Business Focus Magazine - BFM 97

Issue No.97

GRAND RESORT BAD RAGAZ

SPECIAL FEATURE:

Offering a plethora of ways to replenish body and soul.

ENERGY TRANSITION

TRULITE

Overcoming the pandemic and plans for the future.

CEIBA ENERGY

POWER TO GROW Exclusive interview with CEO Emilio Vicens, on the impact of bringing power to Latin America.

AGS AIRPORTS

Working hard on recovery, while focusing on a sustainable future.

CARRINHO GROUP

Overcoming economic crises to become a vertically integrated food distribution company.

HOWARD KENNEDY

The growing & crucial role of cyber security in all business practices.

FEATURE YOUR BUSINESS With a global readership of over 290,000, Business Focus Magazine is the perfect platform to place your business in front of our Senior Executive level audience.

CONTACT SALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR:

TREVOR GRETSINGER | t.gretsinger@ceomediagroup.com

PROJECT MANAGERS

EDITOR’S NOTE

ANDREW BOURKE a.bourke@ceomediagroup.com DEAN BROWN d.brown@ceomediagroup.com CHRIS CONWAY c.conway@ceomediagroup.com DAVID GARNER d.garner@ceomediagroup.com TIMOTHY GARWOOD t.garwood@ceomediagroup.com JOHN HOLLIMAN j.holliman@ceomediagroup.com MAX HUTCHINGS m.hutchings@ceomediagroup.com ROBERT NAPIER SMITH r.smith@ceomediagroup.com LIAM PYWELL l.pywell@ceomediagroup.com JAMIE SIVYER j.sivyer@ceomediagroup.com ANDRZEJ SZANDOR a.szandor@ceomediagroup.com DAVID TAVERNOR d.tavernor@ceomediagroup.com HAYDEN TURNER h.turner@ceomediagroup.com RASH UDDIN r.uddin@ceomediagroup.com

DESIGN SCOTT ANDREWS design@ceomediagroup.com ADRIANA STROIA artwork@ceomediagroup.com

ACCOUNTS MIKE ASHER accounts@ceomediagroup.com

PRODUCTION KAMILA KAJTOCH production@ceomediagroup.com

EDITORIAL CHRIS FARNELL cfarnell@ceomediagroup.com JIM HUNTER editor@ceomediagroup.com

SALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR TREVOR GRETSINGER t.gretsinger@ceomediagroup.com

SUBSCRIPTIONS, PRESS RELEASES AND GENERAL ENQUIRIES: info@ceomediagroup.com

The content of this magazine is copyright of CEO Media Group.

Redistribution or reproduction of any content is prohibited. © Copyright 2022 CEO Media Group.

FOCUS ON

ENERGY

Last month we celebrated Earth Day, an annual event celebrated since the 1970s to drive support for environmental protection. The key to Earth Day is that, as its name suggests, it is a truly global effort, including a wide range of coordinated events in every part of the world.

S

o, it is fitting that in this issue of Business Focus Magazine we are looking at energy firms that are continents apart but are working towards the same goal.

Whether that is Ceiba Energy, and its work to provide solar and wind power with an LNG support structure, or Polaris EPC’s efforts to make oil refining cleaner in the meantime.

As always, this is only one of the business sectors we will be covering this month. One sector that has been seeing numerous challenges over the last couple of years has been the automotive supply chain, and we talk to the people who are keeping that industry running through innovation and problem-solving at Höegh Autoliners.

Across all our business sectors the digital frontier continues to be one of the most rapidly developing, which is why we have been talking to Howard Kennedy about the latest developments in digital security and catching up with AfriSam Information Services’ ongoing digitalisation efforts.

Talking of catching up, we are also revisiting Arjowiggins, who have shown us that even

in a digital age paper has an absolutely critical role to playparticularly in the pursuit of sustainability. Renowned paint manufacturer, Hempel, also shows us how sustainability is not a bolt-on, but a core part of its business model.

This brings us full circle.

Sustainability is a huge challenge, but it is one that businesses are attacking from many different angles, and we will need all of them to succeed.

ON THE COVER Ceiba Energy Go to page 16

Issue No.97

GRAND RESORT BAD RAGAZ

SPECIAL FEATURE:

Offering a plethora of ways to replenish body and soul.

ENERGY TRANSITION

TRULITE

Overcoming the pandemic and plans for the future.

CEIBA ENERGY

POWER TO GROW Exclusive interview with CEO Emilio Vicens, on the impact of bringing power to Latin America.

AGS AIRPORTS

Working hard on recovery, while focusing on a sustainable future.

CARRINHO GROUP

Overcoming economic crises to become a vertically integrated food distribution company.

HOWARD KENNEDY

The growing & crucial role of cyber security in all business practices.

EDITOR’S NOTE | 3

IN THIS ISSUE

8

13

16

28

34 42

46

8

EVENT

IOT Solutions Worlds Congress.

Gran Via Venue Hall 4, Barcelona, Spain 10th-12th May, 2022.

Bringing together the global players involved in the digital transformation of companies.

NEWS

Energy Transition The Energy Transition World Tour

LEADING ARTICLE Ceiba Energy Power to Grow

AGRICULTURE

16

BOAL Group The Green Future of Greenhouses

AVIATION

AGS Airports Sustainable in Every Way Zadar Airport Going Up In the World

CONSTRUCTION

Africa Logistics Properties 21st Century Warehousing

34

52

Afriland Properties Plc Building the Future of Africa

58

Afrisam Information Services Return of the Afrisam Way

64

Hempel Shaping a Brighter Future

72

Merit Winning with Merit

78

Trulite Heart of Glass

86

94 98

4 | CONTENTS

CONSULTANCY

Howard Kennedy Legal Protection

ENGINEERING

METC Engineering A Boutique Engineering Service Rosswag Engineering Forging Ahead

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

ISSUE NO. 97

102

112 120

124

FMCG

Carrinho Group Food for Thought

HEALTHCARE, HOTEL & LEISURE Grand Resort Bad Ragaz Hope Springs Eternal

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Beyond Hospital Beds

MANUFACTURING

124

Arjowiggins A New Era of Paper

130

136 140

64 112

146

152

MINING

EQ Resources A Resourceful Company Morupule Coal Mine Mining for Today’s Botswana

OIL & GAS

Polaris EPC The Thin Green Line

SHIPPING, PORT & MARINE Ashdod Port The Port Authority

160

ERMA First The First in Ballast Water Treatment

168

Höegh Autoliners Revolutionising the Maritime Industry

176

Marell Boats A Volcano Under Ice

182

Port of Stockton Serving Stockton

188

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

Keltech Finding Their Niche

TRANSPORT & LOGISTICS

Carlton Forest Group Bringing Sustainability to Logistics

CONTENTS | 5

Find your way out of a complex operating model.

Let’s talk.

Operations Strategy | Digital | Cultural Engineering

Global io

- integrated operations experts.

globalio.com

EVENT OF THE MONTH

8 | EVENT OF THE MONTH

EVENT OF THE MONTH

WHERE: GRAN VIA VENUE HALL 4, BARCELONA, SPAIN / WHEN: MAY 10TH- 12TH, 2022

IOT SOLUTIONS WORLD CONGRESS With a strong international positioning of more than 70% of its exhibitors and visitors coming from outside Spain, the next IOTSWC (10-12 May 2022) event will bring together the main global players involved in the digital transformation of companies and promote the exchange of ideas, experiences and success stories on the benefits for the end-user.

www.iotsworldcongress.com

EVENT OF THE MONTH | 9

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ENERGY TRANSITION

THE TRANSITION AWAY FROM CARBON-INTENSIVE POWER SOURCES TO A MORE SUSTAINABLE ENERGY ECONOMY IS A GLOBAL EFFORT. WE CIRCLE THE GLOBE AND LOOK AT THE DIFFERENT APPROACHES BUSINESSES ARE TAKING TO THIS COLLECTIVE EFFORT.

THE ENERGY TRANSITION WORLD TOUR The global energy sector needs to transform from being fossilbased to one that is zero-carbon by 2050, or the consequences for the Earth’s climate and ecology, not to mention the enormous human cost, could be disastrous.

B

ut while a lot of the coverage around climate efforts can be pessimistic, researchers are saying it will be possible to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius by the end of the century if all countries keep to their climate pledges.

The energy transition is our pathway to that zero-carbon economy, reducing energyrelated CO2 emissions to limit climate change. It is a project that requires urgent action on a global scale, but one that cannot be solved by a single, unified approach. The transition

will take time, and during that time every action is needed to reduce immediate carbon emissions and further mitigate the effects of climate change.

We look at three key business projects around the world which are each tackling the energy transition differently.

THE NETHERLANDS: PUTTING THE FARM IN SOLAR FARM

Each country faces its own challenges. In the Netherlands, the most pressing challenge to more renewable energy infrastructure is space.

NEWS | 13

MODERN CONSTRUCTION

“What we see is there are so many demands pressing on the amount of land we have,” says Eric Tonnaer, Project Engineer for Vattenfall’s project, Symbizon.

“We need more space for housing, for energy, for food. You also see now, looking at legislation, the government wants everyone to push for multidisciplinary land use, combining functions to increase the efficiency of the land. There are places you cannot get a permit for standardised fields because of this pressing land problem.”

At the same time, the Netherlands per capita is one of the most polluted countries in the world, particularly due to the volume of meatbased agriculture. The energy transition in the Netherlands also needs to be an agricultural transition.

Vattenfall, the company that was previously behind the floating solar farm in Gendringen, is presenting a radical solution to both problems.

“We have combined agriculture and APV on the same field,” says Tonnaer.

“We add solar panels to an agriculture field, taking away the entire food versus fuel discussion by combining both in one place. We try to find an optimal destination for every particle of light that hits the field, so it is used for either electricity production or crop growth via photosynthesis.”

BRAZIL: THE MISSING PIECE OF THE PUZZLE Brazil has an extremely active wind and solar energy sector, but both of those energy sources are dependent on the weather. To make these energy sources sustainable, in every sense of the word, a third energy source is necessary to handle downtime. Ceiba Energy, profiled in this issue, is providing that missing part of the puzzle.

“A power plant like ours is the perfect complement because it adds stability to the system, allowing it to grow as much as needed,” explains Emilio Vicens, CEO of Ceiba Energy. “We are not running on a permanent basis, only when the system requires us to.

With wind and solar there can be intermittency, days without wind, or nights with no sun.

We are a perfect backup. The region is also poised to be a larger centre of potential in the future of green hydrogen.”

Ceiba Energy’s large-scale LNG-to-power project in Brazil is set to be a massive power, gas, and overall energy hub in Northeast Brazil.

14 | NEWS

MODERN CONSTRUCTION

“There are very few opportunities like this in Latin America and, frankly, the world,” Vicens says.

Ceiba Energy’s plan is to continue to grow from this project, not only in Brazil but into other markets where the firm has significant assets and positive existing relationships with other companies.

“We’re familiar with having activities in multiple developing markets, trying to spread the risk around,” Vicens says. “We believe strongly in Brazil, but sometimes Mexico will be doing better, or Chile or Colombia or Peru. We continuously work and make investments and transactions across the region.”

“THERE ARE VERY FEW OPPORTUNITIES LIKE THIS IN LATIN AMERICA AND, FRANKLY, THE WORLD.” THE USA: GREENER OIL REFINERIES?

While the renewables sector continues to develop and grow the oil refining industry remains the third-largest emitter of CO2 in the world, and little has been done to reduce that sector’s carbon footprint. It is an unfashionable part of the energy transition, but one that is vital to addressing emissions in time.

“Nobody is talking about reducing actual emissions from oil refining,” says Gerry Obluda, co-founder of Polaris EPC, profiled in this issue. “The refining of fossil fuels is going to go on for a long time, so our idea is to do refining better.”

Even before applying innovative technologies and techniques to create a cleaner oil refinery sector, Obluda addresses the supply chain issues the US oil industry has.

“An amazing thing in the US is we’re producing all this light, sweet, crude all of a sudden, and light sweet crude can more easily be converted to finished transportation fuels,” he explains. “But all of our existing refining base, which has been built up over more than 60 years, is set up to run primarily heavy sour crude. Upgrading heavy sour crude uses a large amount of energy and makes a ton of emissions but that is how they are set up. So, we export all this light sweet crude and import heavy sour crude to fill up our refineries. It is kind of crazy when you think about it. We load

up tankers of Saudi Arabian crude and bring them here to refine while exporting ours.”

Obluda argues that this light sweet crude being produced in West Texas should be refined cleanly on-site, rather than shipping it out to the coast and across the ocean. It is a plan with historic precedent.

“It’s come full circle,” Obluda points out. “If you look back to the very beginning of refining, 120 years ago, they built little refineries close to where they produced crude to supply local markets.

Now we are once again seeing how it is going to be better to build new plants closer to where crude is produced and thus be able to apply the latest emissions control technologies.”

When talking to people in the energy sector, a phrase you will frequently hear is that there is no one “silver bullet” to addressing climate change.

But with this wide range of solutions, working in tandem around the world, a brighter future remains possible.

NEWS | 15

CEIBA ENERGY

Emilio Vicens, CEO, Ceiba Energy.

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CEIBA ENERGY

CEIBA IS A COMPANY FOCUSED ON BRINGING POWER TO LATIN AMERICA, AND WITH ITS LATEST PROJECT THE FIRM IS SET TO MAKE A HUGE IMPACT.

POWER TO GROW PROJECT MANAGED BY: TIMOTHY GARWOOD

Founded in 2015, Ceiba Energy is an owner, developer, and operator of clean, sustainable power generation assets in Latin America.

The company is fully backed by Denham Capital, a private equity outfit that focuses on three main sectors including sustainable infrastructure, energy resources, and mining.

T

he way Denham Capital works is to partner with management teams that have significant expertise in specific regions or technology,” explains Emilio Vicens, CEO of Ceiba Energy. “We are one of those management teams.

Our expertise is power. We’ve been working in emerging markets, and our mandate is to develop, acquire, own and operate sustainable power assets in Latin America through a combination of M&A activities and greenfield development, from Mexico to Chile.”

Ceiba’s management team brings a wealth of experience from a range of leading power companies to the table, along with a unique perspective.

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

“We look at things differently.

We like to look for spaces in which we can add value to the markets in which we operate,” Vicens says. “There is no reason for us to simply be an additional player.”

Throughout the young company’s life, a major area of focus has been Brazil, which has received a significant amount of attention from Ceiba. Most recently that attention has yielded the Portocem Project, a largescale LNG-to-power project in Brazil generating close to 1.6 GW.

A BRAZILIAN PROJECT

“Our large-scale LNG-to-power project in Brazil is unique from many perspectives,” Vicens points out. It will be a massive power, gas, and overall energy hub in Northeast Brazil and that is what makes it so attractive.

There are very few opportunities like this in Latin America and, frankly, the world.”

Ceiba is not just looking for big projects in and of themselves, however. It also cares about the project’s impact on the wider economy, and the company itself.

The project will provide reliable and firm capacity to Brazil and support intermittent renewable energy in the region.

It will also create up to 3,000 jobs during the construction period and up to 150 jobs during operation.

“We want projects that allow us to grow. We see this as about more than just power,” Vicens says. “We see it as a mid-tolong-term business that will generate significant value for the market going forward. The powerplant will lead to further activities, including a storage and regasification vessel at the port of Pecém. That would allow gas to come into Brazil from the end of the pipeline network, all the way in the northeast of the country, opposite to where the gas generally flows. Gas typically flows into Brazil from Rio de Janeiro all the way up to the Northeast. The further you are from the gas source the more expensive and difficult it is to source. We will on-tap significant growth potential in gas utilization for power and industrial customers across the region that is critical for development.”

LEADING FEATURE | 17

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X | LEADING FEATURE

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LEADING FEATURE | X

INNIO CEIBA ENERGY AND INNIO: COLLABORATING TO POWER THE AMAZON Manaus offers residents and tourists an abundance of enjoyable activities.

Individuals can hike through the pristine rainforests in the morning and enjoy a passionate opera at night. Manaus is a truly special place, offering a rich variety of nature, art, culture and dining. Located in the center of the world’s largest rainforest, Manaus is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil, hosting a rapidly growing population that is estimated to be more than 2.2 million residents.

This growing population is accompanied by increasing economic development that places Manaus as the sixth-largest economy in Brazil. The combination of a growing population and an increasing economy coupled with the city’s distance from Brazil’s electricity grid presents a major challenge for Manaus; it faces a lack of sufficient power supply.

Figure 1. City of Manaus, Brazil.

BRINGING MORE POWER TO PARADISE Because there exists insufficient power supply, residents, tourists and industry are faced with continuous power disruptions and distribution difficulties.

Complicating the current situation, Manaus’ power demand is expected to increase in a significant way by 2025. This presents a daunting challenge as Brazil plans to reduce its carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2030. To meet current and future power demand, Manaus requires power generation that is flexible, scalable, and resilient. Seeking to support Brazil’s goal to reduce the country’s greenhouse gas emissions while meeting Manaus’ growing demand for electricity, Ceiba Energy, a Houston-based power company with a focus in Latin America, implemented a very sustainable plan. Breitener Energética owns and operates two gas-fired power plants, Jaraqui and Tambaqui, in Manaus, Brazil. Both plants are fully contracted, and their energy is delivered to Amazonas Energia through a 20-year Build, Own and Transfer Agreement. In 2021, Ceiba Energy acquired 100% of Breitener Energética S.A. from Petrobras and other minority partners. With the purchase of Breitener Energética S.A, Ceiba Energy further solidified its role as a leader in delivering sustainable energy in Latin America, ensuring that the power plants would continue plans to increase power and efficiency through the revitalizing of all 46 engines operating at the two sites.

WHAT IS OLD IS NEW AGAIN In 2010, Breitener Energética converted its two power plants that were running on heavy fuel-oil, UTE Mattos and UTE Fran, to operate on natural gas, installing 23 of INNIO’s Jenbacher J620 engines at each site. The two power plants generate a combined 120 megawatts, about 30% of the power for Manaus. Both power plants are operating on pipeline gas from the Urucu field in northern Brazil that is piped to the city of Manaus. Ceiba Energy understood that the sure path to cleaner and more efficient power is through technology and digitalization. Modernizing its newly acquired power plants, that logged more than 60,000 operating hours, would be key in meeting Manaus’ energy demand by enabling a constant and reliable electricity supply. Ceiba Energy decided to give the power plants a second life with continuing an upgrades program that would be implemented by INNIO Jenbacher. The upgrade will meet rapidly changing energy needs with energy solutions that are flexible, scalable, and resilient.

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On the revitalization of the Jenbacher engines, Ceiba requested that up to 46 J620 engines undergo complete overhauls. INNIO’s Jenbacher Overhaul Technology Centre local team in Manaus delivered exchange units that were preassembled and completely overhauled with new spare parts and delivered directly to the plants. Meeting all government health requirements in the midst of the COVID 19 global pandemic, Jenbacher has revitalized 37 of the 46 engines. “With power demand in Manaus expected to increase significally by 2025, we needed to revitalize our power plants while also reducing the outage risks, boosting the performance and productivity of the plants’ assets to provide the power Manaus needs 24/7 and 365 days per year,” said Javier Marrero, Chief Operating Officer of Ceiba Energy. “The plants’ revitalization makes a major positive impact on our operations. INNIO’s technology offer our power plants flexible and resilient solutions that meet all our power needs.”

DIGITALIZATION-ENABLED PERFORMANCE AND PROFITABILITY In addition to the revitalization, Ceiba requested that INNIO provide its cloud-based myPlant platform digital technology to provide the power plants with optimized performance, reduced operating costs and increased engine uptime. Through real-time monitoring, Breitener Energética engineers can manage the plant assets from anywhere, anytime – both secure and live.

INNIO’s myPlant digital solution allows Breitener Energética to take control of the operating performance and profitability of the power plant engines by giving it a digital life. INNIO’s myPlant digital solution supports optimizing performance and reducing possible unplanned downtime through continuous development of self-learning algorithms. By equipping the two power plants with INNIO’s myPlant Performance solution, plant operators are enabled with around-the-clock remote monitoring and diagnostics of equipment operation, moving from a reactive maintenance schedule to a condition-based maintenance approach.

Figure 5. INNIO Servicing Ceiba Energy’s Power Plant with Jenbacher Engines.

“The revitalization of the large engine power plants in Manaus serves as a great example of how R&D capabilities give products a second life, providing investment security for our customers at the end of the engine’s lifecycle. The engines can be reused and even upgraded to increase efficiency and meet the latest environmental requirements,” said Carl Richers, Vice President Product Management & Marketing of INNIO Jenbacher. “This is a very sustainable path to support Manaus’ growing power demand. INNIO helps customers like Ceiba Energy get more environmentally friendly electricity by providing flexible, scalable and resilient solutions that allow them to navigate the fast-changing energy landscape of traditional and green energy sources.”

