley continued, “As a medical technology group, it is imperative that we are constantly staying on top of what our customers are demanding. There’s no room for error in our business and we pride ourselves on being a solutions provider. The strategy conference highlighted the continuing importance of getting really involved with our customers and carefully listening to their needs. We all think that we listen to our customers but the conference underlined why active listening is important,

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and how we can implement that throughout our worldwide operation and to each of our 3000 employees within Infection Control.”

The Getinge Group is headquartered in Getinge, Sweden, has production sites or sales offices in 37 countries and has in total 13,000 employees worldwide. In 2010, the group generated sales of SEK 25 billion. Divided into three core business areas – Infection Control (Getinge), Medical Systems (Maquet) and Extended Care (Arjo Huntleigh) – the Getinge Group provides products and services for

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operating rooms, intensive care units, care units, sterilisation centres, elderly care and for companies and institutions that are active in the life sciences sector.

In 2011, the group saw moderate growth across its three business areas, with particularly strong performance in Asia. Mr Morley said, “I don’t believe there are many, if any, areas of the world where Getinge is not already active, so we are in a strong position to maximise the growth potential of important emerging markets,

which can counter balance areas which may be struggling. As a global company, historically the majority of sales have been in the EU and North America, but we have been enjoying excellent results in the rest of the world, notably in Asia, eastern Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. In the middle of 2010 we actively reorganised part of Getinge to ensure that we were able to reinforce our efforts in these territories, which included the relocation of some staff and some acquisitions.”

Acquisition and innovation Getinge has grown largely through acquisition over the years and this continues to be an important focus for the group. For the Infection Control business unit which Mr Morley represents, this is set to continue alongside organic growth. He pointed out that good opportunities for development of existing products and services were clearly evident across its geographical territories, particularly in the field of cost efficiency.

Mr Morley continued, “This is what is so exciting, as even though what we were doing before wasn’t wrong, this new focus on engaging and communicating with our customers means that we are even clearer on what innovative solutions we need to create and deliver. Our highly-skilled teams are all experts in their fields, so when they speak with the customers they are talking their language. They’re not just salespeople selling, they’re solutions providers that

understand the often very technical nature of the businesses they’re dealing with. Our people know our customers’ needs, applications and issues and so can serve them better. It’s a core Getinge advantage.”

The Getinge Group’s forward-thinking strategy conference has clearly set out ambitious aims for the coming years. Mr Morley pointed out that each business unit has identified clear goals, called ‘horizons’, and has defined a course to reach them. n

Dacol Engineering Dacol Engineering is proud to support Getinge in this article. We have been a supplier from the early 1980`s to Sterilizing Equipment and since 2002 when they changed their name to Getinge. We are suppliers of high quality machined items to meet the standards required and expected by a company of Getinge’s reputation. We are also able to offer advice and guidance to help resolve and drive forward new projects. We are fully committed to ensure our Quality and Reliability is maintained for the future.

Dacol Engineering since 1977. Accreditation to ISO 9001:2008

Dacol Engineering Ltd are CNC Machinists registered to ISO 9001:2000 and have been trading as a partnership for the last 30 years.

We are situated in Mansfield Woodhouse, Nottinghamshire and occupy three units giving us a working space of 3600 sq ft, with 3000 sq ft of this being dedicated to production.

We provide CNC Milling and Turning services to customer specifications, which may include plating, painting, anodising and assembly where necessary.

We pride ourselves in being able to offer a first class service, where our speciality is not specialising in any one particular thing, which we feel makes us stand out from the rest, as we strive to accommodate the customer’s requirements.

Over the years we have found out that communication can only make for better customer relations. Many of our customers are long standing and we like to think of ourselves as an extension to their business activities.

www.dacolengineering.co.uk

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COMPOUNDING SUCCESS

Engineering thermoplastics compounder Teknor Apex is bringing its solutions-based broad material offerings to worldwide customers. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to Strategic Marketing Director Automotive, Ger Vroomen, to find out more.

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rivately held, family-owned engineering thermoplastics compounder of advanced polymer materials Teknor Apex was founded in Rhode Island, USA in 1924. With eight production sites across America as well as facilities in the UK, Belgium, the Netherlands, Singapore and China, the company has steadily built its reputation as a solutionsfocused custom compounder for a wide range of international customers.

