CASTOLIN EUTECTIC
MADE TO LAST
SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE
|1
INTERVIEW: CASTOLIN EUTECTIC
“WE ENCOURAGE INNOVATION WITHIN OUR COMPANY, AND WE MAKE SURE THAT SUSTAINABILITY IS ABOUT TRUST AND ACTING ETHICALLY.” Tabish Wani, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer (COO)
2 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE
MADETOLAST Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Tabish Wani, Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Castolin Eutectic, about improving the lifespan of industrial equipment, reducing carbon emissions, and educational programs available for employees and partners. By Izzy Moss Founded in Switzerland in 1906, Castolin Eutectic is a materials technology company, specializing in welding, brazing, and coating technologies which reduce wear to industrial equipment, lengthening the lifetime of components. The company has over 1.540 employees across 10 manufacturing locations,
COATINGS FOR AEROSPACE IN OUR ADVANCED NEWCASTLE WORKSHOP
31 market centers, and 20 service centers, providing maintenance and repair services for customers in oil & gas industry, mining, pulp & paper, chemicals, glass, cement, steel, and power generation sector. “Before the world started talking about sustainability and green conservation, Castolin Eutectic was already doing it. We encourage environmentally-friendly innovation within our company, and we make sure that sustainability is about trust and acting ethically,” explains Tabish Wani, Managing Director and COO of Castolin Eutectic. “We work a lot with waste and recycling factories, supporting them in optimizing asset efficiency for their shredders, crushers, grapples or screws. On top of that, we do sustainable refurbishment jobs in the automotive sector, cement and steel.” SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE
|3
INTERVIEW: CASTOLIN EUTECTIC
RECYCLING SHREDDER IN NEED OF WEAR PROTECTION
BRAZING FLUXES EXEMPT OF CMR CHEMICALS
SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS FOR BRITISH AEROSPACE INDUSTRY One of Castolin Eutectic’s businesses in the U.K., called Monitor Coatings, specializes in aerospace industry repairs. “The blade propellers are made from very expensive materials,” explains Mr. Wani. “These blades would have to be changed every few flights or rotations. Had it not been for our technologies, these turbines would be thrown away and replaced with new parts. Castolin Eutectic takes these worn-out parts from jet engines and surface-coats them, making them as good as new and lasting much longer.” Landing gear is protected in a similar way against wear. “We enhance surface resistance, resulting in component longer lifespan, while simultaneously reducing cost and hassle for the customers. In the cement industry we restore the equipment that mixes raw, corrosive materials to make cement with very specific hardened steel, which prolongs the assets’ service life 3 to 5 times.”
RESTORATION OF VERTICAL ROLLER MILL IN CEMENT INDUSTRY
4 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE
CENTURY OF PROGRESS “The purpose of the company 100 years back was already about sustainability, and in sync with today’s mission: helping our customers to refurbish and reuse their industrial components,” says Mr. Wani. “Everything we launch on the market aims more and more towards sustainability, whether it be welding, brazing, surface protection powders, equipment, hardened CastoDur Diamond Plates (CDP®),
REPAIRS FOR WASTE & RECYCLING INDUSTRY
or the general maintenance and repair services we supply. Our sense of commitment to the environment and operators’ safety has changed, therefore our formulations and ingredients have evolved. We replace labor-intensive and environmentally unfriendly materials with smart formulations that we get to the market. The new brazing fluxes introduced are free of any carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic (CMR) substances, and the new welding wires are free of chrome and nickel. We share the ingredients that we use with our customers, making them available on our data sheets and website. We are very transparent in that way.” FOOTPRINT REDUCTIONS In recent years, Castolin Eutectic have implemented several actions plans to reduce their environmental footprint. “Regarding the supply chain, we are now forming one global company with common resources, reducing our carbon footprint by limiting the number of transport kilometers travelled by 40% to 50%,” says Mr. Wani. “Regarding our operations, we have started monitoring our energy consumption, and reducing our dependence on conventional energy sources, while leaning more towards renewable energy as part of our Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) program.” The company is also currently reviewing its packaging. If in previous years Castolin Eutectic resorted frequently to plastic, now it is strategically moving into more pa-
per-based packaging. Recently top management has signed up for the UN Global Compact, a global movement of sustainable companies and stakeholders that do business responsibly. “We have shown our commitment for the reuse and recycling process in the industrial sector for more than 100 years. Sustainability has been our vision and will stay at our core,” adds Mr. Wani. FUTUREGAZINGS Castolin Eutectic also has programs in place that educate suppliers on various aspects of sustainability. “We have a code of conduct which specifies our company values, our aspirations in sustainability, and what we expect from our employees and partners in terms of contribution,” explains Mr. Wani. “We have a separate environmental policy in place which homes in on CO2 emissions, offering very specific targets in terms of oil, gas, fuel, electricity, and freshwater consumption, while minimizing hazardous waste production.”
WELDING WIRE FREE OF CHROME AND NICKEL
The company has also launched internal training programs to further raise employee engagement in the sustainability action plan, providing them with the tools and processes to contribute positively to the sustainability efforts. A big proportion of the company’s employees are technical sales consultants for key industries, connecting with customers on-site to expand their knowledge. Top management is reflecting on reward schemes to acknowledge employee progress on sustainability matters. “We can expect new, innovative R&D products and solutions in the future from Castolin Eutectic, which is one of our core strategies,” says Mr. Wani. “We are looking at formulations of the next level of materials, including the electrification of the automotive industry, since we are running out of conventional materials. We want to explore more modern product compositions that are sustainable and eco-friendly, but also very impactful for our customers in terms of performance and cost. These are the aspirations of our company.” c
SCREW REFURBISHMENT WITH CDP WEARPLATES
SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE
|5
https://www.castolin.com
SUSTAINABLE
B U S I N E S S
M A G A Z I N E
SBM Media Ltd. 94B St Benedicts Street, Adam & Eve Yard, Norwich NR2 4AB. United Kingdom T: +44 (0)1603 299124 E:mail: info@sustainablebusinessmagazine.net www.sustainablebusinessmagazine.net
6 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE