Step on the gas Hexagon

STEP ON THE GAS

A world leader in complete storage and transport systems for gas and fuel cylinders for compressed natural gas, Hexagon Raufoss is investing heavily to ensure its highly automated solutions are more than ready to meet its recentlyawarded major global contract. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to director of sales and marketing Jørn Helge Dahl to find out more.

Part of the globally-active Hexagon Composites group of companies, Hexagon Raufoss is dedicated to providing high pressure technology for the storage and transportation of gas and compressed natural gas. One of three companies that make up Hexagon Composites, Hexagon Raufoss, along with Hexagon Ragasco (designing, testing and manufacturing of composite LPG cylinders) and Hexagon Lincoln (designing, testing and manufacturing of high-pressure composite cylinders) is a fully-owned subsidiary that benefits from the global footprint and impressive network of the parent company.

Hexagon Raufoss is one of the world’s leading providers of complete storage and transport systems for gas and fuel cylinders for compressed natural gas (CNG and Hydrogen) powered passenger cars and commercial vehicles. It develops and produces composite cylinders and complete storage systems for compressed natural gas (CNG) and biogas and is based in Raufoss, Norway where it employs around 50 people.

Hexagon Raufoss and sister company Hexagon Lincoln, which is based in the US, work particularly closely together. Both are focused on the safe and effective transportation of gas, with each company having its own specialist area of expertise. Director of sales and marketing Jørn Helge Dahl explained, “We are both focused on high pressure technology, but while Hexagon Raufoss’s key focus is smaller cylinders in high scale, Hexagon Lincoln is focused on larger cylinders so we are divided by both our product and our market. We aim for the passenger car market within Europe and expanding markets and our colleagues at Hexagon Lincoln are dedicated to heavy duty automotive and transportation products for the US and the global market. This means that there is always a gas transportation solution to be found under the Hexagon umbrella.”

Automotive partner

Hexagon Raufoss’s clients are mainly to be found in the global automotive OEM sector. It works with some of the world’s biggest

names, including Daimler, Opel and Ford. Producing small gas tanks for automotive customers is its core competence, for which it is able to deliver reliable, efficient technology from its state-of-the-art facilities. The Hexagon Raufoss automotive portfolio is centred on agile, lightweight and ecologically-sound gas cylinders that deliver benefits including considerable weight savings (up to 70 per cent compared to traditional steel cylinders), improved vehicle safety (no corrosion issues and better vehicle crash performance) and impressive cost savings (up to 40 per cent against petrol vehicles and lower congestion charge ratings).

Mr Dahl told Industry Europe how Hexagon Raufoss’ activities in the global automotive sector are key to its current and future success. He said, “Combining carbon fibres with glass fibres to optimise strength for gas cylinders for the automotive sector is at the heart of Hexagon Raufoss. We label with robots and have a highly automated production process that guarantees the best quality, most accurate product. It’s also very lightweight, which is increasingly important across the automotive sector as it helps to lower the overall weight of the car and reduces emissions and transport costs.”

But whilst Hexagon Raufoss’s facilities are certainly equipped with the very latest, most advanced automated technology, it is actually relatively small in terms of size. This adds an interesting dimension to its productivity, as Mr Dahl explained, “We’ve invested a substantial amount of money into our production capabilities in recent years. We have world-class facilities for producing composite cylinders for the OEM car manufacturing industry. We’ve been really smart in our investment and in our organisation of the production site as the relatively small area we occupy is perfectly formed to deliver on our high production values. We have an impressively large capacity as we have the most modern equipment and machinery all carefully and purposefully organised to make the best product in the best manner.”

Further growth

The future of Hexagon Raufoss is already set to be every bit as successful as its past and present. In July 2014 the company con-

firmed that it has been nominated by a major international car manufacturer to supply large volumes of Type 4 high pressure compressed natural gas fuel tanks. This cooperation is currently in its initial development phase and is expected to run for up to seven years. Mr Dahl added, “This nomination puts us in the lead position as the Type 4 CNG tank supplier to the passenger car segment and contributes to growth for the company in the following years. It also gives further traction to CNG as an alternative fuel solution.”

With its large-scale investments in its smart production facilities and core competences, Hexagon Raufoss is more than ready to increase its capacity and take on more projects that utilise its experience and proven track record. n