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Respected as a diversified material science company that offers complementary techniques to serve a common market, Teknor Apex’s family-owned status ensures that it is able to work closely with customers on their long term goals. Strategic Marketing Director Automotive, Ger Vroomen, told Industry Europe, “Anyone can sell compounded products. What we do is listen to our customers’ specific needs and develop solutions that

are backed up by our extensive application development. The support we provide starts right from the initial development of the product up to the point of commercialisation, which means we build up a mutually-reliable, trusting relationship that benefits us all.”

The family-owned status also allowed Teknor Apex to continue to perform well throughout the global recession, thanks to not needing to please shareholders and being

able to continue with ongoing investment. As a result, the company is stronger than ever, with exciting plans for growth worldwide.

Communication and growth Mr Vroomen said, “We primarily work with tier one customers and we pride ourselves on knowing their industries and specific markets inside out. Communication is key throughout the organisation, both inter-

nally and with our customers, and we’ve found that this has enabled us to grow in a sustainable manner. We expect to continue our upward trajectory and we have strong targets for growth – we believe we will be in double digits in the coming years as we continue to push forward with our targetfocused approach.”

Teknor Apex’s most recent acquisition has seen it expand further into Europe. In 2010,

the company bought renowned thermoplastic elastomeric compounds company Sarlink which, with its ‘feels like rubber yet processes like plastic’ promise and strong brand awareness across the European automotive sector, is already enabling the company to grow in new markets.

Further recent investment has been made in equipment, people and additional acquisition. In Q4 2011 Teknor Apex opened a new

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TPE production plant in the UK, joining its first line which opened in 2009, with customers now being sampled.

Broad range of customised solutions Developing a variety of materials including PVC, nylon, speciality compounds, TPE and TPV, Teknor Apex is primarily focused on offering customised solutions. The company has some standard products in each of its ranges, but Mr Vroomen pointed out that it is very rare that a customer can simply use a product ‘off the shelf’. He explained, “The fact that we are committed to listening closely to the demands and application requirements of our customers’ means that it is unlikely that a standard product will be the exact right fit. We prefer to see if there is a standard product that can be used as a base for their customised solution, which saves them time and money, or create a new product from scratch if required. Either way, the customer gets a product that is tailormade for their and their customer needs.”

This customised offer is supported by Teknor Apex’s unique account management model. With separate market managers and account managers dedicated to specific material and sector groups, such as medical or automotive, and geographical areas

respectively, the company has found that it can deliver a truly added value service.

Mr Vroomen continued, “Our market and application managers are highly knowledgeable about their particular material and sector group which allows them to be right at the forefront of any developing trends. This is a key aspect in our technical development as well as guaranteeing that the customer’s product is targeted to their precise demands.

The account managers are in touch locally, so they know everything about their territory.

There is some crossover of course, and we find that this strategy, which has evolved over the last 10 years or so, gives us and our customers the best understanding of the ideal thermoplastic solution for each project.”

Expansion across Europe With Teknor Apex working across diversified markets including medical, automotive, food packaging, industrial and personal care, its strong position throughout the recession has been supported by the fact that it is not reliant on any one sector. This, along with its account management model, will continue to play a part in its expected continued success.

Mr Vroomen concluded, “We see potential growth across a number of our existing

market sectors and also geographically, particularly in Germany, Spain, the Czech Republic, France and Poland. We will be building a state-of-the-art development centre with sampling capabilities and pilot lines somewhere in the Benelux region within the next 12 to 18 months, as well as a considerable amount of coaching, training and investing in the latest equipment throughout n our global facilities.”

ADVANCING MEASUREMENT TECHNOLOGY

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Vega is the global leader in the supply of instrumentation measurement technology. Philip Yorke talked to Guenter Kech, the company’s managing director, about its latest innovative products and move into new market sectors.