Ceiba Energy also is tasking INNIO to supply spare parts for the Jenbacher engines over the next six years through a long-term service agreement.

Ceiba Energy’s Breitener Energética service technicians will be trained and certified by INNIO and will conduct the maintenance work themselves. This agreement provides delivery of the original Jenbacher engines’ spare parts for preventative maintenance based on the operating hours of the engines. www.innio.com

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CEIBA ENERGY

The Portocem Project was initiated by a development partner before Ceiba purchased the project in 2019. Ceiba purchased the rights to the land, the right to access to the existing port, and the relevant environmental permits, but apart from that, the company was working from scratch to develop a project able to compete in the highly competitive Brazilian regulated power market.

“Since then, we have fully developed this into a credible, highly structured world-class project,” says Vicens.

The next thing Ceiba needed was to secure the necessary demand for the project with a Power Purchase Agreement (“PPA”).

“Typically, in Brazil, we have country-wide auctions to bid for PPAs. We participated in

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

several PPA auctions, and finally, in 2021, we won close to 1,600 MW of capacity in the first of its kind capacity auction,” Vicens tells us. “What that means is that we’re now in a position to fully go ahead and build the asset which we’re contracting.”

A project on this scale needs an appropriate partner, and Ceiba Energy has found that in Shell, a world-class fuel supplier that brings to the table one of the strongest LNG portfolios in the world.

“We’re now finalising and discussing the terms of the agreement by which they will sell gas not only to our power plant but to potentially many other customers in the region as a whole using our infrastructure,” Vicens says.

As well as partnerships with multinational corporations, Ceiba is also working with a number of local infrastructure partners.

As Vicens points out, “We have a great relationship with the port, and there’s the industrial zone around the port that will bring tremendous value to the project in terms of better logistics. Thanks to all these partnerships we think we can be operational by mid-2026.”

“WE WANT PROJECTS THAT ALLOW US TO GROW. WE SEE THIS AS ABOUT MORE THAN JUST POWER.” LEADING FEATURE | 21

CEIBA ENERGY

COMPLEMENTARY VISION

This plant is meant to serve not just as a power source in its own right, but as an essential component in a combined solution to Brazil’s energy demand.

“This is a region that has a massive amount of wind and solar energy. A power plant like ours is the perfect complement because it adds stability to the system, allowing it to grow as much as needed,” explains Vicens. “We’re not running on a permanent basis, only when the system requires us to.

With wind and solar there can be intermittency, days without wind, or nights with no sun.

We’re a perfect backup. The region is also poised to be a larger centre of potential in the future of green hydrogen.”

Right now, Ceiba is finalising some key contracts including gas supply and equipment supply in the form of EPC and

22 | LEADING FEATURE

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ANDRADE GUTIERREZ “Since 1948, Andrade Gutierrez works with the best in engineering. Ever since then, we have participated in some of the most important works in the history of Brazil and the world. We are present in mining, industrial, infrastructure, urban mobility, energy, oil and gas projects.

Always ahead of the market, AG has extensive experience in the energy sector and has accumulated impressive numbers, such as 51 GW of installed capacity in power plants and 29 MMm3/day of regasification capacity in LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) Terminals.

To ensure an agile and sustainable digital transformation in the construction routine, we bet on Engineering 4.0 through the integration of BIM (Building Information Modeling), Operational Excellence and the Vetor AG, our open innovation program, which since 2018 has been seeking innovative solutions that can contribute for the evolution of the company and the sector.

Excellence is our trademark. Always looking for ways to optimize our processes, saving time and resources, in a continuous search for improvement. In this way, we are transforming not only the history of our company, but the history of Engineering, nationally and internationally.

We build the development of society. We are ethical, respect the communities, the environment and our collaborators in every project.

We are dedicated to people and want to be remembered as a company that cares about people and future generations. In this way, AG target Operational Excellence respecting costs, deadlines and the quality required by our customers. Our word is our bond.” www.andradegutierrez.com.br

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LEADING FEATURE | 23

BNP PARIBAS BNP Paribas is the European Union’s leading bank and key player in international banking. It operates in 65 countries and has nearly 190,000 employees, including nearly 145,000 in Europe. The Group has key positions in its three main fields of activity: Commercial, Personal Banking & Services for the Group’s commercial & personal banking and several specialised businesses including BNP Paribas Personal Finance and Arval; Investment & Protection Services for savings, investment and protection solutions; and Corporate & Institutional Banking, focused on corporate and institutional clients. Based on its strong diversified and integrated model, the Group helps all its clients (individuals, community associations, entrepreneurs, SMEs, corporates and institutional clients) to realise their projects through solutions spanning financing, investment, savings and protection insurance. In Europe, BNP Paribas has four domestic markets: Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg. The Group is rolling out its integrated commercial & personal banking model across several Mediterranean countries, Turkey, Eastern Europe as well as via a large network in the western part of the United States. As a key player in international banking, the Group has leading platforms and business lines in Europe, a strong presence in the Americas as well as a solid and fast-growing business in Asia-Pacific.

BNP Paribas has implemented a Corporate Social Responsibility approach in all its activities, enabling it to contribute to the sustainability transition, while ensuring the Group’s performance and stability. www.group.bnpparibas/en/

LOCKTON COMPANIES

We have been experiencing significant growth in foreign investment appetite in Latin America in the power generation and oil and gas sectors.

While Covid has brought energy investments around the world to a standstill, countries like Brazil, have pushed ahead faster than before on both greenfield projects and mergers & acquisitions. The Russian sanctions may intensify even further this trend.

Properly identifying, managing, and transferring, when applicable, the various types of risks, since the beginning of the life cycle, is key to enhancing the resilience of any new investment. And partnering with the right risk advisor/insurance broker may become even more crucial when investing in a different country.

Clients must count on a strong and specialized local broking and risk advisory multi-disciplinary team, that understands the segment, regulations, politics, local insurance market, and particularities of the country, but at the same time is fully connected and supported by resources around the world.

As the largest privately owned, independent insurance brokerage firm in the world, Lockton provides clients with the perfect balance.

Is large enough to offer deep resources to meet the sophisticated risk management needs of the Energy sector, but also nimble, entrepreneurial, and responsive, providing clients with constant access to a team of experts.

The world’s largest independent insurance brokerage, ready to help with all your risk management, the employee benefits and retirement needs. We have solutions for various industries, including the energy sector. Visit our website and check.

www.global.lockton.com 24 | LEADING FEATURE

“We at Lockton feel very honored to work very closely with some of the fastest-growing energy companies investing in Latin America. Lockton is also the fastest growing broking house amongst the ten biggest in the world and have invested heavily in Latin America in the last two years, creating even stronger synergies with those clients”, comments Carlos Vinicius Simonini, Managing Director at Lockton in Brazil. www.global.lockton.com

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CEIBA ENERGY

FSRU contracts and is planning for construction to begin in early 2023. By 2026, Ceiba hopes to have the largest power complex in Brazil.

Vicens believes the biggest obstacles to the project have already been overcome.

“The biggest challenge is to obtain a large scale PPA, which we have done so already under a PPA auction supported by Denham,” he tells us. “Winning a PPA in Brazil is extremely challenging in the sense that the environment is significantly competitive. There is a very strict set of rules, and to compete and win you have to be extremely sharp in what you are doing. You must be very diligent in making sure that the costs are what they should be and that the project is well structured even prior to winning or tendering for the projects.

You have to know what you are undertaking.”

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LEADING FEATURE | 25

CEIBA ENERGY

In terms of Ceiba’s future undertakings, Vicens believes strongly in Brazil but is also looking to continue the firm’s operations across Latin America.

“Our hope is to continue to grow, not only in Brazil, although Brazil will always be a significant market for Ceiba. We’re looking for other markets where we have significant assets and have worked well in the past with other companies,” says Vicens. “We’re familiar with having activities in multiple developing markets, trying to spread the risk around.

We believe strongly in Brazil, but sometimes Mexico will be doing better, or Chile or Colombia or Peru. We continuously work and make investments and transactions across the region.”

As well as working across different markets, Vicens also has his eyes on a range of sectors within those markets.

“We’re not just a gas-generation company, we are heavily involved in renewables, including solar, wind and hydro,” he says. “This particular project is gas, but it is an extremely good complement to the renewable sector with a low environmental footprint.

Some steel mills for instance still burn coal. They are looking into options to reduce emissions and we can help with that. We can also help with numerous other industries in terms of power generation and gas supply.”

The future is looking bright for Ceiba.

“We’ve got to build a 1,600-megawatt power plant on time and budget. We have several collateral projects to complete alongside that, but the most interesting aspect is that we have an opportunity to continue to grow over time,” says Vicens.

“We can really develop the gas and power markets, and the energy market as a whole in the entire region.”

26 | LEADING FEATURE

“WE’RE NOT JUST A GASGENERATION COMPANY, WE ARE HEAVILY INVOLVED IN RENEWABLES, INCLUDING SOLAR, WIND AND HYDRO.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

CEIBA ENERGY

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LEADING FEATURE | 27

BOAL GROUP

Adri Pols, CEO, BOAL Group.

28 | AGRICULTURE

BOAL GROUP

CEO ADRI POLS TALKS ABOUT BOAL GROUP’S EMERGENCE FROM A FAMILY-OWNED ALUMINIUM COMPANY TO A GLOBAL PLAYER IN THE HORTICULTURAL INDUSTRY & THEIR DRIVE TOWARDS SUSTAINABILITY.

THE GREEN FUTURE OF GREENHOUSES PROJECT MANAGED BY: DAVID TAVERNOR

Originally BOAL was a family-owned business. In 2018 BOAL Group was acquired by a private equity firm, helping BOAL achieve its growth ambitions. BOAL Group continues to grow rapidly based on a buy-and-build strategy.

O

ver the past four years, BOAL Group has acquired several companies, the aim being to integrate innovations by combining a group of businesses under one umbrella. These businesses offer designing and manufacturing systems, solutions, and components for the construction of greenhouses.

DRIVING CHANGE

One of the drivers of BOAL Group’s growth and transformation and a recent addition to the company is CEO Adri Pols: “I joined the company in January 2021. During that time, I learned the ropes and got to know the business and the market”.

Pols subsequently took over the CEO role in January 2022.

He has a clear view of what responsibilities his role entails.

“I see myself as a general manager who provides the vision and the strategy with a team covering operations, commercial, finance, digital and HR. My personal passion lies with our customers and our employees. It is key for us to work with both groups simultaneously to continuously transform our business to be future proof “ Pols states.

SUSTAINABILITY

The main focus for the company to be future proof is actively addressing sustainability.

BOAL’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy has led to ambitious goals to lower its carbon footprint and that of partners up and down the broader value chain.

Over time, the need for large scale horticultural solutions has significantly increased.

“Horticulture or Controlled

Environment Agriculture (CEA) is a vital part of the solution in solving the global challenges of how to sustainably feed the growing population.”

Pols breaks down why this is so important and asks an important question “There will be almost 10 billion people in the world by 2050 and the arable land surface is stagnant. In addition, scarcity of freshwater will further increase. We will need to produce as much food in 40 years as the world has been able to produce in the last 8000 years. The question is how can we ensure all these people are fed?”

The company is using its experience in horticulture to improve agriculture around the world as part of a larger collaborative effort.

“We are a member of the Dutch Greenhouse Delta, an organisation dedicated to helping countries build their horticultural infrastructure. At the recent World Expo in Dubai, we spoke about how people

AGRICULTURE | 29

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COMMITTED Advanced Programs established an environment where both clients and our teams feel appreciated, valued, and respected for what they bring and who they are. We have formulated and created company values accordingly. Our cross-functional teams work with our clients to create a 360-degree scan of the current situation and desired outcome. Based on a well-thought-out strategy, we run our projects with proven and effective methods, ranging from a scrum or agile up to the traditional waterfall and ITIL. Always with a pragmatic and result-driven mindset and committed to going the extra mile in helping our customers achieve their goals.

SAFEGUARDING BOAL’S BUSINESS-CRITICAL PROCESSES BOAL Group engineers and manufactures systems and solutions for high-tech greenhouses. The ambitious BOAL Group has expanded over the years. Advanced Programs is a trusted partner in BOAL’s growth and transformation journey with digital transformation as a strategic imperative.

Cees van den Heuvel, CFO and head of IT BOAL Group: “Advanced Programs adds tremendous value to our business by developing an agile environment that fully supports our business processes and our customer needs.”

Transitioning from server-based to cloud-based has been the main focus. For the extrusion process, it is critical to run 24/7 without any disruptions. Migrating to the cloud, therefore, requires trust and expertise. Van den Heuvel continues: “Advanced Programs fully immersed themselves in our specific business. We can rely on their expertise and commitment to further support our digital transformation.”

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30 | AGRICULTURE

BOAL GROUP

in the Middle East, Africa and other parts of the world can benefit from Dutch horticultural craftsmanship” Pols further explains.

He believes the answer lies in the collective experience behind the Dutch Greenhouse Delta (DGD) project. For that reason, he also joined the DGD as a supervisory board member.

“Rather than reinventing the wheel, we believe in a holistic solution. It is our purpose to partner with global players to enable safe and sustainable food production locally. No other region can deliver a holistic solution to the horticultural industry as effectively as the Dutch Westland region” Pols proclaims.

Pols goes on to illustrate how this can be achieved. “If you grow tomatoes outside, then you can produce 3-8 kilos per square metre a year. With controlled environment agriculture such as in a high-tech greenhouse, this increases to 80 to 100 kilos per square metre per year. The other issue with sustainability is water preservation. Growing tomatoes outdoors requires 200 to 300 litres of water per Kilo, while growing the crops indoors can reduce water usage by up to 90 per cent” he details.

In the past decade, 3000 hectares of new greenhouses were built using BOAL roof and sidewall systems. “If we only focus on the tomato crops, we enable growers worldwide to produce 1 billion kilograms of tomatoes per year and save up to 200 billion litres of water every year on irrigating their tomatoes”, he proudly explains.

The company has won praise for its commitment to sustainability.

“Over the last months, we have been working closely with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), specialised in ESG. At the end of this project, we have had a

AGRICULTURE | 31

BOAL GROUP

renowned independent ESG agency conduct a detailed rating process on 60 different criteria.

We are extremely pleased that we have been found to be an absolute top performer in our category. Of the more than 15.000 companies audited BOAL scores in the first percentile.”

PASSION, LEADERSHIP AND CRAFTMANSHIP

“One of the key success factors of our business is the passion and drive of our people. Some of our employees have been with us for more than four decades and they still feel that this is their company, despite the fact we have grown significantly and now employ more than 500 dedicated people.

Most of our team members have strong roots in the Westland region and all are experts in our field, “he further explains.

Pols explains what is needed, next to passion and craftsmanship.

“We are looking for leadership.

Not only in managementlevel staff, but throughout the company at every level. Our company is built by people with a can-do mentality who take ownership” he states. While some companies have had issues

32 | AGRICULTURE

with staff shortages, Pols has even experienced the opposite.

“Recently we have been able to attract high-quality new talent to the horticultural industry because people are keen to answer global challenges. It is astonishing how many people have applied as we recruit for more roles in the team” he further states.

FUTURE GROWTH

“The horticultural industry has seen a rapid period of transformation over the last years. The BOAL Group applied a buy-and-build strategy early on.

Therefore, we are one of the front runners in a race to consolidate and globalise the business. We are now one of the largest players in the Westland region with more than 90% of our business being export” he explains. “The depth and breadth of our offering are significant, and we ensure that we provide integrated solutions to our customers. We lead in our industry, and we plan to stay ahead. I am confident that we have got all the necessary ingredients.

As a result, our greenhouse solutions will continue to provide a major contribution to sustainably feeding the world.”

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BOAL GROUP

For more information on BOAL’s ESG Strategy please visit: www.boalgroup.com/sustainability

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AGS AIRPORTS GROUP

SINCE WE LAST SPOKE WITH AGS AIRPORTS THERE HAS BEEN A WHOLE GLOBAL PANDEMIC, BUT WHILE THE AIRPORT HAS BEEN WORKING HARD ON RECOVERY, ITS REAL FOCUS IS ON CREATING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE.

SUSTAINABLE IN EVERY WAY PROJECT MANAGED BY: TREVOR GRETSINGER

“It’s certainly been tough for everyone, especially the aviation industry,” says Derek Provan, CEO of AGS Airports.

“AGS went from a position of operating at 100% capacity to operating at 1 or 2% capacity almost overnight, and realistically that didn’t change for 18 months.”

H

e is telling us about the impact of the Covid pandemic, and it is a story that has been replicated across the aviation industry.

“There were a few moments when restrictions were lifted and things got slightly better but we’ve been operating at less than 10% for most of those 18 months,” Provan points out. “Although we are not generating revenues, we still have a fixed cost base at 80% of what it was before. So that was a challenge.”

WHATEVER IT TAKES

It is in times of crisis like this that we often discover what our real priorities are. AGS demonstrated its priorities when it decided to say open and continue to support the regions it serves through the pandemic, even while operating at massive losses.

34 | AVIATION

“That was an important decision which we made early on. We are more than a business serving a bottom line,” Provan insists.

“We’re a service that’s vital for people going from the Highlands of Scotland to get to hospitals in Glasgow and Aberdeen for lifesaving operations and we do the same for the Channel Islands in the south.”

The goal was to build a lifeline for clinicians to travel, and for PPE to move around the country, as well as the oil and gas that would keep the lights on in the UK. “Everything we could do to support the country we did and continue to do regardless of the business,” Provan says proudly.

Derek Provan, CEO, AGS Airports.

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We partner with a wide variety of organisations in addition to airports and airlines, including major financial institutions, data centres, healthcare providers, transport and government bodies. We consider ourselves privileged to serve in such a fluid and dynamic field. Our multi-layered, holistic approach to security draws from ICTS personnel, canine, electronic and physical security elements in addition to audit, consultancy and monitoring services.

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ICTS provides security services to 11 Airports in the UK and Ireland. As a Group, ICTS Europe provides aviation security services at over 90 Airports world-wide.

ICTS UK & IRELAND: THE AGS GROUP’S SECURITY PARTNER ICTS’ partnership with the AGS Group commenced in May 2018, when ICTS took over the provision of security services at Southampton Airport, including central search, hold baggage screening, vehicle searches and airport patrol.

In December of the following year, the AGS Group also entrusted ICTS with security services at Aberdeen and Glasgow Airports. We were pleased to expand our Aviation Division by welcoming new staff to our portfolio.

We pride ourselves in our ability to work in partnership with our clients to find solutions to their needs. During the pandemic, we did just this, and in March 2021, ICTS, in partnership with TAC Healthcare Group, signed a new strategic agreement with the AGS Group for the provision of rapid COVID-19 testing facilities. We facilitated a process which enabled the return of air travel. These testing facilities were initially introduced at Aberdeen and Glasgow Airports, and later at Southampton Airport.

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AGS AIRPORTS GROUP

These are fine aspirations, but AGS still had its work cut out for it operating on 80% of its cost base with zero income. From the beginning, the first task was to try and forecast what would come next.

“That was impossible,” Provan says simply. “Whenever we thought we were going to move to a more positive position we found a new negative position.”

Without any promises about the future, AGS had to work closely with shareholders and investors to maintain liquidity and achieve financial stability.

“Once we did that we could look forward to a time without concerns about the longevity of the pandemic,” Provan says. “We had to restructure the business, looking at operational costs, headcount, capital expenditure.

We had to let 30% of our colleagues go on redundancy.

That was tough because these were people who, through no fault of their own, found themselves in a position where we could not sustain them. It will take a significant amount of time to recover.”

“WE ARE MORE THAN A BUSINESS SERVING A BOTTOM LINE. WE’RE A SERVICE THAT’S VITAL FOR PEOPLE GOING FROM THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND TO GET TO HOSPITALS IN GLASGOW AND ABERDEEN FOR LIFE-SAVING OPERATIONS AND WE DO THE SAME FOR THE CHANNEL ISLANDS IN THE SOUTH.” Provan predicts it will be 2025 before the aviation industry returns to pre-pandemic levels, possibly longer for smaller airports.

AVIATION | 37

AGS AIRPORTS GROUP

Aberdeen International Airport, Scotland.

“Things are far more positive now. Restrictions are being lifted. There’s pent up demand.

We are in a positive place, but to put that in perspective the number of passengers we will serve this year are still at 1995 levels,” Provan cautions. “We’re still two decades behind and it will take time to rebuild that.”

ACCELERATED SUSTAINABILITY

The industry that gets built back will not look like the aviation industry of 2019, however.

“Covid was a huge risk to aviation, but coming from that loss of capacity are two other risks,” Provan explains. “One is contraction- fewer airlines, less aircraft, less business. The other is consolidation, with fewer aircraft the main airlines can consolidate through alliances, sharing routes, doing double drops. We may see planes going from Glasgow to Manchester to Reykjavik, instead of directly from Glasgow to Reykjavik.”

38 | AVIATION

“ALL OUR AIRPORTS ARE CARBONNEUTRAL, AND EVEN SINCE 2018 WE’VE REDUCED OUR CO2 FOOTPRINT BY 52% OVER FOUR YEARS.” While market forces are shifting the industry, so is the drive for a greener aviation industry.

“Over the last two years, we have accelerated the work we do. We have a goal to achieve net-zero carbon for all operations by the mid2030s. That would be for our own operations,” Provan explains. “All our airports are carbon-neutral, and even since 2018 we’ve reduced our CO2 footprint by 52% over four years.”

AGS boasts a fleet of electric vehicles, and all its utilities come from renewable sources.

Now Provan wants to take the next step and the firm has announced a new solar farm along its perimeter fence.

At 30 acres, it will be operational by next summer and will give Glasgow Airport the capability to generate enough power for the airport campus and neighbouring businesses.

This is equivalent to powering almost 20% of homes in the city of Glasgow (approximately 52,000 households).

“We’re working with entrepreneurs, private businesses, government and academia to create new opportunities to reduce carbon emissions,” Provan says. “We have created the Scottish Wind Energy Consortium with Strathclyde University and Katrick Technologies.

They create small wind turbines in one-metre cubed spaces with

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AVIATION | 39

AGS AIRPORTS GROUP

oscillating fan blades that can be positioned anywhere. The essence of airports and airfields is wind, and we can use that to reduce our CO2 emissions.”

AGS’s interest extends to the fuels that aircraft use.

“We’re a massive supporter of sustainable aviation fuels and we’re talking about creating sustainable aviation fuel plants,” Provan tells us. “It is not a one size fits all problem, but we are perfectly placed to test hydrogen and electric flight. One of our airline partners, Loganair, is part of a consortium that will trial a hydrogen-powered aircraft later this year. We have partnerships in place for eVTOL (electric vertical take-off & landing) craft.

These will be between six and 12-seat aircraft for distances of 4 or 500 miles. They can cover distances typically taken by train much more quickly and at the same price as a train ticket.

We expect to see those aircraft starting to fly by 2024 from some of our airports.”

Indirectly, Provan believes all of this is a consequence of the pandemic.

“What the pandemic has done is accelerated everything.

Businesses were already looking for a brighter, cleaner, greener aviation industry than we might have been previously and AGS is well-positioned for that,” he points out.

PEOPLE FOCUSED SUSTAINABILITY

But for Provan sustainability is about more than carbon emissions. It is also about social and economic responsibility.

“We spend a lot of time on that social and economic element with our communities,” Provan tells us.

One example is that two years ago AGS founded a consortium called CAELUS (Care & Equity - Logistics UAS Scotland), the first medical drone delivery service. The consortium exists to send drones out to remote rural areas that would otherwise

Derek Provan pictured with the then Scottish Minister for Transport at the launch of AGS’ sustainability strategy in 2021.

40 | AVIATION

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AGS AIRPORTS GROUP

Boeing’s eco-Demonstrater aircraft which was the showpiece of the Glasgow Airport and Boeing Innovation Forum which held in October. face difficulties getting to the hospital for life-threatening conditions.

“Right now, you can’t fly a drone without a visual line of sight, but we’re moving beyond that with drones programmed to deliver directly to the doctor or the patient,” Provan says.

“These are patients that would normally be delivered to by road or by sea, so there’s also an environmental benefit.”

The first trial flights will take place later this year, making Caelus the world’s first medical delivery service by drone, with a consortium of partners,

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

predominantly the NHS, using that expertise.

Beyond that, the future is uncertain, but AGS is ready for uncertainty.

“It’s certainly a far more difficult world to forecast today than it was previously,” Provan admits.

“But we are used to a crisis.

We have come through war, weather, and terrorist attacks.

We still see a positive future for aviation. The key is getting back to 2019 levels by 2025. To do that we will be working with national and local government, particularly around ensuring we promote the country and region

to get opportunities for business moving forward. We want to make sure that across Scotland and England there is an aviation strategy about growth, but not at the cost of the planet.”

“WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT ACROSS SCOTLAND AND ENGLAND THERE IS AN AVIATION STRATEGY ABOUT GROWTH, BUT NOT AT THE COST OF THE PLANET.” AVIATION | 41

ZADAR AIRPORT

DIRECTOR & GENERAL MANAGER JOSIP KLIŠMANIĆ DISCUSSES THE GROWTH OF ZADAR AIRPORT, THE CHALLENGES THE COMPANY FACED DURING COVID-19, & THEIR PLANS FOR FUTURE EXPANSION.

GOING UP IN THE WORLD PROJECT MANAGED BY: RASH UDDIN Zadar Airport is located in Zemunik Donji, 5 miles from the centre of Zadar in Croatia. As early as 1936, the airport was handling commercial flights by Ala Littoria. Since then, Zadar Airport has grown into Croatia’s fourth-largest airport.

I

n the last two years, the air travel industry had to deal with restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic- which are now gradually being lifted. This is good news for Zadar Airport as they seek to welcome more travellers to the local area.

Zadar flies out to Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Berlin, London, and Gatwick, among other destinations, with an emphasis on tourism and seasonal travel.

One person who is working to increase the visibility of Zadar city is Zadar Airport’s Director & General Manager Josip Klišmanić, “We are one of the fastest-growing airports in Croatia, with 1 million passengers expected this year.

When you come to Croatia, more people know about us.

People used to know Split or Dubrovnik but increasingly we are being more recognised”

42 | AVIATION

he confirms. Klišmanić feels his role is an important part in ensuring this growth continues “I am the General Manager, so I would say I am accountable for everything. It is my job to steer the company, get the most out of the people we work with, and ensure the airport’s smooth development” he states.

A KEY PARTNERSHIP

A major boost to Zadar’s visibility, both as an airport and the area, has been low-cost airline Ryanair choosing Zadar Airport as its Croatian main base in 2013, with a stationed Boeing 737-800 and serving eight European countries including Belgium, Germany, Italy, and Poland. “Ryanair has its base here. Low-cost airlines are increasingly important in the market as it ensures more profit and makes the industry more competitive. We have three aircraft with Ryanair and they are a good partner” Klišmanić explains.

This partnership has been crucial in the development of the airport. As with a lot of businesses, the effects of COVID-19 have been profound, especially given that a lot of countries restricted where

people could go. Klišmanić felt the effects first-hand, “COVID-19 hit us really hard. We had great plans in 2019 with investment lined up. Unfortunately a lot of those projects had to be cancelled or postponed. It was a catastrophe” he recalls.

One of the projects that had to be postponed included a new base in time for summer 2020, which did not open until July 2021. The base has two stationed Airbus A320200 planes and serves 37 destinations. The airline Lauda Europe was due to offer 12 routes from Zadar for Ryanair in March 2022 but these have since been postponed to early June 2022.

This also meant that retaining employees was a challenge.

“For that year, everything stopped working. We had to work hard to keep employees, knowing that the situation was temporary but not knowing how long it would go on for” he further explains.

While this was difficult, there is now the feeling that the recovery is starting to happen “Fortunately, governments in the EU came together to provide support for the industry.

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ZADAR AIRPORT

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AVIATION | 43

ZADAR AIRPORT

Now, we have a good plan for our recovery. We did feel it for a while, but now we increasingly feel that it has been taken care of” he says optimistically.

THE WIDER COMMUNITY

While experience and technical skills are something that employers consider while recruiting, Klišmanić is more specific in terms of the type of people, looking for their own personal drive and what they wish to achieve. “When looking for potential employees, we are looking for people who want to thrive and make a difference. It is something you can see in their eyes. You want someone to show responsibility and devotion to their work” he explains.

Josip Klišmanić, General Manager, Zadar Airport.

Klišmanić believes that the growth of Zadar Airport benefits the wider community “In some ways, the airport itself is a part of the community. A lot of developments in the city have occurred thanks to the passengers that come to Zadar. We are looking to secure more investment and that should provide more development for the whole of Zadar and the wider region” he states.

Zadar can boast a distinct history. Originally, it was built by the Venetians as a fortress three hundred years ago. Unsurprisingly, this means its historical district is a popular tourist destination with 15 ancient churches that people can explore alongside the more typical restaurants and entertainment people expect when exploring a major city.

One of Zadar’s most distinct and unusual attractions is the Sea Organ. This pipe system was built in 2005 under the city’s embankment and is known for its melodious sounds. At the peak of the tourist season, the Ninska Laguna beach (referred to by some locals as “royal beach”) is also a major attraction with its healing mud and health spas.

If Zadar Airport can maintain its growth, then it is likely that these attractions will become more well-known and provide further benefits for the local people as more tourists discover what is available in the local area.

A BRIGHT FUTURE

Klišmanić is very optimistic about where the company is heading. “We are looking to expand our services. We

44 | AVIATION

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ZADAR AIRPORT

are one of the few airports that received EU funding for resilience and restructuring” he details. “We are also looking into making the running of the airport more sustainable, with the introduction of electric ground-handling equipment and solar panels” Klišmanić further explains.

Klišmanić is looking further ahead to more long-term targets as Zadar Airport continues to expand “With 2.5 million passengers projected to use Zadar Airport in the future, we are also looking into long-term investment for the next ten years. This will include improving air traffic control and maintenance facilities in the airport. We are looking forward to a bright future.”

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AVIATION | 45

AFRICA LOGISTICS PROPERTIES

AFRICA LOGISTICS PROPERTIES IS A COMPANY WITH A MISSION TO TRANSFORM NAIROBI’S INDUSTRIAL PROPERTY MARKET. WE LOOK AT THE CUTTING-EDGE SOLUTIONS THEY BRING TO THE SECTOR.

21 CENTURY WAREHOUSING ST

PROJECT MANAGED BY: HAYDEN TURNER Africa Logistics Properties (ALP) was incorporated in 2017 following a successful round of fundraising with its largest shareholders, including the World Bank, CDC, IFC, Mbuyu Capital, Maris, and DOB Equity.

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hese shareholders were united by the vision of revolutionising the poor quality, dilapidated, 19th-century industrial property sector of Nairobi,” explains Dean Shillaw, CCO of the company. “We have been buying land along linear growth corridors to construct A-grade, sustainably developed logistics parks, the first of their kind in Africa.”

ALP currently has $80 million on the balance sheet, is growing into the Nairobi and Mombasa markets and expanding regionally with its existing tenancies. In a short space of time ALP has made a name for itself by cheapening the cost of warehousing per volume, per item or per delivery while bringing down the cost of utilities.

“We’re using technologies for buildings that exist all over the world but which we bought to

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Nairobi and Kenya ourselves,” Shillaw says. “We are now going one step further and converting all our debt into the first green loans in East Africa, giving us tangible and intangible benefits we can pass on to our tenants.

We are the first company of our kind in Africa to commit to a zero-carbon footprint by 2050.”

WAREHOUSING FOR A GREENER FUTURE

ALP is the only developer in East Africa making volumetric designed warehouses, with a cost per volume that is cheaper than any industrial facility in Kenya. The facilities are also designed with the latest sustainability technologies in place.

“We are the only company that invests into Edge Design, which stands for ‘Excellence of Design’, a sustainability measure used by the World Bank which means we recycle our water through a treatment plant and cycle it back into the building,” Shillaw tells us. “We have solar panels on the roofs, we have systems in place to let us spend energy efficiently.

ALP passes on the benefits (lower monthly utility) onto the tenants.”

Edge Design is a holistic approach the sustainability in construction that covers three major criteria, embodied material, water and power.

“It goes into how much light you allow into the building, how the building is orientated, where you get steel and concrete from,” Shillaw says. “It’s a full cradleto-grave measurement and it is 100% part of our business case.”

It forms the bedrock of ALP’ design approach.

“It’s paramount, no investment moves forward if it doesn’t check the boxes of a sustainable measure, full stop,” Shillaw assures us.

These values are not limited to ALP’ practices either but are reflected throughout the supply chain.

“We have defined a framework to ensure the integrity of sustainability measures remains throughout the supply chain,” Shillaw says. “The contractor only looks at certain suppliers that prequalify for our criteria. If the concrete does not meet our criteria, we will not use it.”

Shillaw places a lot of the credit for this with Maruza Chikwanha, the firm’s Development Director with 20 years of experience.

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AFRICA LOGISTICS PROPERTIES

Dean Shillaw, CCO, Africa Logistics Properties.

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AFRICA LOGISTICS PROPERTIES

“He looks at each of our suppliers and contractors on a weekly or bi-monthly basis to ensure the buildings are precisely what is promised to our shareholders,” Shillaw tells us. “We’re a long-term capital partner and even one mistake is unacceptable.”

As well as benefiting from numerous technological and design advantages, ALP’ tenants also benefit from the regulatory and zoning environments its facilities inhabit.

“Our tenants have buildings that on a like-for-like basis are 40% more efficient than any other building in Nairobi, from a utility spend perspective. This is compounded by its location in the special economic zone where there are benefits like no VAT on rent, and no import duty on materials, among others,” Shillaw points out.

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AFRICA LOGISTICS PROPERTIES

Changing minds is hard work, and Shillaw does not mind admitting it is something that took “A lot of blood sweat and tears!” to achieve.

“I build specific business cases for specific businesses based on specific variables and show them that operating out of our buildings is 20-30% cheaper than operating out of their existing facility,” he says. “It’s about getting the information from them to input into our calculations.”

Of course, one danger of showing customers how it has done is that they can come away thinking they can do it themselves.

“Some local industrials then think they can do what we do in a better way, which simply doesn’t exist,” Shillaw says. “A lot of businesses here didn’t even know about high bay volumetric racking, such as the kind they use in Amazon warehouses.

Our business plan is rock solid

RINGING IN THE CHANGES

On paper, it is not hard to see the advantages that ALP brings to the table. However, the business is operating in a relatively conservative business sector, so making their cases to potential tenants is the real challenge.

“The biggest challenge is convincing the regional market to change something. Like operating out of a new building after they have successfully been operating from their current premises for the past 20/30 years,” Shillaw points out. “It is like convincing someone to move up to the next generation of phones. A lot of people like to keep the device they have because they know how it works, but once you have tried the new phone you are never going back.

The challenge is changing the mindset of the generations-old industrial sector.”

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AFRICA LOGISTICS PROPERTIES

from a planning perspective, but implementation is hard.”

The market is inevitably being upgraded, however, with an influx of customers with specialised requirements for cold storage, agriculture, and e-commerce.

“They’re bringing that modernisation into the sector that businesses need if people want to scale them up,” Shillaw says.

A FUTURE OF GROWTH

Shillaw is clear about his ambitions for the future of ALP. “The future looks something like achieving four or five times our current portfolio size in the region, growing organically with our tenants, and looking to change the face of how industrial precincts operate in East Africa,” he tells us.

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But growth does not just mean more of the same.

“One thing we are doing is listening to the market, diversifying. Traditionally we would find land, build on it and look for tenants. We’re now becoming more localised, offering packages,” Shillaw explains. “Less than 100,000 square metres of storage in Nairobi is A-grade, and more than 9% is owner-occupied. So, there is a disparity between our offering and what the market is.

We are responding by designing solutions to acquire land that tenants can use without winding up capital in it. We will build a building to your requirements, lease it to you for a 10-to-30year period, and afterwards, you

can buy it for a dollar. We also look at opportunities where we are nimble enough to not only build high-value warehouses but serve the textile-based industries or cold storage-based industries. If you come to us with a long-term commitment, we can build something suited to your requirements.”

ALP will 100% finance the land, top structure and all associated development costs and take on all development risks (timing and cost overrun).

This allows an industrialist to spend their hard earned capital on machinery, operations, processes which traditionally returns a higher yield when compared with the real estate sector.

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AFRILAND PROPERTIES PLC

AFTER AN EVENTFUL YEAR, WE RETURN TO AFRILAND PROPERTIES PLC TO LOOK AT ALL THEY HAVE ACHIEVED UNDER DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES.

BUILDING THE FUTURE OF AFRICA PROJECT MANAGED BY: JOHN HOLLIMAN 2021 was an eventful one for Afriland Properties Plc. While the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic presented challenges, it also presented a bouquet of opportunities.

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ifestyles have changed.

Working models have evolved. Businesses like ours, have had to innovate or risk becoming extinct,” says Uzo Oshogwe, Managing Director of Afriland Properties Plc. “We are in a dynamic and everchanging industry and Afriland has evolved and become even more agile to keep up with the pace of the real estate industry.

Our vision is to be Africa’s leading real estate company that creates long-term value for all stakeholders and so we must continue to evolve as an organization, organically to ensure we achieve all our goals.”

Over the last year, Afriland has hit a number of milestones.

The firm’s portfolio consists of one of the largest landbanks

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in Africa and its services play a key role in impacting lives and driving inclusion across the African continent.

“One of our most important achievements is the development of Heirs Towers, an imposing edifice in the corporate hub of Ajose Adeogun, Victoria Island in Lagos,” Oshogwe tells us. “As dedicated project managers, we defied the odds to bring together all the elements required to deliver this project to our client in record time, despite considerable challenges brought on by the Covid Pandemic. This edifice was commissioned by the Lagos State Governor, His Excellency, Babajide SanwoOlu, and the Chairman of Heirs Holding Group, Mr Tony Elumelu.”

The pandemic saw all businesses grind to a halt at some point, while currency fluctuations affected project costs, so the completion of this project meant a great deal to Afriland and its stakeholders.

Afriland also completed residential development in highbrow Ikoyi Lagos, The Owena Residences. Like Heirs Towers, it was impacted by economic factors initiated by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

DEFINED BY RESILIENCE

“A major trait that distinguishes us in the real estate sector and kept us going is resilience,” Oshogwe says. “Quality service delivery is the hallmark of what we do. Our x-factor is the quality we bring to the table. This is facilitated by a purpose-driven mentality as well as the application of our team of experienced professionals who understand the business of Real Estate.

Liquidity management, cost management, technological innovation, and a very pragmatic approach to funding are just some of the many strategies we implement to ensure that we remain competitive and that our standards are not compromised but are continuously improving.”

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AFRILAND PROPERTIES PLC

Uzo Oshogwe, Managing Director, Afriland Properties Plc.

Etco’s core areas of expertise are: engineering design, procurement, supply, installation, commissioning and maintenance of electrical, ELV, air conditioning, fire suppression and plumbing systems. Our capabilities are constantly evolving and expanding to cover new advanced industrial sectors and provide quality solutions that meet every client need.

• Design & Engineering • Procurement • M&E Installation • Commissioning • Maintenance • Transformers • Lifts LAGOS: 14 Creek Rd, Apapa, Lagos, P.O. Box 337, Tel: +234-805550-1532, +234-803-963-2226 PORT HARCOURT: 7 Forces Avenue, PMB 5358, Tel: +234-803-825-5101 ABUJA: 8 Usuma Close, Maitama, Abuja, Tel: +234-805-502-4820 www.etco-nigeria.com Email: etco_office@etco-nigeria.com

ETCO NIGERIA LTD. In the decades since its establishment, Etco has successfully completed hundreds of complex projects on a variety of scales, ranging from hotels, office blocks, and residential complexes to factories and other industrial facilities. Major projects include Lagos City Hall, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, UBA Marina in Lagos, Mobil House in Lekki, the Palms Shopping Mall, and even the National Assembly in Abuja.

Headquartered in Lagos, and with branch offices in Abuja and Port Harcourt, Etco is ideally positioned to undertake projects in any location throughout Nigeria.

In May 2007, Etco was proud to become a prominent subsidiary of Electra Ltd. Electra is part of the Elco Holdings Group, one of Israel’s largest names in the industrial world, and is itself a major international presence.

Etco strives to be the leading provider of comprehensive, single-point solutions for projects and facilities in the mechanical and electrical sectors.

Etco establishes and operates project management systems for the private market, industry and infrastructure that consistently deliver optimum quality, scheduling, and value for its clients, alongside unparalleled service standards.

ETCO’s main areas of expertise are in Engineering Design, Procurement, Supply, Installation, Commissioning and Maintenance in the Electrical, ELV, Air Conditioning, Fire Fighting and Plumbing fields.

• Design & Engineering

• Commissioning

• Procurement

• Maintenance

• M&E Installation www.etco-nigeria.com

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AFRILAND PROPERTIES PLC

Despite the challenges of 2021, Afriland retained its workforce, even when many companies downsized to accommodate the effects of the pandemic.

“We are passionate about our people and their welfare, and this earned us the ‘Great place to work in Nigeria’ award recognition,” Oshogwe says.

There have still been challenges to overcome, however, including access to “development-friendly” finance in a market where most available funds are short-term loan facilities with high-interest rates.

“It is a major reason why the housing deficit in Nigeria remains very high as developers put premium prices on their developments because of the cost of development,” Oshogwe says.

“Foreign exchange fluctuation has also been a major challenge for us as an organization. Again, it is a situation not peculiar to us. The prices of Building Materials and Fittings that are mostly imported are impacted negatively by the erratic nature of the dollar.”

“WE ARE PASSIONATE ABOUT OUR PEOPLE AND THEIR WELFARE, AND THIS EARNED US THE ‘GREAT PLACE TO WORK IN NIGERIA’ AWARD RECOGNITION.” A STRONG LINE-UP

Afriland responds to these challenges by approaching its projects with a solutionoriented mindset. Flexibility and adaptability are key skills the company has embraced in a dynamic commercial space.

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“Resource management is one of the hallmarks of Afriland Properties Plc. With a portfolio size of over N12 billion and one of the largest land banks in Nigeria, we are very intentional about how we manage our finances to ensure we can duly appropriate funds to projects when needed and as when due,” says Oshogwe.

“A technique we employ to hedge against cost variations is to extend reasonable advance payments to our contractors to cover the upfront payment of lead items. This way, contractors are enabled to procure materials and fittings upfront and are protected from FX fluctuations.

This cost hedging strategy ensures that our projects are completed as when due; within

the contract project cost and that our stakeholders get a good value on their investments.”

It is an outlook that has positioned Afriland well for the future. Afriland Properties Plc is committed to providing innovative solutions, from residential developments to high-end office developments and property and facilities management services.

Technology has become the driver of modern-day transactions, and Afriland is launching a facility management-focused mobile app, Afriserve, to facilitate this.

“The product upon its launch will look to bridge the gap between soft and hard facility management services and the

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AFRILAND PROPERTIES PLC

clients who need them,” says Oshogwe. “We intend to take advantage of the demand for timely and quality service to carve a niche in the sector.

As an authority in the facility management space, this service has the potential to become a game-changer in the FM industry.”

“We have a whole lot lined up,” Oshogwe says. “Our track record speaks for itself and as a result, we have built a tradition of trust to deliver quality service to our clientele. We are bringing into the market, diverse real estate offerings that will make a real difference in the Real Estate sector in Nigeria.”

For residential developments, Afriland has commenced construction of The Rouge by Afriland, a premium, luxury residential development in the heart of Old Ikoyi, Lagos.

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AFRILAND PROPERTIES PLC

It has also begun building Iris Court, a residential project located in Ikeja, Lagos State, built for the modern-day professional. The company’s portfolio also includes the gated community, Afriland Estate, and two multipurpose developments- The Emporium, a state-of-the-art multipurpose complex located in Trans Amadi Industrial Layout, Port Harcourt, and Afriland Complex in Abule Egba, a suburban area in Lagos, Nigeria.

“We are very excited about all the developments in the pipeline and what we intend

to achieve in the next 1218 months,” Oshogwe tells us. “We believe that through our long-term investments in Real Estate, we are building an African-owned business, which creates employment, economic prosperity, and social wealth that will transform the African continent. In all we do at Afriland Properties Plc, we do not lose sight of our purpose, which is to improve lives through our investments in the development, management, and maintenance of world-class Real Estate offerings across Africa.”

“OUR TRACK RECORD SPEAKS FOR ITSELF AND AS A RESULT, WE HAVE BUILT A TRADITION OF TRUST TO DELIVER QUALITY SERVICE TO OUR CLIENTELE.”

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AFRISAM INFORMATION SERVICES

IT IS NEARLY FIVE YEARS SINCE WE LEARNED ABOUT THE “AFRISAM WAY”, & HOW AFRISAM USES IT TO DRIVE TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION AND ADAPTATION WITHIN BUSINESSES, BUT NOW IT IS NEEDED MORE THAN EVER.

RETURN OF THE AFRISAM WAY PROJECT MANAGED BY: MAX HUTCHINGS

With operations in South Africa, Lesotho and Eswatini, AfriSam is the leading supplier of construction materials in southern Africa and plays an important role in the growth and development of the continent and its people.

AfriSam’s Information Services is a valuable part of that role, and when we last spoke with AfriSam in 2017 that arm of the business was transforming from a back-room component to a leading function of the company. Since then, the technological environment has only evolved faster.

Louise van der Bank, CIO of AfriSam.

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e’ve seen the pace of technology evolution and the impact of the fourth industrial revolution on our business and lives increase over the past five years,” says Louise van der Bank, CIO of AfriSam. Van der Bank sees her role as connecting the dots and leading technology enabled change in the company, including perspectives from customers, industries, and ecosystems to facilitate the conversation.

“We must challenge ‘business as usual’ and plan for disruptive technology,” she insists.

It’s a lesson that has only become more relevant following the last few years.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has provided the opportunity to accelerate digital transformation which enabled us to gain momentum with the implementation of our AfriSam Digital strategy,” says van der Bank. “This included enhancing our customer experience and driving business efficiency and effectiveness.”

In support of the AfriSam mission, the aim of the Information Services (IS) division is to create an inclusive and high-performance

culture that enables and supports AfriSam through Information and Technology Services. The department’s priorities are to drive the adoption of analytics and a collaborative environment, enable business efficiencies and subscribe to services that enable the elastic provisioning of infrastructure resources based on business demand. AfriSam IS also invests in education and training of its people.

A TIME TO RECOVER

Of course, that mission, like so many businesses’ plans, faced obstacles over the last few years in the form of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Our approach was threefold: react to the crisis, align to the ‘new normal’ and pivot to new areas of focus to enable the business,” van der Bank says.

To react to the crisis, AfriSam prioritised and implemented remote working capabilities, enhanced cybersecurity services and controls, and mitigated risks related to vendor services affected by the lockdown. Once that was secured, AfriSam aligned with the ‘new normal’ by focusing on people, processes

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PERFORMANTA Performanta is a risk-based cybersecurity consultancy and managed service provider pioneering Cyber Safety. We work tirelessly to achieve two things for our clients – lowering your risk and limiting the impact of a successful cyber breach.

Founded in 2010, we have grown to over 150 security professionals with teams in North America, the UK, South Africa and the Netherlands.

Our team of experts have experience across a range of industries and sectors, and we bring that experience to bear at all levels, from understanding your initial risk via a maturity assessment, to cyber project planning and management, to the deployment of a team of experts to help your executive board define and deliver your business strategy.

Our team will also work with you to provide a fully managed service across your security technologies. We then actively monitor your threat environment, tune your policies and report on their efficacy. With regular reviews and engagement from our 24/7 SOC, we become an extended part of your security and IT infrastructure, ensuring you are always protected and as secure as possible.

By using our security platform, Encore.io, we’re able to provide real-time insight, guidance and action. We monitor your users, platforms, applications and services and can automatically highlight and remediate threats across your attack surface. Our MDR service can detect on one system and respond on another, all safe in the knowledge that our security experts are triaging events and can help on an incident within minutes. Our consultants work to understand your unique requirements and from this we’ll create a flexible plan that will take you on a cyber-safe journey. www.performanta.com

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AFRISAM INFORMATION SERVICES

The AfriSam Group employs approximately 1,500 employees.

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and technology. With people, AfriSam IS focuses on service excellence by leveraging outsourcing and managed service opportunities. Looking at its processes, the company increased efficiencies through workflow automation, RPA (Robotic Process Automation) and digitalisation. Meanwhile, the company’s technology was kept appropriate to task through cloud migration, licence optimisation and flexibility.

AfriSam also focused on new areas, such as enabling new interactions and online channel services for the customer experience.

Coming out the other side of the crisis, AfriSam continues to adapt.

“Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, ongoing services and business continuity required during 2020 because of the lock-down, called for a ‘new normal’ approach,” van der Bank recalls. “The IS Strategy had to be reviewed, in alignment with the Covid-19 Recovery plan, to reflect the changing business environment & lower userbase.”

AfriSam IS identified five focus areas in alignment with the AfriSam Covid-19 Recovery plan.

The purpose of the first focus area, ‘Continuous Improvement’, is to simplify processes, solutions and systems.

“For 2021 this included the implementation of the BEST GL reconciliation module for SAP finance, additional improvements in supplier invoice processing automation and the development of functionality to support supplier statements both using Optical Character Recognition (OCR),” van der Bank tells us.

The second pillar of the strategy, ‘Digitalise’, is aimed at Enhancing Customer Experience, Enabling the workforce and Automation.

This involved stepping up AfriSam’s social

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The company has the capacity to produce in excess of 7 million tons of aggregate annually, making it the largest producer of aggregate in southern Africa.

collaboration tools, implementing Microsoft technology through its ‘Transformation to Teamwork’ program, and revolutionising the way AfriSam collaborates in a secure, cloud-based platform. To improve the customer experience, AfriSam launched Click2Go, an E-experience platform providing self-service options such as realtime access to accounts while seamlessly managing orders & deliveries.

The third focus area is ‘Insights’, including Business Intelligence and Analytics to assist with decision making, while the fourth is simply ‘Technology’, where the purpose is to mature AfriSam’s IT environment.

“During 2021 we kicked-off a project to refresh our wide area network & related services,” van der Bank explains. “We implemented the core network infrastructure and migrated the VPN access, perimeter network servers and the Shared Services Centre (SSC) links onto the new infrastructure. In alignment with the SSC renovations, the AfriSam House server room was relocated, network cabling replaced, & the meeting rooms equipped with modern conferencing technology.”

Last but not least, there is ‘Compliance’, focusing on Information Security, data & legislation.

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“During 2021 we started to proactively address information security risks at a technology level, through continuous vulnerability scanning of our environment,” van der Bank says. “We continued to train and test our users in Information Security with awareness training and email phishing campaigns.

In line with our Cloud strategy, the contract management solution was migrated to TidyFiles. Content and Records Management, powered by both Microsoft and TidyFiles now gives us the ability to efficiently engage with our content.”

NEW HORIZONS

AfriSam has achieved a lot, but there is still much more to do.

In 2022 AfriSam IS plans to conduct a feasibility study into alternative software delivery and service models for SAP and alternatives to SAP, complete the network migration and implement Infrastructure as a Service platforms in line with the move towards Cloud services.

There are plans to build an AfriSam Digital Twin that provides actual, comparative, forecast and predictive data analysis to address business challenges and identify new opportunities.

All in all, AfriSam is embracing digital opportunities and threats AfriSam can produce 2 million m³ of readymix concrete from its strategically located readymix operations in major growth nodes across South Africa.

AFRISAM INFORMATION SERVICES

while enabling AfriSam as a whole to focus on re-building the business and adjusting to ensure its own sustainability.

In this rapidly changing environment, the role of the CIO also needs to change, serving as both a business executive and Information Technology (IT) expert. As van der Bank points out, partnerships between the CIO, the CEO and other senior executives are key.

“I see the role of the CIO today as key to drive strategy and to take the lead in digital innovation and transformation in order to grow revenue,” van der Bank explains. “The CIO is required to foresee businesschanging opportunities inspired by strategic technology innovations.

The changing role of the CIO in my view is a result of technology’s impact on business. Technology has become part of the DNA of every business.”

As Industry 4.0 uses digital technologies to merge the physical and virtual, van der Bank argues the role of the CIO must shift with it, addressing challenges and opportunities related to advancements in robotics, artificial intelligence (AI), virtual reality (VR), automation, machine learning, 3D printing, big data, the internet of things (IoT), Cloud Computing, System Integration and Cyber Security.

“The relationship with the CEO and the board has changed as well,” she points out. “The CIO is now a partner in crafting the business strategy and ensuring that the company derives value not only through technology but also through technologyempowered employees and digital products and services.

The CIO impacts every part of the business and should therefore understand both the technology landscape and the business implications of technology.”

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HEMPEL

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HEMPEL

HEMPEL IS A RENOWNED MANUFACTURER OF PAINTS AND COATINGS, WITH ITS SIGHTS SET ON GROWTH. BUT IT IS ALSO DEDICATED TO MAKING A POSITIVE IMPACT.

SHAPING A BRIGHTER FUTURE PROJECT MANAGED BY: DAVID TAVERNOR

Hempel is made up of 7,500 paint and coating professionals operating in the marine, decorative, energy and infrastructure industries. It has become a global brand serving 100 countries.

But their goal is about more than just the company’s bottom line.

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Lars Petersson, Group President & CEO, Hempel.

e’re trying to do something good in this world,” says Lars Petersson, Group President & Chief Executive Officer. “We are owned by the Hempel Foundation, instituted in 1948 by our founder J.C. Hempel.

The Hempel Foundation does good deeds with the money we earn, making investments in sustainability and biodiversity.”

“Doing something good in this world” is a goal with many facets. As Petersson explains, “It’s about how you earn your money, as well as how you spend it.”

On the one hand, it is reflected in the way Hempel does business with its clients.

“Trust is the number one word,” Petersson says. “We strive to have long-term relationships with our customers. Our ownership helps with that because we can take long-term bets, invest in things long-term and create win-

win situations with customers.

When things go wrong, as they often do in large infrastructure projects, we are positioned to do what’s right and retain that customer relationship, making sure we develop it in the future.

I think the way our ownership reflects on our actions is what’s unique about Hempel.”

Petersson described Hempel as an “ultra-progressive” company, leading in its market segments while working sustainably.

“If you want a better coating solution than the one you have today, Hempel is your natural destination. We don’t have all the answers but we’re ahead of the curve,” Petersson says.

“When it comes to suppliers, we can offer a route to market for the solutions they have. We can’t invest in it all here at Hempel, but we can connect suppliers to our customers. We are a good longterm, solid, and decent partner.”

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HEMPEL

Hempel’s focus on being a company that is a net benefit to the world around it is also a recruitment incentive.

“When we talk to our employees and potential recruits, we tell them they can make difference at Hempel,” Petersson points out.

“We’re ambitious, we intend to double in size within five years.

We’re an interesting option for those who want to develop their career.”

of scale and capacity to serve international customers. It also has an impact on our ability to finance innovation. We felt we were a bit too small to be big.

We’re not a niche company, so we need to grow.”

Double Impact is about doubling Hempel in size to a point where it can be more competitive, but it’s also about having a positive impact on the world.

DOUBLE IMPACT

“WE’RE AMBITIOUS, WE INTEND TO DOUBLE IN SIZE WITHIN FIVE YEARS. WE’RE AN INTERESTING OPTION FOR THOSE WHO WANT TO DEVELOP THEIR CAREER.”

Right now, Hempel’s philosophy is being expressed in the form of a new strategy called “Double Impact”, borne out of the Covid pandemic.

“We were spending the first part of 2020 in lockdown like everyone else. We had a bit more time because we weren’t travelling around, so we did a strategy review and concluded we needed to grow,” Petersson recalls. “We are number 12 in the coating industry in terms of size, and size matters for economies

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HEMPEL

“Our owner has ambitions to reach 100 million children in underdeveloped areas, as well as our ongoing investments in sustainable coatings and biodiversity,” Petersson says.

“We put sustainability as a centrepiece of our strategy to make sure it’s part of every process. The strategy was formulated adhering to our principles. We defocused some areas in terms of geographies and customer segments. We create value in partnerships with customers, reducing costs, and becoming the natural goto company for customers who want a better solution. We are a diverse, sustainable, modern company.”

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Of course, change is not always easy.

“Mike Tyson said, ‘Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth,’” Petersson says wryly. “A lot of things got disrupted in 2020. Some of our suppliers started to take maintenance breaks, some simply shut down because of Covid, and when the demand came back it was strong and supply was not really there and there were cost increases. So, our greatest challenge has been to balance that in order to mitigate the effect of raw material costs and supply disruptions. We’re having dialogues with our customers and are trying to improve.”

THINKING “OUTSIDE THE CAN”

Double Impact is a multipronged approach. One such prong is the way Hempel is expanding its service offering.

Typically, Hempel has devoted its efforts to “in the can” solutions, chemistry for coating and paint.

“Recently we have also started to work ‘outside the can’ with the services we provide,” Petersson explains.

“Digitalisation is important for that. It creates value for the customer in the advice we give as well as the products we sell. It shows customers how they can use less paint, for example. We also believe it is important customers have access to the digital component of coatings, devices that help them use coatings in a more sustainable and profitable way. Across all segments, customers expect you to engage with them smoothly, giving them the data they need at a click. We in Hempel must follow that lead.”

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“WE HAVE BECOME A COMPANY WHERE IT’S NATURAL TO COME AND WORK FOR US IF YOU WANT TO HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE WORLD,” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

HEMPEL

It is no surprise to find that another prong of that strategy is sustainability, but it is still startling just how far that value penetrates to the core of Hempel’s thinking.

“Sustainability is not a bolt-on. It’s not just a single department in the way it used to be,” Petersson insists. “Whatever decision process we have, whatever we develop, needs to have a sustainability angle to it. If it’s not sustainable we don’t invest in it, whether it’s a plant or a piece of equipment. We tried to put a sustainability angle into all our products and processes.

The devil is in the detail. You have to work through a lot of processes to ensure this philosophy is ingrained in your way of working.”

Hempel has come a long way, but there is still so much more to do, as Petersson is first to point out.

“I see us becoming even more customer-centric. We really understand our customers’ business. They need a solid advisor and partner in their endeavours. We’re becoming more specialised in the areas we serve,” he says.

Another essential ingredient of Hempel’s growth will be attracting a new generation of talent.

“We have become a company where it’s natural to come and work for us if you want to have an impact on the world,” Petersson says. “We’re a goto company from an employee point of view because we’re dealing with the challenges of the world. We will grow, take market share, ensure we are relevant and secure our longterm future. My role is to take Hempel to the next level.”

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The future is ours to make We know that if you want change, you have to create change. That’s why we launched Futureproof, a clear framework through which we will begin delivering on our strategic goal of sustainability leadership. We know there’s a long way to go, but with clear direction we can drive our company, customers and employees forward. And together we’re advancing on our journey towards shaping a brighter future with sustainable coating solutions.

MERIT

Tony Wells, CEO of Merit.

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MERIT

CEO TONY WELLS TALKS ABOUT HOW THE 2018 NORTH-EAST BUSINESS AWARDS WINNER HAS REVOLUTIONISED ITS APPROACH TO CONSTRUCTION.

WINNING

WITH MERIT

PROJECT MANAGED BY: ROBERT NAPIER-SMITH

While CEO Tony Wells was happy that Merit was awarded North-East Business of the Year in 2018, he feels the company receiving the award is not representative of where the company is now. “While we were happy to win, it was a different time for our company. From 2004, our factory was a ‘bolt-on’ and it is not now, it is fundamental to what we do now”, he explains.

E

stablished in 2002, the Northumberland - based construction company Merit Holdings has been very successful, working for clients such as Newcastle University, The Royal Albert Hall, Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, British Antarctic Survey, Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, CPI, and Harrods.

IMPROVING THE PROCESS

Finished cleanroom for new mRNA centre of excellence.

Wells believes in what Merit has to offer.

“We are an innovation, consultancy, and techbased company working in a high-tech construction environment. We work from a ‘clean sheet of paper’ approach.

Rather than being fragmented, our work is vertically integrated, we do not subcontract from outside” Wells explains.

Merit’s change of focus has sustainability at the forefront.

“In 2019 we were inspired by Greta Thunberg. We wanted to do more to make our business sustainable.

This included eliminating direct carbon emissions and working on how to make our designs and buildings as energy-efficient as possible.

We have an aggressive net zero programme, using detailed research and development to remove carbon” he states.

Wells has a clear idea of what his role is with Merit. “I would say I am more of a chief engineer as opposed to a CEO. We believe in a standard platform approach.

We believe in leadership on all levels, without the need to delegate. We are in the process of increasing our engineering capacity. I enjoy working for the company now more than when I started- it is like working for a start-up” he says excitedly.

While Wells has a positive approach, there have been challenges that Merit has had to work through.

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+44 7770 275 839 | info@technicaloptionslimited.co.uk

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MERIT

Staff at one of the two Merit offsite manufacturing facilities in Northumberland.

“We are reinventing how we deliver a construction project.

This has proven difficult to sell to some customers, but we are finding early adopters who want to get on board. As a private company, cash flow and profit are aspects we need to keep an eye on. We are looking to avoid the typical high-risk approach that has affected the construction industry and this is something we need financiers to understand” he admits.

COVID-19 was another challenge with a massive impact on manufacturing, but Wells believes that the issues that the pandemic caused also provided an opportunity to reassess the business. “COVID-19 was awful for people who suffered through it. However, it is said that some good can be found in difficult times. It meant we had to increase our emphasis on digital engineering” he explains.

Early onsite construction methods used in Antarctica.

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MERIT

While some companies in the manufacturing industry struggled during the Brexit process, Wells also found positives and ways to rejuvenate the business.

“It is difficult because there are fewer hardworking EU workers available to businesses now.

This worked in our favour as our company was not reliant on EU workers. During this time, we have managed our growth and improved productivity” he details.

A HEALTHY BUSINESS

Cramlington Sterile Services facility FLEXI POD R.

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In recent times, Merit has been looking to move into more biotech contracts. Wells believes that the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for countries to reduce their reliance on outside sources.

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MERIT

Delivering clean and dry room package for UK government & industry collaborative project.

“The biotech industry was boosted by COVID-19, as people have realised the importance of vaccine production. Furthermore, it has also highlighted how important local vaccine production is for Britain, with less reliance on ordering in products from outside the country” he explains.

Wells also highlights how Merit’s approach to construction can be beneficial to the biotech industry. “We are working with our clients from inception to qualification, and we have managed to complete projects in eight and a half months as opposed to four years. We are rapidly increasing our capacity in the UK, halving the time to get projects finished and improving infection control” he states.

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Wells is keen to foster a more positive approach to working in the construction industry, as he believes this has further positive knockon effects for the business itself. “We are also offering more flexible working, as we want to encourage a higher quality of life. This is important because if you have happier workers, you have an increased standard of living and this leads to improved productivity” he explains.

Mental health is also a factor that Wells considers when it comes to Merit’s workforce.

“Traditionally, construction has not been attractive for the wider labour market. It is thought of as anti-social and associated with mental health issues. We are working on addressing this with fewer onsite roles, digital engineering, and an even male and female split in the workforce” Wells says.

The company provides apprenticeship and graduate schemes and uses local SMEs

as their suppliers. The company also supports local charities, though Wells feels this is something that should be done without overemphasising it.

While the community work is important, Wells is also satisfied with Merit’s overall growth.

“We are looking at a 75 per cent increase in sales compared to last year, with that number set to double by the end of next year. We are also increasing our capacity to 300,000 square feet this year with further plans to expand in 2023” he details.

It is interesting to see how a business can win awards and praise, while still wanting to push forward and even completely change its approach. For Wells, this change in approach is what makes working for the current incarnation of Merit refreshing.

“Our company is not just about sales turnover; we also want to grow sustainably. We are hiring from within and outside our industry, bringing in people with fresh and exciting new ideas. It feels good to be in this environment!”

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TRULITE

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TRULITE

CEO KEVIN YATES TALKS ABOUT HOW TRULITE GLASS & ALUMINIUM SOLUTIONS HAVE OVERCOME ISSUES CAUSED BY THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC & THE COMPANY’S PLANS FOR THE FUTURE.

HEART OF GLASS

PROJECT MANAGED BY: TIMOTHY GARWOOD

Trulite Glass and Aluminium Solutions is the largest independent glass and aluminium fabricator in North America. We distribute and fabricate architectural aluminium products and glass for the construction market.

The company fabricates glass windows and aluminium frames, as well as speciality products such as decorative glass, cabinet glass and mirrors. Trulite’s products are used in external commercial building applications as well as internal applications like handrails, interior partition walls and shower doors. This product range includes attractive storefronts, energy-efficient curtain walls as well as hurricane and blast-resistant systems.

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he company has 33 production facilities across the US and Canada, utilizing its own fleet of delivery vehicles in most markets as a value-adding service. “Our customer base is local; they place a high value on quality, delivery and local relationships with sales and customer support. This is what we strive for because that is what our customers value,” states CEO Kevin Yates.

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TRULITE

HIGH PERFORMANCE CNC MACHINES AND UNIQUE INTEGRATED LINES FOR GLASS PROCESSING

A DIFFICULT PERIOD

CMS North America • 4095 Karona Ct Caledonia, MI 49316 Tel. +1 616 698 9970 • cmssales@cmsna.com • cmsna.com

CMS NORTH AMERICA, INC. CMS North America, who’s parent company CMS SpA was founded in 1969, is as a brand that brings together five divisions with a worldwide sales and customer service network. Located in Grand Rapids, Michigan, it is dedicated to the sales, support, and service of its customers, their CMS machines, staff training, and long term interests for the efficient usage of technology and continuing communication of its technological developments.

CMS’s consistency in excellent price to performance ratios, production volumes, and exclusive solutions along with a variety of models, all serve to satisfy a wide array of production requirements. CMS solutions come from experience gained in leading-edge technological sectors, and feature state of the art machine tools specially designed for machining glass, stone, metal, plastics, and advanced materials. CMS has a long standing and renowned specialization in the production of multiaxis CNC machining centers, cutting benches, thermoforming machines, and water-jet cutting systems. The average tenure of the technical staff is 15+ years, with continuing training and certification by CMS for technical skills, representing the awareness of a long term commitment to its customers. This vast range of productions, combined with processing quality and precision, offers flexible, innovative, and effective solutions to meet the various production process phases related to customer needs.

CMS’s reliability is reaffirmed in its customers; partnerships with industry leading companies across all sectors reflects a long standing and globally recognized trust that CMS technology will lead fabrication into the future.

CMS North America, Inc. 4095 Karona Court, Caledonia, MI 49316, USA Phone: 616-698-9970 / Fax: 616-698-9730 Email: cmssales@cmsna.com

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www.cmsna.com

Like a lot of companies, Trulite faced a difficult period during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Initially during the first quarter of 2020 our performance was good and we had a robust market.

We were extremely optimistic about 2020. Then, in late February / early March of 2020, the world started to change, and by the end of March, the world was a different place. We saw this impact on our customers, our communities and ultimately our employees.

This was further complicated by the varied response of each of the US States and Canadian Provinces.

Watching how each independent government responded had vastly different effects on our business” Yates explains.

He goes on to highlight other issues that affected the workflow of the business. “ During the initial peak of the outbreak, we had to deal with absenteeism and a lack of workforce. During the second phase of COVID-19 (late 2020 to early 2021), we dealt with not only the heightened absenteeism from elevated COVID infections but absenteeism from the lack of labour available in the market.

Then, what ensued the rest

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of 2021 was continued labour constraint coupled with high inflation in a market that was still relatively strong. It really was a challenging time.” he further details.

While this period proved challenging for the company, Yates believes that Trulite has turned those challenges into opportunities, and he’s optimistic about 2022. “I would say we have overcome these challenges! We learned much about our customers, our employees and what it takes to weather what I hope we will look back and see was the pandemic of the century.

During the last 24 months, we have become more focused on visibility within our business, being more agile, using the data we have to make fast decisions” he describes. Yates is excited about the future and is excited for the hard-working people at Trulite to support customers and be successful every day. A ‘new normal’ is developing and Trulite is poised to provide customers support with even higher levels of quality, high touch relationships and customer service they have come to expect from Trulite.

Yates feels that one aspect has been crucial for Trulite’s resiliency through the pandemic, and continued success exiting the pandemic.

“For us, it was important to have courage.

The environment was tough; no different for most businesses.

But those businesses that had the courage to act quick, be agile, and act in a consequent fashion to do the right thing for employees, customers and shareholders was not an easy feat. I was privileged to lead and have a front-row seat to see the heart of our organization rise to the occasion” he states.

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A CLEAR VISION OF TOMORROW Dayton, OH – Automotive Glass Manufacturing Base Fuyao Glass America, Inc., is the largest automotive glass manufacturing plant in the world with a production capacity of 4 million sets of OEM glass & 4 million sets of ARG.

Plymouth, MI – North American Value-Added Center Fuyao Automotive North America Inc. provides component parts assembly & value-added service.

Mt. Zion, IL – Float Glass Manufacturing Base Fuyao Glass Illinois Inc., can produce float glass with various colors & thicknesses, reaching an annual capacity of 280,000 tons.

See what’s possible® guardianglass.com Project fabricated by Trulite Cheswick

© Halkin/Mason Photography

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We invest to be the most valued PVB film supplier to safety glass laminators around the world.

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TRULITE

THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

Yates believes that certain attributes are important for being an employee with Trulite.

“I value people showing up!

What we sell is reliability to our customers.

Equally, we expect an environment where our employees feel respected and protected, creating an environment where they want to show up!

We can’t sell reliability if we don’t have reliable employees standing in front of reliable equipment every day” he details.

The company is also looking for people with the appropriate technical skills and experience, “When available, we are also looking for people that have the right technical skills. Those technical skills include having the most professional, most well trained and most aggressive sales force in the industry. But, technical skill is just as important in our factories, in our customer service groups and throughout our organization. Our products are custom in nature. Being able to take a customers’ requirement, translate that requirement into order documents, and then use technical equipment that cuts, mills, drills, punches and assembles raw material into a usable product where quality is a premium takes a great deal of technical experience” he adds.

The company aggressively strives to cross-train employees so that employees can move across to other roles if necessary, as the custom nature of the business requires a flexible workforce to meet the changing needs of the customers.

Trulite emphasises a handson approach for their products.

The process begins with the initial design phase, reviewing architectural drawings with a glazier/installer and getting an idea of what the finished product will eventually look like. The

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TRULITE

team then works closely with the glazing contractor, and the material suppliers ensuring the final installation is of the best quality, and meets the fit, form and function of the intended application. The aim of Trulite is that each project meets the customer’s specifications, and finishes on time and on budget.

Yates also credits his suppliers as part of his ‘community’.

He comments “Having great suppliers is vital to our success, and I must say, we have a great supply ‘ecosystem’!

From raw material suppliers of glass and aluminium to speciality product suppliers that supply items like inner layer, hardware and spacers, we have a very good relationship with our suppliers. And frankly speaking, their patience and partnership through the pandemic were just remarkable. We couldn’t have been successful without them! But I must also include our equipment suppliers in our supply ecosystem.

Our equipment suppliers not only supply us with high-quality machines, but they help us maintain those machines. Again, reliability in this industry is paramount; our material supply chain and equipment suppliers are extensions of that reliability we supply to our customers. We think of our suppliers as partners, all with one common goal; being a high quality, reliable supplier to the glazing community”.

A ROBUST MARKET

Yates is very optimistic about Trulite’s plans for the future.

“Glass and aluminium will continue to be in high demand in the future. Whether used in more applications for natural day light-harvesting to improve the interior aesthetics of buildings, or used for more energy efficiency applications, buildings will continue to use more and more

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glass and aluminium.

Also, glass and aluminium are both renewable resources. Both can both be recycled and put back into the supply chain. And finally, the US and Canadian construction markets are very robust.” Yates also comments that while there is so much organic growth opportunity for Trulite, he explains the proposition for geographical expansion is ever-present. He quips “We are moving forward with a windshield mentality looking to make a larger impact for the customers we serve today, but looking to make a difference for more new customers in the future” The issues that Trulite has had to address are not exclusive to their sector or indeed the United States. Trulite has taken this opportunity to adapt, assessing how their own internal processes can support more customers, focusing on operational efficiency and growing their presence in the market.

To maintain their position in the marketplace, Yates has a strong idea of what Trulite needs to do to address the issues post-COVID-19, “We serve thousands of customers a year, so a high level of customer service is essential” he states.

This high level of transactions requires Trulite to constantly assess the processes behind the products from start to finish. As Yates concludes- “We sell value.

That value is created from the first time we answer the phone to quote an order, how well we make the products during the order execution process, delivering those products to our customers complete and on time. And, in those rare cases when we have an issue, we focus on quickly resolving the situation, and doing the right thing. We understand what our customers want, we deliver on that expectation and our customers recognize that support!”

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HOWARD KENNEDY

LEGAL PROTECTION WE TALK TO HOWARD KENNEDY ABOUT THE GROWING AND CRUCIAL ROLE OF CYBER SECURITY IN ALL BUSINESS PRACTICES.

PROJECT MANAGED BY: ANDREW BOURKE

HOWARD KENNEDY

Howard Kennedy is a leading London-based law firm that has built itself a reputation for being straightforward.

W

e’re a full-service law firm priding ourselves on providing straightforward advice to organisations and individuals. That is our raison d’etre,” says Tony McKenna, IT Director for the firm. “The language we use and the advice we give make it as simple as possible for people to understand.

We look to get close to our clients and understand their businesses and situations, to advise them ahead of any requirement of the law to be involved.”

Being a straight-talking business in an industry known for hard-to-decipher jargon, Howard Kennedy is a company perhaps uniquely suited to understanding the challenges around cyber security.

“Cyber security sits at the heart of what we do as a business. As Tony said, we want to be straightforward, and cyber security is part of that,” says Jonathan Freedman, Head of Technology & Security. “It demonstrates why clients can

THIS IS XDR

cybereason.com

CYBEREASON Cybereason is the XDR company, giving Defenders the weapon they need to end cyberattacks at the endpoint, in the cloud and across the entire enterprise ecosystem. The Cybereason MalOp™ Detection Engineleverages threat intelligence and AI-driven behavioral detections to provide Defenders with comprehensive attack details from root cause across the distributed network through real-time, multi-stage visibility that enableanalysts to immediately understand and end attacks before they become major security events.

Traditional security approaches are limited to detections based on retrospective Indicators of Compromise (IOCs), the artifacts from previously known attacks. Cybereason leverages IOCs as well as Indicators of Behavior (IOBs), the more subtle signs of never before seen attack tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs).IOB-based detections allow Defenders to identify potential security incidents earlier based upon chains of behavior that produce circumstances that are either extremely rare or present a distinct advantage to an attacker—even when those behaviors are common and expected to be seen in the network environment. These chains of behavior reveal an attack at the earliest stages by surfacing malicious intent and activity that exposes novel attack methodologies. This is how the Cybereason MalOp™ Detection Engine instantly deliverscontext-rich correlations across every affected device, user and system with unparalleled speed and accuracy.

Cybereason was founded in 2012, bringing some of the world’s brightest minds from the military, government intelligence and enterprise security together to deliver future-ready attack protection. Cybereason provides a wide range of best-in-class, AI-driven solutions and services, including industry-leading Extended and Endpoint Detection and Responses (XDR and EDR), Next-Gen Antivirus (EPP), Managed and Incident Response Services (MDR and DFIR) and Proactive Threat Hunting. Cybereason delivers unparalleled efficacy to protect all aspects of modern network ecosystems including endpoints, on-premise and private infrastructure, the cloud, application suites and user identities. With automated and oneclick remediation options, Cybereason significantly reduces the mean time to respond from an industry average of several days down to minutes.

Traditional solutions require manual analyst intervention for nearly every task, increasing the likelihood of human error and severely limiting scalability for Security Operations. With Cybereason, a single analyst can defend as many as 200,000 enterprise endpoints, because Cybereason is at the forefront of data collection, processing and analysis for actionable security event data at scale. Competing offerings are forced to filter crucial threat telemetry, but the Cybereason XDR Platform powered by Google Cloud is capable of processing all available telemetry at petabyte scale, empowering security analysts to understand the full scope of cyberattacks in minutes. Only the AI-driven Cybereason XDR Platform has the ability to analyse over 23 trillion security events per week to deliver predictive prevention, detection and response that is undefeated against modern ransomware and advanced attack techniques.

With Cybereason, Defenders can move beyond continuous alert triage and investigation with an operation-centric security approach that leverages the Cybereason MalOp™ Detection Engine for context-rich correlations that turn threat data into actionable decisions at the speed of business to detect earlier, remediate faster and reverse the adversary advantage. www.cybereason.com

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HOWARD KENNEDY

trust us with their information and their business. We have designed our IT environment and project planning to put cyber security at the heart of what we do. In the modern world, if you do not have cyber security, you do not have a business. It’s absolutely crucial.”

HEARTS AND MINDS

Cyber security is a key factor in all the decisions Howard Kennedy makes, with every new technology or process analysed from a security perspective. However, it is equally important to ensure that every person involved in a project shares that priority.

“It’s front and centre in the conversation now where four or five years ago it would have been more of a background issue,” McKenna says. “We take it into account in looking at which suppliers to use and selecting partners to work with, as well as in the benchmarking questions we ask the people we work with.”

“I tend to describe it as Hearts and Minds,” Freedman says. “The last couple of years have been about reinforcing the message of cyber security across the business, not just by saying this is our policy, but by helping people understand why it’s important,

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HOWARD KENNEDY

FAR HORIZON

Tony McKenna, IT Director, Howard Kennedy.

and not just at work but in their personal lives. This is not just important at work, it’s important in the 21st century.”

Howard Kennedy engages people on a personal level to help them be more cyber aware in their whole lives, not just at work.

“We challenge our colleagues through sending out simulated attacks, monitoring responses and providing targeted education,” McKenna tells us.

“Blanket education, through emails and broadcasting, has its place, but targeted messaging can bring the subject to life with real-life scenarios. A lot of this can sound quite spooky and futuristic and sci-fi, but we know all too well there’s a lot of this going on in real-time today.”

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Howard Kennedy is currently engaged in a multi-year technology refresh program called “Programme Horizon”, aligning its technology to its business strategy, including laying out its longer-term plans around cyber security.

“Over the last 18 months to two years we’ve been making strategic investments in cyber security, deliberately avoiding a common pitfall across multiple industries,” Freedman says. “Lots of organisations may use 15 different cyber security products, each solving a different problem but not in a coordinated way.

These solutions are extensive, difficult to manage and hard to get value from. We make targeted investments in cyber security. We select individual products as part of a big picture, being conscious of how they fit together to deliver long term protection and value.”

Jonathan Freedman, Head of Technology & Security, Howard Kennedy.

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OSIRIUM Osirium are leading UK cybersecurity experts. With a focus on Privileged Access Security, Osirium is trusted by leading organisations across all sectors to protect their valuable IT infrastructure.

Privileged accounts, for example “Administrator” users, are powerful as they can access valuable information like client data, intellectual property, or the systems the business relies on. Cyber-attacks, especially ransomware, target these accounts as they offer the highest possible returns. Once an attacker has those admin credentials, they can plant malware, steal corporate data, or shut down cybersecurity tools like anti-malware, firewalls, data loss protection, and backup management systems to maximise the damage caused.

Protecting those accounts – Privileged Access Management (PAM) – should be the foundation for all cybersecurity strategies. It also enables new business opportunities such as working closer with clients, suppliers, and partners.

Osirium Automation, goes further and protects not just those valuable account credentials but also the work that admins do while using those accounts.

Automated “playbooks” can be used for a wide variety of IT processes such as resetting a user’s password, creating/removing accounts as staff join or leave an organisation, or providing billing information from cloud services for finance teams.

With enforced processes and end-to-end audit trails, compliance with standards such as Cyber Essentials, PCI DSS, and ISO 27001 becomes achievable without expensive manual effort. Jobs that usually need a valuable IT expert can be safely delegated to the IT help desk, or to end users.

For more information, please visit: www.osirium.com/automation

Their mission statement is to protect their people, both clients and colleagues, from evolving threats like ransomware and advanced persistent threats.

“What we’ve tried to do is identify partners we can establish a close working relationship with,” Freedman says.

“Unless you’re an enormous company you won’t have facilities to do everything internally, so you need partnerships with companies like Cybereason, which are core to our strategy for how we deliver protection to our people.”

“IN THE MODERN WORLD IF YOU DON’T HAVE CYBER SECURITY, YOU DON’T HAVE A BUSINESS.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

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HOWARD KENNEDY

It includes technological solutions that can identify where bad actors are not only spoofing Howard Kennedy, but also its partners.

“When we’re involved in multi-party legal transactions, we can identify where other partners and systems may have been compromised and support them to proactively close down these threats,” McKenna says.

Howard Kennedy has an ambitious three-year plan to reach £80 million in revenue by 2024. One of the strategic pillars of that plan is smarter working, leveraging all of the company’s technology, processes and enhancements.

“From a technology side, the specific projects we’re working on at the moment come under our smart working and responsible business strategy,” Freedman says. “We partnered with Osirium and are using their automation platform as part of our smart working strategy,

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automating a lot of those manual processes such as updating information to streamline what we do in IT.”

MATCHING SOCIETY’S NEEDS

“Cyber security is evolving constantly, and we have invested in technologies aiming at where we want to be in ten years. We already have the technology in place to do it,” McKenna adds. “The broader technology platforms we use, not just from a cyber security perspective, are helping us implement a roadmap to where our clients see the legal industry moving in the context of ensuring Howard Kennedy are easy to do business with.”

Howard Kennedy is a futurelooking business. With this new strategy, the firm wants to not just be the best possible partner it can be for its clients, but also have a positive impact on society in general. Of course, society is changing.

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“AT THE END OF LOCKDOWN, WE DIDN’T WANT TO GO BACK TO THE WAY THINGS WERE. WE WANTED TO BUILD ON WHAT WE’VE LEARNED.”

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HOWARD KENNEDY

“The other big challenge that’s out there for the industry in general is hybrid working.

What does that look like? What does the office of the future look like?” McKenna asks. “We’ve taken some strong actions very early. We completely refreshed our laptops over 2020/2021, so everyone has a laptop with the latest technology. We moved to softphones very early on as an enhancement to give our colleagues the full office experience even working at home.”

“At the end of lockdown, we didn’t want to go back to the way things were,” Freedman agrees. “We wanted to build on what we’ve learned.”

Indeed, Howard Kennedy’s HR department has implemented a policy that is a clear move to a much more agile working policy, to address that level of uncertainty some staff have about the future.

Meanwhile, Howard Kennedy’s facilities team have looked at how to make the space in the office more appealing.

“Something we’ve done relatively recently is replacing our on-premises desk phones with cloud-based telephony,” Freedman points out. “All phone calls are delivered to a mobile app. Now your phone is wherever you are.”

“The office is moving from the place where you do work to a place where you can work,” McKenna says. “We’re making great strides to make the office a place you want to go to, and that reflects on technology decisions around the sort of infrastructure we need, including completely wireless infrastructure so people don’t need to plug into their desk.

It gives people flexibility and freedom while maintaining reliability and performance.”

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METC ENGINEERING

METC IS FLEXIBLE, FAST, AND ABLE TO RESPOND TO THE NEEDS OF ITS CLIENTS.

A BOUTIQUE ENGINEERING SERVICE 94 | ENGINEERING

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METC ENGINEERING

METC Engineering is a responsive, fastmoving, flexible and skilled team that can conduct stock exchange compliant studies (NI 43-101, JORC, SAMREC) and detailed designs of metallurgical plants. The firm builds metallurgical plants in an open and flexible environment, using cost-effective methods. It is a company underpinned by the understanding that it can deliver improved investment returns by delivering working projects early.

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ver five years, the company’s 100 engineering staff and its network of over 500 contractors, METC Engineering has successfully executed brownfield and greenfield projects, as well as detailed engineering for plant sections, modular plants, and process islands. METC has positioned itself as a valuable partner in its field.

The mining sector has come to expect engineering service delivery with a more handson, nimble approach and costeffective engineering. These

were the principles METC was founded on, and its position in the industry has been cemented through its specialisation in designing and building metallurgical plants delivered through an extremely flexible operating model with the skill sets to support its clients along the entire metallurgical value chain, from concept studies onwards. METC Engineering’s clients have come to respect the value engineering proposition the firm provides, which has on every occasion reduced project execution costs by between 20% and 30%.

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METC ENGINEERING

The company was founded as a relatively small operation in 2017. From there METC Engineering expanded into a medium-sized EPCM company, designing and building metallurgical plants for mines in South Africa, but also reaching out into the African continent at large, and beyond.

While the company has expanded, it has still maintained its status and culture as a boutique engineering firm, but one with a broad range of experience and expertise. This has been especially valuable in the very volatile current international environment and means METC has the flexibility necessary to tailor its operational modus operandi to both its midtier and major clients and a diverse range of environments throughout Africa and beyond.

By avoiding becoming commodity specific, METC Engineering has the range to work with any mid-tier or major client who can use the company’s services and expertise.

THE PROBLEM SOLVERS

At its heart, METC Engineering is about solving complex metallurgical problems, drawing upon a wealth of knowledge and industry experience. The founders of the company adopt a very hands-on approach to leading METC and are involved in its day-to-day operations as a matter of course. Driven by its “open and flexible” doctrine, METC selects projects where it knows it can deliver, but also where it can see values others may not. Whether the project is a greenfield or brownfield site, METC Engineering’s people will

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work with clients to deliver fast and accurate capital costing for studies and projects, while finding innovative ways to reduce the project delivery time.

The company is fast-moving, agile, and listens to the needs of its clients. It also adds value for its clients through the use of hybrid EPC/EPCM contracting solutions.

This all helps METC Engineering to provide effective construction management through a wide offering of innovative and agile delivery models.

To date, METC Engineering has delivered more than 70 projects, starting with their very first operation – the Chemaf Mutoshi project in collaboration with Outotec. This flagship project would demonstrate all the qualities METC Engineering would become known for. METC went on to provide both basic and detailed engineering, procurement, logistics and construction support for a US$420million greenfields copper & cobalt recovery plant in Kolwezi, DRC. It was also appointed by MMG in 2019 to carry out a feasibility study for a 2.2 million mt/y sulphide copper and 2.2 million mt/y oxide copper concentrator at their Kinsevere mine in Katanga province, DRC. The feasibility study’s necessary scope of work included engineering, design, implementation planning and procurement of long-lead items in preparation for the project’s implementation phase.

The Orion Minerals’ Prieska project also saw the benefits of METC Engineering’s handiwork, where the firm provided engineering review & design input on several aspects of the operation.

These are just a few pertinent examples of the firm’s capabilities, however. METC Engineering’s team has an extensive track record that includes the design and construction and commissioning of various metals and mineral processing plants.

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METC ENGINEERING

everything from battery grade cobalt sulphate refinery studies in Zambia to uranium projects in Tanzania and Niger.

METC Engineering has worked on ferrometals scrubber installations and chrome processing plant upgrades, rare earth refineries and vanadium concentrator engineering and studies. The company’s expertise and range have made it a reliable, go-to partner for mining operations across Africa, in a huge range of sectors.

AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH

The company’s work has included goldfields for Tarkwa in Ghana and the Delta Gold site for Eureka Gold in Ghana, as well as Sierra Diamonds for Newfield in Sierra Leone, and Kipushi Zinc for Ivanhoe

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in the DRC. The company carried out the Mutoshi Copper Cobalt Plant Detail Engineering and Procurement, and was behind the Gecamines Slag Retreatment Project, also in the DRC. It has worked on

Serving such a wide sector of the mining industry is possible because of the culture of innovation and resourcefulness that permeates METC Engineering. The firm has always applied innovative approaches to increasing its speed of construction, reducing capital costs and improving the efficiency of the plants it designs.

Among the innovative and cutting-edge tools METC Engineering utilises are integrated design databases, the modularisation of plant sections to ease fabrication and installation, and 3D Rapid Prototyping during early phase studies.

METC Engineering has also pioneered the use of 5D modelling to integrate its schedules with a project’s 3D model. This enables METC to confirm the integrity of the construction schedule and constructability.

METC Engineering’s innovations include the minimisation of drop heights to reduce the footprints of its plants, as well as their cost and energy consumption.

On top of this, all METC Engineering’s projects draw from an extensive cost database to cost and benchmark the early stages of planning and design.

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ROSSWAG ENGINEERING

Gregor Graf, Head of Engineering, Rosswag Engineering.

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ROSSWAG ENGINEERING

HEAD OF ENGINEERING GREGOR GRAF TALKS ABOUT HOW ROSSWAG HAS DEVELOPED AS A COMPANY, LOOKING AT BOTH ITS TRADITIONS AND ITS AMBITIONS TO REVOLUTIONISE ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING.

FORGING AHEAD PROJECT MANAGED BY: DEAN BROWN

Rosswag was founded in 1911 and is a fifth-generation engineering company. While the company has a proud tradition and remains family-owned to this day, it is also looking to the future. “We have developed into a holistic service provider.

We supply tools, parts, engineering, simulation, and we can also provide our own metal powders and digital software solutions” explains Head of Engineering Gregor Graf.

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here are two parts to the business, with Edelstahl Rosswag handling the more traditional and demanding manufacturing projects and Rosswag Engineering more involved on the development side in the field of additive manufacturing. The company operates an open-die forging facility for parts weighing up to 4.5 t and, ring rolling that can provide rings of up to 3.5m.

After heat treatment, the highly stressable parts for all kinds of industrial use cases are finished on more than 30 CNC turning machines and milling machines.

In 2014, Rosswag Engineering was established as the innovation side of the business, to rely on the know-how and expand the service portfolio with metal additive manufacturing (more commonly referred to as “metal 3D printing”). The new machinery can provide tool-free and near net shapes, functional integration,

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and limitless complexity. As Graf quips, “Essentially it started with the general management buying a €500,000 additive manufacturing system and saying ‘let’s start a new business from this’!”

Graf has a key part to play in overseeing the progress of Rosswag, pushing innovation forward and maintaining the high standards that the company sets.

“There are multiple expectations for my role here.

This includes a researchintensive business strategy for innovation, setting standards as well as keeping the expensive production systems running every day for our customers’ needs. The biggest advantage to handle all these topics is certainly my highly motivated team consisting of 15 people that joined me and my vision over the past years “he states.

PROVIDING THE TOOLS

Rosswag has over 400 metal materials and 7,000t of raw stock available. While the company had the materials and processes to provide additive manufacturing, an initial challenge was convincing their new and existing clients of the benefits that their new technology had to offer. Rosswag was able to overcome this by using their problem-solving skills, demonstrating their abilities by significantly improving the efficiency of the components they designed. “In one project we managed to integrate more than 10 parts of an assembly into one component. We have also improved cutting tools with internal cooling channels so that the tool life can be increased by more than 20 per cent without any extra costs” Graf explains.

The additive manufacturing process incorporates technology consultation, process and material qualification and part optimisation. One benefit for clients is that they can start in cooperation with Rosswag as efficient as possible with low financial risks, something that can be useful for businesses before going all-in with innovative parts in serial production.

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ROSSWAG ENGINEERING

More than 60,000 parts from over 40 qualified materials were already manufactured.

The exclusive metal materials that Rosswag qualified have various beneficial properties for different uses. For example, some of the company’s clients have benefited from high strength and wearresistant steels, nickel superalloys with high tensile strength while their non-magnetic stainless steel is used for applications such as producing semiconductors for various industries.

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE

As an employer, Rosswag is highly in demand. “We are in a good area and we often incorporate local students into our research team. If anything, rather than looking for more employees we are currently

looking for more space to accommodate them” Graf states.

The company is currently involved in 16 funded research projects, with 45 students already involved in their research since 2014 for internships or working on their thesis.

While the company wants to work with the engineers of the future, they are also considering the development of engineering in a wider context. It is not just about their business, although being able to operate efficiently is important.

There is a desire to contribute, looking at issues such as dealing with waste and inefficiency in the additive manufacturing process.

“We are currently working on our AddiMap platform that will be open and beneficial to all businesses in the

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additive marketing industry.

By sharing and trading data, we will be able to reduce inefficiencies in the industry and create new applications and scalable business models across the market” he states.

This platform, created as a means of giving more access to data relating to additive manufacturing processes, is something that Graf feels could revolutionise the metal 3D printing industry. This data includes process parameters, material data or the qualification results of well-known or new materials that could be used in additive manufacturing.

The idea is that by using this platform, any business interested in 3D printing will have access to this information that can then be used in the design and production of new functional optimised metal 3D-printed parts. All that out of any qualified material, first time right and with the highest efficiency.

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ROSSWAG ENGINEERING

This does not solely apply to companies in Germany, with all the information on the platform available to anyone around the world at any time.

This means that anyone can contribute, establish new business models, and help to improve the process behind additive manufacturing even further. That is something that the whole industry could benefit from accelerated market growth.

TWO SIDES

Rosswag as a company has two sides. One side is about tradition, working in one of the oldest forms of metalworking, forging highly stressable parts for industrial use. While the forging process may be more automated and the forging process is done from more of a distance, there is still that connection to the handcrafted work that began five generations ago and the company is keen to emphasise the passion behind their process and the drive that comes from being a familyowned business.

While the traditional and family parts are important, this is not the same as being oldfashioned. On the other side of the business is the innovation aspect.

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There are different parts to this innovation, including the use of digital technology and continuing to push further with research and development. With the addition of the AddiMap platform, there is also an admirable drive to democratise

the metal 3D-printing process and give more people access to the means that will allow the manufacturing industry to move forward with more functional optimised applications.

On many levels, Rosswag is forging ahead.

“WE ARE CURRENTLY WORKING ON OUR ADDIMAP PLATFORM THAT WILL BE OPEN AND BENEFICIAL TO ALL BUSINESSES IN THE ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY.”

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CARRINHO GROUP

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER IURY RODRIGUES TALKS ABOUT HOW CARRINHO GROUP OVERCAME ECONOMIC CRISES IN ANGOLA TO BECOME A VERTICALLY INTEGRATED FOOD DISTRIBUTION COMPANY.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT PROJECT MANAGED BY: JOHN HOLLIMAN

The Carrinho Group is a vertically integrated food distribution company in Angola, covering origination (agricultural work with local producers), transportation, processing, storage, and distribution. The company is family-run, with Nelson Carrinho the current CEO. Before the company was established, the roots of the business began with Nelson’s mother Dona Leonor Carrinho. In 1993, she created a café in her back garden that became known as The Bar, working alongside her three children and her niece.

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radually, the café expanded into a larger business as more investors came on board before becoming the Carrinho Group.

In 2005, the Carrinho Group had become known as an established catering firm, with 34 industrial kitchens across Angola and an ambition to further expand.

A NEW VISION

“Our company has faced two economic crises and this is what led us to reinvent ourselves.

We started with a catering business. We had industrial kitchens around the country, as well as working on-site for our customers so that we could provide food for their employees,” Marketing and Communications Manager Iury Rodrigues explains. He feels

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that a communal will to push forward has driven Carrinho Group’s move away from a catering company to a vertically integrated food company. “We have been able to overcome some difficult circumstances in our country. We believe in humility and we stick to our roots, while at the same time embracing creativity and adaptability” he states.

Rodrigues is passionate about the Carrinho Group’s vision. “Our unique selling point is our vision.

We aim to be the driving force for self-sufficiency and nutrition in Angola. We created a unique business model that allows us to influence all the stages of food production, covering everything from production, storage, manufacturing, transportation and distribution” he further states.

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CARRINHO GROUP

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CARRINHO GROUP

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES

One reason why the Carrinho Group has changed how the company operates has been economic issues that recently occurred in Angola. “After the first major economic crisis hit, we had issues with customers being able to pay. Normally, it would take between 60 to 90 days for payment. Sometimes this took longer, between six months to a year. When customers stopped being able to pay, this created cashflow problems for the company” Rodrigues recalls.

This then led to the first change of approach by the Carrinho Group. “When that business was no longer viable, we reinvented ourselves, providing logistics services.

This allowed us to make our company more stable” he further recalls. “The second Angolan economic crisis prompted us to reinvent ourselves. We turned our attention to importing items such as rice, flour and sugar so that we could distribute food to our customers in the country.

It was at this point we started seeing our company with fresh eyes, leading us to investments such as the industrial park we opened in November 2019” Rodrigues explains.

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CARRINHO GROUP

“OUR UNIQUE SELLING POINT IS OUR VISION. WE AIM TO BE THE DRIVING FORCE FOR SELFSUFFICIENCY & NUTRITION IN ANGOLA.” THE RIGHT PEOPLE

While a vision for a company is important, there is also the need to find the right people to facilitate that vision. “You don’t always know who the best employees are. We look at what the market is offering and talk to the best available candidates. We make sure that when a candidate comes to our company that they can embrace our long term project” Rodrigues details.

Rodrigues emphasises that while technical ability is important, there is also the need for people who understand what the Carrinho Group is trying to achieve. “What we are looking for is for employees who embrace our vision, to fully understand and feel it. We can see who wants to be part of our company and we make sure all our leadership knows this. All our leadership team needs to share the same passion and show it throughout their teams” he explains.

This desire to get the right kind of people extends to the Carrinho Group’s investment in their academy. “Our academy’s main goal is to provide our workers with knowledge so they can execute there day to day work properly and also to help them achieve their goals personally and professionally”, Rodrigues further emphasises.

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CARRINHO GROUP

FUTURE VISION

ZEEPACK ANGOLA LDA THE LEADING PACKAGING PARTNER IN ANGOLA CORRUGATED BOARD BOXES ∙ FOOD CONTACT PACKAGING PRIMARY, RIGID & FLEXIBLE PACKAGING ∙ PLASTIC CLOSURES RECYCLED PAPER ∙ PAPER & PLASTIC BAGS ∙ SHRINK FILM Located in Polo Industrial de Viana, Luanda, since 2017 Zeepack is supplying all the key industrial players in Angola and building lasting B2B relationships.

We cover industrial areas such as: Beverages, Food Processing, Oil & Gas, Cosmetics & Detergents, as well as many other sectors, meeting the packaging needs of all Angolan industry with local production.

With our main focus on corrugated board production we have continued to invest in sustainable packaging options with products and services such as paper and plastic, paper recycling collection and production processes. Following market opportunities, Zeepack has diversified into shrink and flexible products for food contact.

Zeepack Angola is committed to the Angola’s vision of market growth with B2B relationship, automated industrial processes, state of the art equipment, bulk raw materials, local production with a total workforce of 330 and on-time delivery.

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In many countries, vulnerable children may struggle in class if they are not getting proper nutrition at home. In Angola, the situation is more severe, as many children have to work to support their parents.

Therefore, the need to feed children is not just about giving them nutrition, but also ensuring that they do not drop out of school. “We are working with the Angolan Ministry of Education to address the high dropout rate in schools. We provide children with a highly nutritious meal at the start of the day. Proper nutrition allows children to focus and learn properly” Rodrigues states.

“WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR IS FOR EMPLOYEES WHO EMBRACE OUR VISION, TO FULLY UNDERSTAND AND FEEL IT. WE CAN SEE WHO WANTS TO BE PART OF OUR COMPANY AND WE MAKE SURE ALL OUR LEADERSHIP KNOWS THIS.” FMCG | 109

CARRINHO GROUP

The food provided has been specifically formulated for the students’ needs. “The meal we provide is made up of a soya mash fortified with additional nutrients and milk so they can have a proper meal in the morning and will mean they will be able to improve their performance by being able to attend classes” he details.

The support the Carrinho Group provides extends beyond the classroom. “We are working with organisations who take care of orphans and handle other social projects for vulnerable people in the country. We supply them with food such as packages with our products that can provide them with breakfast, lunch and dinner” Rodrigues further details.

Rodrigues is proud of what the Carrinho Group has achieved, believing that this familyowned company will continue to build on its success. “We want the whole world to know Carrinho, where we come from and why we are doing what we are doing. We believe in the project, the vision and what the Carrinho family are trying to do.

It started with Nelson Carrinho’s mother and the torch has been passed on to them. I believe our team has the same passion and vision that the board and the CEO has.”

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CARRINHO GROUP

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GRAND RESORT BAD RAGAZ

Patrick Vogler, CEO, Grand Resort Bad Ragaz.

GRAND RESORT BAD RAGAZ

GRAND RESORT BAD RAGAZ OFFERS A PLETHORA OF WAYS TO REPLENISH BODY AND SOUL.

HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL PROJECT MANAGED BY: JAMIE SIVYER

The Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, a five-star resort located in Canton St. Gallen in the Swiss alps, uniquely combines hospitality with medical facilities. Built with access to natural thermal waters out of a nearby hot spring which was discovered over 700 years ago and is used by guests for rehabilitation purposes for over 500 years, from the moment you arrive you can tell this is somewhere special.

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ur roots go back over 150 years. It all started in 1840 when the thermal water was brought to Bad Ragaz.

Without it, there would be no hotel and no medical facilities”, says CEO Patrick Vogler. “Today we have two main offerings: Firstly, the five-star hospitality service with 247 rooms and seven restaurants, with a combined total of five Michelin stars under one roof. Secondly the Medical Center Bad Ragaz includes the Swiss Olympic Medical Centre and a small, specialised clinic with 25 rooms. 40% of the guests who visit our resort do so for medical reasons.”

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This combination of hospitality and wellbeing comes together to form Grand Resort Bad Ragaz’s in-house philosophy, “It is never too late to start living healthily”.

“On the medical side, we focus on three core areas of expertise: Personalised lifestyle and nutrition medicine, rheumatology, and sports medicine and finally beauty and aesthetics. We offer a variety of specialised medical treatments, therapies, and massages. In combination with our thermal spa and health cuisine we can offer a holistic approach to healthy living”, Vogler tells us.

Of course, there are other ways to look after your physical and emotional wellbeing.

“We have two golf courses, one with 18 holes and one with nine holes”, Vogler points out.

“Each year in July we host the Swiss Seniors Open, one of the competitions of the famous Legends Tour. We also have a casino on-site, of which we own 67%. The resort altogether employs over 700 individuals and creates a revenue of over 100 million CHF per year.

The resort also has a revenue stream from its public thermal bath with pools, saunas, a café, and a small restaurant.

The baths see over 250,000 visitors a year. While visitors do not need to stay in the hotel to access the baths, it is a separate business, all hotel guests can use those public thermal bath facilities.

BRINGING EVERYTHING TOGETHER

With such a wide offering, it can be a challenge to make all those ingredients gel.

“Because our offering has such variety it can be a challenge to bring all those services together to create a unified experience for our guests”, Vogler says. “People understand our resort is successful because there is such a variety in our offering, but that challenge is inherent in it. We are independently owned and want to be ahead of our competitors.”

While it can be a challenge to keep the infrastructure at the highest level, it is one the

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Better business with a brother at your side.

Brother for Business.

