Number one in flooring solutions HTC Group

Schoeller-Bleckmann Nitec – SKW Piesteritz …a long and fruitful relationship

Schoeller-Bleckmann Nitec (SBN), a member of the Austrian Christof Group, has been active in the fabrication of critical process equipment for ammonia and urea plants for now more than 40 years. In this period, SBN has not only acquired an unmatched level of expertise, but has also been instrumental in the development of materials and fabrication techniques for the various types of equipment geared to support all its customers in their strive for larger capacity and higher efficiency plants coupled with longer plant life time.

The relationship between SBN and SKW Piesteritz is now lasting for more than 30 years. Specifying only some of the projects executed together we can name: deliveries of High Pressure Strippers, High Pressure Carbamate Condensers, High Pressure Scrubbers, Waste Heat Boilers, Internals for High Pressure Carbamate Condensers and various modifications and in-situ repairs. A milestone in the relationship between SBN and SKW was the shortening of the tube bundle for a HPCC, which had been carried out in-situ. As a result of the joint effort, the equipment then lasted for more than 10 years without any sign of deterioration.

SBN’s mission is to serve all its customers throughout the world with products and services meeting the highest quality standards. We are confident to continue the fruitful relationship between SBN and SKW for the years to come.

Piesteritz site as an attractive industrial location. The company’s spacious works facility extends to more than 200 hectares, of which over 40 hectares support industrial infrastructure potential for future investment.

SKW Piesteritz is the operator of the only Agro-Chemie Park in Germany and is particularly responsible for logistics and the environment. Therefore the company has become involved in the regional planning procedures for the construction of the northern bypass, where since the year 2000, the rate of incoming and outgoing traffic has grown from around 29,000 lorries to almost 44,000 and this is expected to increase by 25 per cent in the next 12 years. This new infrastructure project will optimise the logistics and just-in-time delivery of SKW’s agrochemical products.

Focus on research and development

R&D plays a very important role in the company’s future development and on-going success. Currently its research department is busy with the development of new products and the continuous process of optimisation of its existing product range. SKW’s agricultural application research centre near Leipzig plays an important role in this respect. Today comprehensive application engineering studies are being carried out on more than 3,500 test plots with the goal of developing new fertiliser specialities. The company believes that partnership with agrochemical institutions are crucial in optimising its new product development programme.

To date SKW’s cooperation with four leading university institutions has made a major contribution and out of this continuous programme of investment has come ‘Piadin’, which is a new nitrogen stabiliser that has been developed for organic fertilisers such as liquid manure. It delivers very similar benefits in the field of organic fertilisers and offers three main plus points: less work, higher yields and environmentally sound fertilisation. By combining partial manure doses, the number of field passes can be reduced and at the same time the application deadlines can be more variable which in turn saves work.

Today SKW’s formula for success continues to serve it well and places it in a strong position to meet its ambitious plans for future growth. n

For further details of SKW Piesteritz and its cutting-edge products visit: www.skwp.de

NUMBER ONE IN

FLOORING SOLUTIONS

The Swedish-based HTC Group is a pioneer in the development and manufacture of flooring solutions for applications such as grinding, leveling, cleaning and maintenance. Since the beginning it has led the way in this challenging field, and continues to offer new and innovative solutions to its customer throughout the world. Victoria Hattersley spoke to president and CEO Lars Landin to find out more.

The HTC Group has long led the way in the development of advanced flooring solutions. Indeed, it would not be going too far to say that HTC was the founder of this particular branch of the industry – that of advanced floor preparation, treatment and finishing technologies. As Mr Landin says, “Almost all the other producers in this market today were originally our distributors and developed their technology from ours – so we truly are a pioneer.”

The origins of HTC go all the way back to 1987 when the cleaning company HTC Sweden AB was established by Håkan and Gunn Thysell. During their time running this company they noticed that their customers were having trouble maintaining the floors in their offices, shops and so on to an acceptable standard. They decided to work on developing methods to improve floors more efficiently.

As a result, the Thysells sold their cleaning business and started a new company with the aim of renovating stone floors. During this time Håkan Thysell researched the best grinding technologies and was disappointed with the quality on offer. He began developing and producing his own machines, which were more efficient and able to achieve a higher output. These were the foundation upon which its current product range has been built. The founding family left HTC in 2013 when it was taken over by a Danish Private equity company – Polaris.

Two core divisions

HTC is divided into two main divisions: the first of these, its Hardware business, deals with its grinders, diamond tools, vacuums and so on; the second is dedicated to its Twister™ product line – a revolutionary cleaning system. The company runs two plants in Sweden, the first dedicated to

grinding production and the second to the Twister brand. In the US it runs a third plant which is also focused on Twister production.

The products manufactured in the Hardware division include one of HTC’s most well-established proprietary brands: HTC Superfloor™. This floor solution – a dry method of mechanically grinding and polishing a concrete floor developed very early on by Håkan Thysell – is the one from which all subsequent solutions in this field have developed. The technique is simple: HTC’s machines and diamond tools grind and polish concrete floors to remove surface paste and expose the stronger concrete beneath. The result is stronger, shinier and more durable floors.

Another system from the Hardware division, DCS Hybrid™, was developed to restore damaged or heavily worn natural stone and terrazzo floors. HTC EZwood™, meanwhile, was designed specifically for wood grinding whilst HTC Superprep™ prepares stone and concrete floors before further treatment. “For example,” says Mr Landin, “we might work with large flooring contractors who are preparing floors for carpet replacement and need to remove substances such as glue and resins from the surface.”

The latest addition to the Hardware division is the HTC Greyline™ series of machines. This encompasses four different sizes of floor grinders, two dust extractors, diamond tools and special accessories. Altogether these offer a complete solution, from floor preparation & renovation to concrete & wood grinding and surface leveling. The Greyline machines are very suitable for the rental industry.

Twister™, the single product which makes up HTC’s second core division, is a revolutionary cleaning system consisting of floor pads prepared with billions of microscopic diamonds which can be used on most common floor surfaces.

According to Mr Landin, “This product is based on the diamond technology we use when we grind floors. This means you can use the pad in the daily floor cleaning without any chemicals, which means it’s in line with all relevant environmental regulations. This is why we have been so successful, as all our clients have to consider the environmental impact of their activities today.

“The users for this product tend to be cleaning contractors for large floor spaces in areas such as retail, airports, public buildings and so on. For example, our Twister products clean all the over 1100 Tesco stores in the UK.”

The importance of innovation

As mentioned above, HTC’s position as a pioneer in this sector means that the core concepts for its groundbreaking products