E

stablished in Germany in 1959, Vega is one of the world’s technology leaders in the supply of level, switching and pressure instrumentation for the process industries. As part of the Grieshaber Group, Vega is active in more than 70 countries worldwide and in Europe alone is present in 34 countries, producing innovative solutions for industries as diverse as chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and food processing, as well as industries concerned with water treatment, mining and energy generation. Back in 1997, Vega introduced the world’s first two-wire radar sensor and since 2003 has led the world in radar level measurement and with its advanced product system ‘Plics’, has significantly reduced the cost and time required when using modern measurement technologies.

The cost savings generated by Vega technologies cover the complete life cycle of its measuring instruments, from selection and

ordering, through to installation, set-up, operation and service. All Vega instruments are guaranteed to provide reliable level measurement even under the most difficult process conditions. These include environmental hazards such as extreme dust generation, excessive heat, filling noise and vibration.

Today the company employs almost 1000 people worldwide, of which more than 550 are located at the company’s headquarters in Schiltach, Germany.

Innovations that shape the future Vega has always placed a high priority on developing solutions that provide its customers with a competitive edge through the optimal functioning of its various process systems. Its secret is to determine precisely what its customers’ needs are and to develop products that meet the challenges that they represent. Vega is continuously upgrading

its existing technology and developing new advanced systems.

One of the more recent innovative products launched by the company is its global system for mobile communication networks or GSM for short. The company’s latest transmitting and receiving unit ‘Plicsmobile’ fits perfectly into Vega’s modular ‘Plics’ concept.

Another recent product launch concerned the company’s differential pressure transmitter ‘Vegadif’. The new Vegadif 65 differential pressure transmitter with its metallic, piezoresistive measuring cell is designed for measurement on filters and pumps as well as for level measurement in pressurised vessels. With this advanced system, the various diaphragm materials employed such as Monel and Tantalum, provide optimal protection against aggressive media. In addition, all types of one-sided or two-sided isolating systems found in the chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries

Industry Europe 165

can be easily installed via the special scaleddown process fitting assembly.

Kech said, “The demand for our advanced measuring systems continues to grow and we are investing heavily in new production plant here in Schiltach by adding a further 10000 square metres of manufacturing and development facilities. All our R&D is produced in-house and all our manufacturing capabilities are also housed here. Our main customers are the key process industries such as

168 Industry Europe

the chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical and foodstuffs industries. We are also gaining ground in new markets such as the oil and gas industries where we have found many new applications for our products. Our ongoing programme of technological improvement means that we are constantly improving the efficiency and reliability of our products and keeping one step ahead of our competitors.

“Eight years ago we introduced a new, innovative technology called ‘Plics’ which is a

unique modular system which makes it very easy for a customer to select a measurement instrument and to find the optimal connection for their specific needs. For an infinite variety of applications we can offer the right measurement technology thanks to our unique modular system. This system offers big advantages for our customers as they can adapt and update their systems to improve performance quickly and easily. Furthermore, the set-up is much simpler for our customers too. This also

BURO Since its foundation in 1969, the company BURO has developed into a universal manufacturer of mechanical parts and components.

The focus is on turning, milling and grinding - complemented by interlocking and induction hardening. Specialized partners expand the production range with broaching, eroding, flame / laser / water jet cutting, bending, scoldering and welding.

Through close cooperation with heat treating, electroplating and surface finishers BURO provides assembly ready components or assembly groups.

offers them greater flexibility when it comes to delivery, as we can guarantee that we can produce the optimal measurement system within one week of the order unless there are exceptional circumstances.”

Kech added, “We are constantly expanding our global footprint and have established operations in India and Indonesia recently where our sales and service networks are supported by our local partners. This is all a part of the bigger Asia picture for us.”

Expanding operations Vega has been represented in India for over 20 years and has recently established a subsidiary in order to strengthen its position in the fast-growing Indian marketplace. The new subsidiary, ‘India Vega Level and Pressure Measurement Pvt. Ltd.’ commenced its activities on 1 January 2012. Initially, a 15-strong sales and service team will look after its clients in the major Indian industrial centres. The company can now guarantee

optimal customer care with a direct connection to Schiltach in Germany.

Kech commented, “India is and will remain a growth market with a wide variety of industries that use our sensors. Our goal is to take care of our customers in India with the competence that Vega is well known for and provide them with optimal measurement technology – the establishment of the new Vega subsidiary demonstrates our resolve in n this effort.”

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