Printing, scanning, labelling – it’s always good to be able to rely on a brother in business. Count on personal, straightforward, highly flexible assistance thanks to local specialists and SME support in your area. From modern business printers and security solutions to automated managed print services – just ask your brother in business.

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Local SME support 100 % personal 100 % local

BROTHER INTERNATIONAL EUROPE – YOUR KEY PARTNER FOR BUSINESS Brother Group International provides innovative business solutions in the IT sector, helping companies around the world secure their futures, improve efficiency, increase productivity and encourage cooperation between hybrid workplaces.

Brother was founded in Nagoya (Japan) over 100 years ago. Its first European sales company was established in Ireland in 1958. The company acquired Jones Sewing Machine Company in 1968, making Manchester the new home of Brother UK and that of the company’s European Head Office, where both are still located today.

Brother International now has a presence in more than 40 countries and employs almost 40,000 staff worldwide. Since 1972, its most successful European sales company has been located in Switzerland – in Baden-Dättwil, where 50 specialists provide dedicated assistance and support to local business partners – always at your side.

Brother (Schweiz) AG is therefore one of the most important key partners of numerous major companies, such as Nestlé, Marionnaud, Sprüngli, Strassenverkehrsamt (Department for Transportation), Kinderspital Zürich and last but not least the famous and highly prestigious Grand Resort Bad Ragaz.

PRODUCT PORTFOLIO ‘In Europe, most people associate Brother with electronic home and office printers – a sector in which the company has been active for over 60 years. However, our customised business solutions for companies of all sizes are less well known, as are our high-quality industrial machines – a segment that has evolved as a result of our own production experience and is heading towards factory robotics and automation,’ says Ian Metcalfe, Executive Director Strategic and Business Planning.

‘While we offer a broad product portfolio, modern, professional printing solutions, labelling, remote printers and modern security solutions for major companies account for 60-70% of our business. We expect industry to be the sector that experiences the strongest growth in future. It’s a segment that offers opportunities for automation systems that help improve production efficiency.’

sales company, in order to offer a highly personal and bespoke portfolio. We understand the country, culture and local requirements.’

Absolute customer focus is one of the reasons for the many awards and commendations that Brother has received and earned over the years. These include being named the Best Brand for 2020 for home and business printing, the Good Design Award 2019 in five categories and being voted the Best Printer Manufacturer by PC Pro readers for eight consecutive years. One of the most significant commendations and evidence of its success is its partnership with the renowned Grand Resort in Bad Ragaz, Switzerland.

KEY PARTNER OF GRAND RESORT BAD RAGAZ, SWITZERLAND This five-star luxury resort in Switzerland encompasses two wellness hotels, a medical centre, a rehabilitation clinic, two golf courses, thermal baths and a casino. This incredible company is supported by a complex IT infrastructure with over 80 printers and various business solutions in all areas, which have a direct impact on the efficiency, quality and capacity of Grand Resort staff.

In 2021, Brother (Schweiz) AG launched a project to re-evaluate and analyse the IT landscape as a key IT infrastructure partner. Brother faced various challenges, such as print and consumables management, which it improved and made much more efficient using its innovative business solutions.

The entire manual consumables management process was automated by means of modern, individual printers for each department and the newly introduced automated Managed Print Service. This reduced the workload of Grand Resort staff, who now receive optimal support from a local, professional Account Manager at Brother (Schweiz) AG. This is confirmed by Sandro Cadlini, IT Support Team Leader at the Grand Resort Bad Ragaz: ‘The conversion to Brother’s Managed Print Service ultimately means we have more time and energy for our guests. The efficient and innovative processes of the Brother products in the background provide our client-facing employees with solid technical support and more time to devote to the details.’

Grand Resort Bad Ragaz, Schweiz Brother Product Situation HYBRID SOLUTIONS In response to changing market requirements, the company’s portfolio now includes new solutions that are suitable for ‘hybrid working’. These include an all-round printing and scanning solution for use at home, in the office and remotely to ensure that staff can work efficiently, securely and seamlessly in multiple locations. The aim is to increase productivity by using automated workflows and processes to ensure that documents and information reach the right people at the right time, wherever they may be.

‘We’re in a great position to meet our customers’ future needs. What sets up apart from our competitors is the sheer breadth of our portfolio, as well as our flexibility and responsiveness. We’re one of the few companies to offer laser, inkjet and thermal technology. Our acquisition of Domino Printing Sciences six years ago allowed us to expand our scope and coverage in the digital print sector, meaning that we’re able to offer a solution for any kind of business,’ reiterates Mr Metcalfe.

‘Another defining feature is our firm belief that the customer always comes first. This is one of the reasons why we adopt a local approach – every country is served by a local Brother

EFFICIENCY AND SUSTAINABILITY The company is now in the process of developing a new vision focusing on sustainability.

‘We’re reviewing all our business models, use of materials and new product development. We aim to be at the forefront of sustainability rather than simply following new regulations. The company is therefore investing heavily in recycling and in promoting the circular economy, i.e. in products that last longer, and can be reconditioned and reused and ultimately recycled.’

‘In the coming years, we’ll continue to invest in sustainability and develop new business areas in the hybrid working sector. At the same time, we’ll continue the transformation work that we’ve already undertaken, focusing on automation and staff activities that create added value.’

Finally, Mr Metcalfe acknowledges that while COVID-19 has caused major upheaval, on the positive side, demand for Brother’s products has increased. ‘We’ve managed to survive the pandemic with the solid support of our partners, who have helped Brother to thrive and be successful despite the pandemic, ensuring that we could meet our customers’ requirements as best as possible. With the help of our partners, we’ve quickly adapted to the new situation and are ready to offer new solutions that meet the evolving market requirements.’ www.brother.eu

GRAND RESORT BAD RAGAZ

resort has undeniably pulled off. Grand Resort Bad Ragaz was awarded Hotel of the Year in 2021, as well as Spa of the Year, following an extensive refurbishment programme.

“Over the last five years, we’ve invested a lot in our hospitality business as well as in our people. We renovated our main hotel complex, the Grand Hotel Quellenhof in 2019. We refurbished all the rooms, and we centralised the reception. We had two receptions before, but now we’ve one main entrance for the guest experience”, Vogler tells us. “We brought unique talents together while rebranding in 2019, with a strong focus on being a family business. We built a spa for kids, a kids’ villa, a whole kids’ concept to make a three-generation holiday possible within the resort. All

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those pieces formed a wonderful product together.”

AN AWARD-WINNING EMPLOYER

At the end of the day, however, hospitality is about people, and finding the right talent to welcome Grand Resort Bad Ragaz’s guests has been a challenge for the last two years, due to the pandemic.

“We invest in our people, recruiting talent and developing their skills”, Vogler says. “We bring specialists across different fields to ensure we have access to that expertise.”

The company has invested heavily in developing & educating its people, with the resort boasting its own Academy of Hotel Excellence as well as courses in training management skills. That training includes instilling staff with the company’s core values.

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GRAND RESORT BAD RAGAZ

“We teach these values to our staff while offering a range of benefits”, Vogler says. “We own 170 apartments, so if we hire people, we offer accommodation around the resort. Especially nowadays that’s a huge advantage. People expect to live in a community. We are also looking into building additional new accommodation for our staff.”

The company this year was recognised by the Arbeitgeber Awards for its efforts, an employers’ award based on feedback from staff questionnaires.

“We achieved fifth place in Switzerland for our golf

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GRAND RESORT BAD RAGAZ

club, fourth place for our casino”, Vogler shares. These questionnaires are more than an opportunity for the company to congratulate itself.

“We make improvements from the results we have each year,” Vogler says. “I think the most important thing is to keep your people happy, then you get happy guests and revenue comes along with it.”

Of course, quality starts from the bottom up and leaders need to motivate. Vogler points to the firm’s managers as motivators for the entire staff.

Vogler shares that commitment. “Covid changed the mindset of a lot of people.

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Our positioning is working, because people today are thinking about themselves more critically and are conscious of their health. We’re providing the perfect place to think about recreation and the prevention of poor health”, he tells us. “It’s going to be more and more important for our guests, and we have the perfect infrastructure for that. The programmes we have in place will help us continue to be relevant in the wellness sector on a very high-quality basis. Based on the thermal water and relevant lifestyle elements we developed our own health philosophy: the NEWYOU Method.

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Photo Credit: © manwithacamera

Prof Dr Bruno Holthof, CEO of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

OXFORD UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST

OXFORD UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST IS PLAYING A VITAL ROLE IN PROVIDING RESEARCH, TRAINING, AND A PICTURE OF THE FUTURE OF HEALTHCARE.

BEYOND HOSPITAL BEDS PROJECT MANAGED BY: CHRIS CONWAY

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the leading academic medical centres in the UK. Structured as an NHS Foundation Trust and partnered with the University of Oxford the Trust focuses on teaching, research, and clinical care. The Trust carries out clinical training in its hospitals for students studying medicine for their undergraduate or postgraduate degree, as well as training nurses and other medical professionals.

W

e have a lot of teaching and research activity, while also serving patients,” explains Dr Bruno Holthof, CEO of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

“We gather clinical data, imaging data, pathology data, and wholegenome sequencing data. Our research aims to change the way we practice medicine in the future. We provide local services to Oxfordshire patients, and highly specialised services that we provide to the whole of England and sometimes Scotland, Wales and beyond.”

THE FRONT LINE AGAINST COVID

Whether or not you are familiar with the Trust’s work, you might have some of it in your body right now.

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“We’ve been instrumental in the development of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine, the most used vaccine today, especially in low- and middle-income countries,” Holthof points out.

“Based on our models it has saved more than a million lives to date.”

The Covid pandemic was an unprecedented event, but it also showcased everything that Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust does best.

“The Covid pandemic has illustrated how Oxford has delivered, fighting a specific disease, but we apply the same model to fight other diseases,” Holthof explains.

“Covid-19 was a new disease, not a lot was known about the virus. So, we’ve done work around the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. The sequencing of RNA or DNA is not that difficult, it’s about the analyses. We have developed specific analytical tools that will now be distributed globally. These tools allow for faster and better diagnoses.

We’ve collected data from other NHS trusts, randomising them to different treatments arms, letting us identify which drugs are working against Covid-19, and

which are not. We have positive results in both of these camps.”

As well as establishing vaccines and treatments that are effective against the disease, it has been equally important to establish which ones do not help at all.

“We also demonstrated that drugs were not effective and therefore should not be usedhydroxychloroquine is the most high-profile example,” Holthof says. “We demonstrated it was not effective and made no difference in treating the disease.”

BEYOND COVID

While this has certainly been a flagship effort, it is also emblematic of how Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is responding to countless other diseases.

Innovations in genomics, imaging, artificial intelligence and medical or surgical interventions will, for example, also improve the outcome of patients with cancer.

While Covid remains a present and pertinent issue, as lockdowns and restrictions have eased the Trust is also turning its efforts towards patients that have received less attention due to the pandemic.

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OXFORD UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST

“The challenges are similar across the world. Covid-19 has created a backlog of patients that weren’t treated or diagnosed,” Holthof explains.

“The NHS has a larger backlog than other countries because we had more limited capacity to start with. So, we’re increasing the productivity of how we diagnose and treat patients.

We are, for example, improving the scheduling of our operating theatres to operate more patients per theatre session.

And we need more staff to provide more diagnostic and treatment capacity.”

AstraZeneca vial being prepared. Bhulesh Vadher (Chief Pharmacist) with Sam Foster (Chief Nursing Officer) and Professor Meghana Pandit (Chief Medical Officer).

STRONG PARTNERSHIPS

The Trust benefits from its location in Oxford, at the heart of a vibrant network of commercial and academic activity.

“Oxford has a vibrant life sciences campus with three types of organisations that work well together. These include the University of Oxford, the health system- we are increasingly not a hospital but a health system and the private companies,” explains Holthof. “We have a very active ecosystem of private companies working with the University and the Trust on innovating in healthcare and transforming that into benefits for patients.”

Sometimes those innovations will be spun off into private businesses, allowing the ideas to be shared on a wider scale.

“One example is Vaccitech, a company that worked with AstraZeneca, who developed, manufactured and distributed the Oxford vaccine worldwide,” Holthof says.

Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust works with a wide range of businesses, from the same-day delivery firm, CitySprint, to Oracle, a partner that provides a genomic analytics

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OXFORD UNIVERSITY HOSPITALS NHS FOUNDATION TRUST

platform in the cloud. The Trust also has a partnership with Oxford Nanopore, which aims to commercialise gene sequencing.

But it all comes back to working with the patients that the Trust is built to serve.

“We have developed partnerships with companies that work with us to innovate and bring that innovation to patients,” Holthof says. “We allow our partners to have carefully controlled access to the de-identified data we collect around patients to test their innovations. We will also take a share in companies’ profits in exchange for supporting innovators to accelerate the adoption of their innovations.”

HEALTHCARE AT HOME

And Holthof has a good idea of what some of those benefits might look like. When we talk to him about the future, it is a future where healthcare looks very different to what we see now.

“Most people still ask how many hospital beds you have,” he says. “But I say beds are not a relevant measure. Ask how many interventions we do, how many operating theatres and diagnostic scanners we have.”

Holthof has seen lots of new technology coming through and believes there are still many innovation opportunities to diagnose patients earlier, so they can be treated earlier with less invasive methods.

“Taking out advanced cancer may take five-to-six hours, if you diagnose early, it is shorter.

So, you can do more of these operations in a day and the chances of taking out the whole cancer are a lot better,” Holthof explains. “We are applying targeted screening for patients with higher risk for lung cancer even if these individuals don’t have symptoms. We detect a lot of cancers early in the high smoking population and can treat them a lot earlier.”

This, Holthof believes, is where the entire health service is heading.

“We have seen the future during the pandemic,” he insists. “There will be earlier diagnosis using genomic data, imaging data, and biomarker data, which can all be done outside of the hospital.

Many will be receiving their diagnostic kit at the home and mail the sample to a lab as they did with Covid swaps. With home diagnostics, you don’t need to come to the hospital.

There will be community diagnostic centres for imaging or endoscopies that you can’t do at home. If needed, the patient will come to the hospital for intervention and many patients will go home in the evening.”

It is a bold vision, but one that this Trust is helping to make a reality.

Critical care unit training kit.

Beyond Words… Image from the COVID-19 Pandemic.

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ARJOWIGGINS

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ARJOWIGGINS

WE ARE LIVING IN A DIGITAL AGE, BUT AS ARJOWIGGINS SHOWS, PAPER IS MAKING A BIG COMEBACK.

A NEW ERA OF PAPER PROJECT MANAGED BY: MAX HUTCHINGS

It has been a little over a year since we last spoke with Christophe Jordan, the Managing Director of Arjowiggins’ translucent papers division. Jordan, whose own family has a heritage in the paper industry stretching back to the late 18th century, is a passionate advocate for the role that paper can play even in an increasingly digital society.

T

hat said, he is the first to admit the sector has been facing challenges in recent years, but at the same time he points to a renaissance that is overtaking the paper industry.

“Paper has been suffering for the last two decades, primarily from digitalisation, but now it’s becoming more and more popular and required by consumers as a replacement for plastic,” Jordan tells us. “I feel like we are a key actor in a new era.”

For Arjowiggins, as it has been for many businesses, 2021 was a dramatic year.

“I’d call 2021 a mixed bag,” Jordan says diplomatically.

“We had already suffered from Covid’s third, fourth and fifth waves, which led to a reduction in business, as well as massive cost inflation overall in industry and people’s personal lives.

Thankfully we have seen a strong recovery from August and September onwards.”

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But while these are very real challenges, Jordan is also excited about how the paper industry is progressing.

“At the same time, we’re living in exciting times for the paper industry overall,” he insists. “I’d call it a new era of paper.”

THE WHOLE PACKAGE

When we last spoke with Jordan, Arjowiggins was moving into the food packaging sector, demonstrating how a lot of disposable plastic could be replaced with more sustainable and recyclable paper products.

At the time it was an exciting new proof of concept, but today Sylvicta is a legitimate commercial product serving a rapidly growing market.

“2021 saw the rise of commercial applications. We are past the proof-of-concept stage. Beyond the food sector we have found paper replacing plastic in electronic packaging, in screens and lens protection, laptop wrapping,” Jordan says.

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“It is far away from the food sector but it’s single-use plastic that’s being replaced.”

Talking with Jordan even he seems surprised by just how much Arjowiggins approach has been embraced by its customers.

“It is fair to say it has been a very fast development for us since the launch of Sylvicta.

We started almost two years ago in October 2020, have already sold hundreds of tons in 2021 and are on track to move into the thousands of tons in 2022,” Jordan says. “I am very conscious we are a small player in the industry but at our scale, it is a massive development.

We’ve new applications coming on the market every month in Europe, the US, and Asia. It is buzzing. We have had launches in the food sector, chocolate wrappers, chocolate box overlays and many other kinds of food tray overlays.”

ARJOWIGGINS

cope with our existing footprint, but we’ve been recruiting quite heavily in commercial and technical support.”

Even in the face of a depressed market over the last year, Arjowiggins has managed to launch an entirely new product line that it has had in the works for a while – heat transfer papers.

At the moment it seems a day will not go by without a new potential market opening up.

“We’ve started offering pet food standard pouches, that can also be used for coffee beans as well as the bags, sachets, and standard pouches that are becoming popular as a waste food reduction overall,” Jordan tells us. “We can replace the plastic standard pouch with paper. We are working on large opportunities around salad bags.

We have developed a paper application to replace plastic polybags used for garment transportation. Finally, cosmetics is becoming very, very active.

We have provided solid soap wrapping and we are moving into creams and gels, so that sector is extremely busy for us.”

CAPACITY IN WAITING

A side-effect of the industry’s steady decline for the last two decades is that Arjowiggins has capacity ready and waiting to meet this new surge in demand.

“That means we have the capacity to spare for new applications, but we will soon be looking to add new capacity. That is what excites me if I am honest.

After so many declining years we are working at adding new capacities in our European and Chinese mills, to meet increasing demand,” Jordan says. “We can

Christophe Jordan, Managing Director of Arjowiggins’ translucent papers division.

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ARJOWIGGINS

“If you want an image on a t-shirt or a sports shirt with your favourite player’s name on it, a plastic transfer sheet has most likely been used to transfer it onto the shirt. We have launched heat transfer paper to replace the plastic element there.

We are continuing along our path, providing an eco-friendly alternative to plastic anywhere we can.”

Of course, that does not mean it is entirely plain sailing. As Jordan readily acknowledges, “We have the luxury of many challenges!”

The first is, unsurprisingly, the successive waves of the Covid pandemic, which have gone on much longer than predicted by any expert.

“This has continued to affect our leisure and hospitality segments, giving us a reduction of business in some areas,” Jordan says. “The other big challenge is the cost of energy and raw materials. We are seeing double- and triple-digit increases. Paper is an energyintensive industry, and we have also seen rising pulp prices.”

This is an even great challenge given that, despite being founded in 1698, the company’s time in administration means that this iteration of the business only dates back to October 2019.

However, Jordan also believes that going through administration has equipped the company well for even greater challenges.

“We’ve learned the phrase ‘Resilience and Flexibility’. With Covid that has been even more important,” explains Jordan.

“We rely on our people and their resilience and flexibility, alongside the loyalty of our

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ARJOWIGGINS

customers. That has been key to overcoming those challenges.”

Unfortunately, some price increases have been inevitable.

With materials costs increasing by double or even triple digits some of that has to be passed on to customers.

“We have been able to rely on a solid base of loyal customers and they have been very understanding and supportive.

They acknowledge the whole

world has changed and we are not the only ones with price increases, but also, they know us,” Jordan says. “We’re a new company but we have heritage, and this heritage helps us a lot when it comes to tough times because it brings the loyalty of customers and suppliers.”

But while the challenges Arjowiggins has faced are very real, so too are the opportunities.

“WE ARE CONTINUING ALONG OUR PATH, PROVIDING AN ECO-FRIENDLY ALTERNATIVE TO PLASTIC ANYWHERE WE CAN.” “We are working hard on the capacity increase. That is exciting.

We do not want to only propose translucent materials, we are also working on opaque barrier papers,” Jordan says. “We have got The Paper Book, a book that collects all the paper we produce.

We are working on the third edition right now. Each edition lasts for up to four years. We are working on innovations around sustainability, with recycled fibres and alternative fibres. But we are also looking at the concept of upcycling, taking the waste of a certain industry and turning it into new finished products and materials.”

While everyone else is looking to digitalisation, paper might just be the most exciting place to be.

“We are entering a new era of paper, with new uses and applications. Paper has been seen as an old fashioned and dying industry, but I am so glad to see it entering this new phase,” Jordan tells us. “Paper is in my blood.”

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KELTECH

KELTECH

KELTECH HAS BEEN TRADING FOR OVER 30 YEARS BUT HAS EXCELLED BY FOCUSING ON WHAT IT IS GREAT AT.

FINDING THEIR NICHE PROJECT MANAGED BY: MAX HUTCHINGS

Keltech is a contract manufacturing company that has been trading for over 30 years, focusing on a niche, specialised areas including acoustic enclosures, reservoir tanks, cabins & overhead guards and telecommunications enclosures. Today it supplies six of the ten largest OEM construction companies in the world from its 160,000 square foot facility in Waterford, Ireland.

B

ut the company has not always been so specialised. “Pre-2013 we were classed as a general sheet metal fabrication company, we were supplying a commodity in a fiercely competitive environment,” explains Seamus Lawlor, Director of Business Development for the company.

“We have flipped that on its head, becoming experts in our chosen field. I believe that to be a huge part of why we are so successful and how we are outpacing the competition.”

He describes this specialisation as a “growth hacking strategy”, inspired by

Seamus Lawlor, Director of Business Development, Keltech.

the kinds of strategies Lawlor has seen deployed in the tech start-up sector. The company has developed its people, plant, and overall guiding strategy to become the thought leaders and manufacturing experts that can provide true value to Keltech’s end customer.

“We’ve taken that approach and adapted it to a manufacturing environment and adopted it very successfully,” he says. “We have been very strategic, mapping out everything we’ve done and achieving growth performance indicators. We have a strong management structure and targeted investment.”

Partnering with Keltech gives its clients the freedom and security to expand their

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Our 1.4003 Coil, Sheet, Plate and Box section are available in thicknesses ranging from 1 millimetre up to 30 millimetres. With our fully automated in-house de-coiling line, we can quickly and accurately cut sheet to both standard and bespoke lengths.

We are a fully integrated manufacturer of cold drawn strain hardened products and can cut to size on a variety of band saws, and on our latest investment using a fully automated carbide tipped circular saw. Other newest additions include a combined straightening, roll making, and chamfering line, plus a state-of-the-art CNC high speed saw.

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KELTECH

business while benefiting from industry-leading expertise, service, and guaranteed levels of quality.

The firm helps its OEM clients to improve machine output, reduce stock levels and remove the need for sub-assembly cells, and improve quality, design, and profits.

Most recently Keltech has undergone a significant expansion.

“THE INDUSTRY HAS BEEN TRADITIONALLY MALE-DOMINATED. WE ARE TRYING TO TURN THAT ON ITS HEAD WITH A HUGE PUSH FOR ATTRACTING MORE WOMEN INTO THE AREA. “We have just completed a 40,000 square foot extension.

The section is fully dedicated to welding with an allowance for 30 new welding bays and three state-of-the-art robotic welding centres. In September we will open our brand-new paint shop which is currently under construction. The new powder paint facility will be one of the best in Europe for our type of product,” Lawlor explains.

“The fact is we are extremely niche in what we do and very focused. That we have got so focused allows us to be the experts in those areas,” adds Lawlor. “If you look at fuel and hydraulic tanks, more and more of them need to be made by specialist manufacturers. We have a high level of understanding and expertise. We understand paint performance, and what is required in the field.”

This expertise is essential as the products Keltech manufactures will often form the external skeleton of

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KELTECH

machines sold by large, wellknown brands. You might be looking some something made

by Caterpillar or Volvo, but the outer shell of that product, the thing that defines its look, will be manufactured by Keltech.

“There’s a level of trust and understanding among our customers that we are who you can go to,” Lawlor tells us.

“THE FACT IS WE’RE EXTREMELY NICHE IN WHAT WE DO AND VERY FOCUSED.” ATTRACTING A SPECIAL RANGE OF SKILLS

As well as raw materials, specialisation also means Keltech has seen an extremely high demand for technical skills across the board. The company goes through a continual improvement of processes, plants, but most importantly, people, training and developing its employees to give Keltech a significant competitive edge.

“Attracting skills and young people into our industry is a challenge,” Lawlor acknowledges.

“The trend has been towards thirdlevel education rather than working with your hands and mechanical engineering, but we have created a number of initiatives here. We have been forthright with that, ahead of

the competition and creating people capacity and skills.”

But Keltech is going beyond simply trying to recruit a new generation of talent, they want to ensure that generation is more diverse and inclusive than it has been before.

“The industry has been traditionally male-dominated,” Lawlor admits. “We are trying to turn that on its head with a huge push for attracting more women into the area. We are seeing that come to fruition, with women coming to our welding traineeships. The metrics are trending higher all the time, even if we are not at a 50/50 gender split yet. We don’t just want a male-dominated workforce as is traditional in our sector.”

Occupying a specialist niche is also an effective way of navigating volatile economic and market conditions, and Lawlor tells us there have certainly been plenty of those.

“The market is challenging for everyone at the moment with uncertainty around materials costs and supply, but we have been doing well,” he says. “There are numerous challenges, including lots of uncertainty around the supply chain side of things. A huge component of what we do is steel, so there is a lot of uncertainty because a lot of steel originates in Eastern Europe. Of course, worse things are happening in the world right now outside the supply chain.”

Keltech’s response has been to specialise its focus while spreading out its supply chain risk.

“We keep our risk quite spread and manage it as best we can. We have dual sources, treble sources of materials,” Lawlor says. “That doesn’t mean we won’t have issues, but we do our best.”

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KELTECH

And that new generation of talent will have a bright future ahead of it, as Lawlor attests.

“The future looks quite rosy,” he says. “Of course, the world at this moment in time is an uncertain place. What we need to do is concentrate on the road ahead. The situation with Covid has not too adversely effected the business. In fact I’m proud to say that March 2022 has been our highest ever recorded sales figure for a single month. We have three robotic welders, the expansion that happened in the factory, our strategy, and our goal, ‘Towards 2025’. The plan is to achieve over 50% further growth in turnover by 2025.”

Keltech is well on its way to achieving that with a team of 240 people and sales of over 22 million euros. The company is committed to delivering the service its customer base has come to expect.

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EQ RESOURCES

CEO KEVIN MACNEILL DISCUSSES THE OPERATIONS OF EQ RESOURCES AROUND MOUNT CARBINE IN QUEENSLAND, HOW EQ RESOURCES IS BENEFITING THE LOCAL COMMUNITY, AND THEIR PLANS FOR THE FUTURE.

A RESOURCEFUL COMPANY PROJECT MANAGED BY: TIMOTHY GARWOOD

EQ Resources is a company that works on extracting resources. It is primarily known for its work extracting tungsten from Mount Carbine in North Queensland, Australia. Tungsten has been recognised by the European Union as one of the most economically important resources, while the USA, Japan, India, and Australia all define it as a “critical mineral”. What this means is that while these countries recognise the importance of the mineral, there is also high risk in terms of the supply.

T

ungsten is considered highly valuable and sought after due to its beneficial properties, including resistance to high temperatures, high density and resistance to corrosion. Among other applications, tungsten is used in the manufacture of cutting equipment, filaments in light bulbs as well as vibrating mechanisms in mobile phones.

However, while the resource is important to the company, it did not want to be solely defined by it.

At an AGM in 2020, the company Speciality Metals International Limited was renamed EQ Resources Limited, as it was felt that the abbreviation for Emotional Quotient was a better reflection of its core values.

A GREAT ALL-ROUNDER

In cricket, an all-rounder is someone who can be proficient in batting, bowling, and various

136 | MINING

positions. This can be applied to CEO Kevin MacNeill, as his skills apply to both the technical and financial sides of business.

“I come from a technical background, I am a mineral and civil technologist by trade. I am also involved in the money raise side of the project, so I can multi-task. Sometimes I wear a suit, sometimes I wear coveralls!” MacNeill explains.

At present, the EQ Resources team is hard at work. “We are mining 1000 tonnes a day. It is a sizeable mine and it has traditionally been an area people have mined since the 1800s” MacNeill states. He then goes on to further break down some of the challenges the company has faced. “We deal with a lot of rain and flooding, so it can be difficult for two to three months in the year, in the cyclone alley in Australia” MacNeill further details.

COMMUNITY SPIRIT

Another challenge the company has faced is finding and retaining employees. As with any team, the difficulty can be in sourcing the right people only to find they leave for other opportunities. EQ Resources have lived up to their name by being more resourceful when it comes to recruiting people who want to stay on. “There is a lot of farming in the local area, so we bring them on board and train them. We hire people who want to stay in the local area. We used to hire people specifically trained in the mining industry but they used to come and go. This way it is easier to retain people.”

MacNeill says. There is also the desire to foster a team spirit which is something that the company is keen to encourage.

“We have a number of staff functions. We aim to build a team network made up of local people.” MacNeill adds.

EQ Resources has also been committed to supporting its local community. “In the town, we sponsor a local rodeo and football team. The company also offers a local after-school program to students in the local area” MacNeill states.

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EQ RESOURCES

Kevin MacNeill, CEO, EQ Resources.

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EQ RESOURCES

The company has a strong commitment to diversity in the workforce as well. “In terms of our workforce, 10 per cent of our workers are from the indigenous population and 20 per cent are women. It was important that we did not have women only working in the office but also in the trucks and other jobs on the ground” MacNeill emphasises.

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BREAKING NEW GROUND

In recent times, EQ Resources has broken records, with the company breaking more than 40 tonnes of 50 per cent tungsten concentrate at the Mount Carbine site last December.

The company has partnered with the $4 billion rated metals group Cronimet, allowing for significant additional investment and allowing EQ Resources to recommission the processing plant based in the area.

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EQ RESOURCES

This could potentially have a significant impact in terms of the market for tungsten.

“Mount Carbine is ramping up production into a firm market for tungsten concentrates and a strong, stable price for the major end product ammonium paratungstate, currently around $325/MTU, compared with $230/MTU a year ago” MacNeill stated. “We are expanding our production and expanding our team at Mount Carbine as we create a sustainable mine for the future. We are delivering concentrates for the global market and re-purposed waste rock as by-product aggregates for the local market” he further added.

While this is significant, these are not the only projects that EQ Resources are involved in.

“We are also looking to acquire

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some assets from a government tender, branching out from tungsten and expanding our portfolio alongside the Mount Carbine project,” explains MacNeill. In recent times, the company has also acquired a gold license to explore around New South Wales.

The area that EQ Resources are looking to explore includes Panama Hat, a region considered to be one of the richest in terms of metallogenic resources, and Crow Mountain, located along the Peel Fault and has been compared to the famous Mother Lode in California that led to the Gold Rush in the United States.

The company is also looking into extracting tin, so there is a lot of potential. “We are currently looking at costing and power requirements” MacNeill confirms.

EQ Resources are expanding their operations and it is clear that there is a lot of passion for the project. The company places a great deal of emphasis on caring, tying in with the emotional quotient concept behind their name. With this combination of ambition, community and a resourceful approach, EQ Resources has every chance of living up to its name.

“WE ARE LOOKING TO ACQUIRE SOME ASSETS FROM A GOVERNMENT TENDER, BRANCHING OUT FROM TUNGSTEN AND EXPANDING OUR PORTFOLIO ALONGSIDE THE MOUNT CARBINE PROJECT.”

MINING | 139

MORUPULE COAL MINE

MORUPULE COAL MINE WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1973, AND HAS CONTINUED TO GROW AND EVOLVE TO MEET TODAY’S CHALLENGES.

MINING FOR TODAY’S BOTSWANA PROJECT MANAGED BY: TREVOR GRETSINGER

Morupule Coal Mine was established in Botswana in 1973 to mine coal as a source of energy for the country. Even today, coal production is contributing to the country’s economy as its main source of energy.

T

he mine is owned by a government-owned entity, the Mineral Development Company Botswana, and its vision is to be a leading coal energy business.

“Our mission for the coal mine is to ensure we mine coal and deliver energy for the benefit of all our stakeholders in a sustainable manner,” says Edwin Elias, General Manager of Morupule Coal Mine. “To support that we have a set of values; Safety, Passion, caring, Growth, Working Together and Excellence. We have developed a Value Statement saying what we are passionate about safety as we work together in a caring environment, growing our business into a centre of excellence.”

To do this, Morupule Coal Mine has gone out of its way to take the lead on technology acquisition and deployment.

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“We look at the challenges within the coal business and what is important for us is we need to produce in a sustainable manner,” Elias explains. “When it comes to the latest technology, in terms of mining we are looking at opportunities to ensure we get the latest tools to mine coal efficiently and safely.”

INVESTING IN COMMUNITY

As well as investing in technology Morupule Coal Mine also invests heavily in the local community.

“What also distinguishes us is the difference we make in the communities where we mine the coal. We build strong relationships with the community,” Elias tells us.

Edwin Elias, General Manager of Morupule Coal Mine.

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MORUPULE COAL MINE

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MINING | 141

REACHING NEW HEIGHTS

IN THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY IN BOTSWANA

We are developing major building construction, water & sewer reticulation, bridge construction, landfills, bulk earthworks, infrastructure fields and shopping mall civil works.

T: +267 392 8392 ■ E: cevans@excavator.co.bw

www.eh.co.bw

Specialising in: • Earth Moving Machinery • Pumps • Valves • Hydraulic Cylinders • Industrial Gearboxes • General Machining Repair of all Hydraulic Components: • Hydraulic Cylinders • Pumps • Valves • Cranes • Pneumatic Cylinders • Industrial Gearboxes • General Machining Unit 6, Plot 20731, Pharatlhe Road, Block 3 Industrial, Gaborone, Botswana Tel: (+267) 392 5138 • Fax: (+267) 393 2862 Cell: (+267) 72 103 122 / 71 810 950 Email: info@liftandshiftbots.co.bw www.liftandshiftbots.co.bw

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This means building strong channels for communication with those communities.

“We go out to speak to people and find out about their aspirations, then support the development of initiatives around the community,” Elias says. “We have made investments in education and community development.”

This means more than charity, it is about empowering local businesses to the point where they are able to meet Morupule Coal Mine’s own needs, allowing those businesses to benefit from the mine and creating a virtuous circle.

“WHAT ALSO DISTINGUISHES US IS THE DIFFERENCE WE MAKE IN THE COMMUNITIES WHERE WE MINE THE COAL.” “We look at ensuring we empower the local business community to harness opportunities through the coal mine, allowing us to support local businesses in providing the products and services that we need,” Elias tells us. “At the same time, we’re ensuring we can support our own business through local procurement.”

This is part of a wider view of how Morupule views its local communities and country.

Through the Broad-Based Citizen Economic Empowerment program, the company has developed a framework to benchmark stakeholder engagement.

“We encourage contributions from the community and other organisations, and look at what functions we believe we need to have in place. We have built partnerships with banks to

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MORUPULE COAL MINE

support the companies that will be working on these initiatives,” Elias explains. “The key thing for us is we have also identified products and services that are essentially earmarked for local procurement such as protective clothing, maintenance, transportation, things we believe should be done by local companies.

That approach is also reflected in Morupule Coal Mine’s hiring practices.

“When employing people at ground level, it doesn’t matter where in the country a candidate comes, from when we have an opportunity it is advertised and is competitive, every citizen can compete,” says Elias. “When it comes to professional positions, we look at skills from all over.

We bring in ex-patriates when we don’t have skills locally, but if we employ an ex-pat we look at skills transfer. That has only happened at the highest level of skilled employee.”

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MORUPULE COAL MINE

A TIME OF TRANSITION

Investing in the future of Botswana right now also means investing in the environment, and Elias is the first to point out that this is a time of soul searching for the coal industry.

“The biggest challenge that we face right now is the global position around coal mining.

We are looking at the COP 26 Agreement in terms of what we can do, what we can provide, and our transformation into a more sustainable business,” he points out. “It is important we have a clear road map towards green energy. There are initiatives we’re looking into to ensure we comply with the requirements of the COP 26 Agreement. We are coming up with ways to accelerate towards the green energy business. This will make sure that at a global level we get the necessary support in terms of the kind of technologies we need and the initiatives that will help us to become more efficient in the move to green technology.”

Zero harm to the environment is a central belief for Morupule Coal Mine, and it endeavours to mine coal with minimal environmental impact.

The company has been on a journey to build a resilient Environmental Management System, and within three years of beginning these efforts, the mine’s Environmental Management System has been ISO 14001 certified, a foundation for constant and continued improvement.

Through the Morupule Coal Mine, the company recognises the potential long-term effects of climate change and the impact it might have on its business and supply chain. The Mine has taken the initiative in improving the energy efficiency of its production processes and reduced the potential climate impact of its products. It is an

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approach that reflects Morupule Coal Mine’s integrated approach to sustainability, of which climate protection is a key component.

This is to be achieved while still building on and expanding the mine’s output.

“We are currently producing 2.8 million tons per annum of coal, but we are expanding our operations,” Elias tells us. “We plan to make sure we can upgrade our facility to a capacity of 4.2 million tons per annum.”

“WE PLAN TO MAKE SURE WE CAN UPGRADE OUR FACILITY TO A CAPACITY OF 4.2 MILLION TONS PER ANNUM.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

MINING | 145

POLARIS EPC

POLARIS EPC IS A BUSINESS TAKING ON A UNIQUE CHALLENGE, BRINGING DOWN THE CARBON EMISSIONS OF CRUDE OIL REFINERIES.

A REFINED SOLUTION

PROJECT MANAGED BY: TREVOR GRETSINGER 146 | OIL & GAS

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POLARIS EPC

For over 26 years Polaris Engineering, Procurement and Construction has been operating in the industrial hub of Southwest Louisiana.

This full-service engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) company serves the refining and petrochemical industries in the US and around the world, but it started out offering a simple process engineering consulting service.

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M

y business partner, Mike Nodier and I started the business 26 years ago in Lake Charles in Louisiana,” recalls co-founder Gerry Obluda. “Over the years we’ve grown to become a full-service firm capable of full EPC work to the extent that we can build entire facilities.”

Polaris has been able to succeed in this journey helping its clients find innovative and cost-effective process solutions to their operating and debottlenecking challenges. The expertise the company holds in this arena is a source of pride for

the company even today when its scope has expanded far beyond its original offering. Polaris has built on its initial successes, adding engineering and design disciplines to its portfolio to enable the company to provide full project development and project management capabilities to its clients. Today Polaris has successfully implemented projects from conception through start-up, providing cost-effective Engineering, Procurement, and Construction Services using a business model that focuses on small to medium projects.

OIL & GAS | 147

AGI Industries has one of the best manufacturer lineups to meet your needs including products from Flowserve, Milton Roy, Circor, ARO, Sidewinder & many more.

+1 800 256 8101

sales@agiindustries.com

www.agiindustries.com

FULL SERVICE PROVIDER OF STORAGE TANKS AND TERMINALS

PROVIDING INDUSTRIAL SOLUTIONS OVER 35 YEARS

+1 832-299-3200 25000 Pitkin Road Spring, TX 77386 USA tfwarren.com

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l

tarscosales@tfwarren.com

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AGI INDUSTRIES AGI Industries, is an industrial fluid handling products distributor, systems packager, and specialty pump manufacturer founded in 1963. We represent a complete range of pumps, measurement and control products, electrical and automation products, and related accessories from leading manufacturers such as FlowServe, Milton Roy, Circor, ARO, Sidewinder, and many more.

AGI Industries has factory-authorized and certified service and repair centers in most branch locations. Supported by local parts inventory, factory-trained technicians perform repairs to factory OEM or API standards and can be customized per the customer’s written request. Backed by OEM engineering, as-built data, accurate Bills of Material, and inventory on the shelf, AGI Industries repairs equipment to “like new” condition and confidently stands behind the equipment once it is shipped back to the customer. All work is properly documented for quality assurance and control.

Supported by a fleet of fully equipped service trucks, AGI Industries field service technicians can handle most pump installations, start-ups, repairs, and field maintenance requirements. AGI Industries customer services also include a crew of skilled technicians trained to perform repairs and services on offshore facilities including start-up and commissioning, pump troubleshooting and repair, and system analysis. AGI Industries technicians possess all safety credentials required to perform on and offshore duties.

We also offer an array of pump and system-related engineering services to include pump sizing and selection, field performance testing, NPSH evaluation, system analysis, training, structural calculations, mechanical seal failure analysis, and much more.

With 11 branch offices, AGI Industries brings local solutions and support to your marketplace. www.agiindustries.com

POLARIS EPC

“We take projects from concept to completion,” Obluda tells us. “We’re not a gigantic company, we’re relatively small and nimble, but we think of our competition as the giant turnkey project providers. Our clientele is not Exxon or Shell, they are more entrepreneurial firms.”

A REFINED SOLUTION

Right now, Polaris EPC is taking that expertise and directing it towards the most pressing issue facing perhaps the entire petrochemical sector right now. The refining industry is the third-largest emitter of CO2 in the world.

So far, little has been done within the refining sector to reduce its carbon footprint substantially.

From left to right, Gerry Obluda and Mike Nodier, Co-owners, POLARIS EPC.

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POLARIS EPC

As Obluda points out, all the measures deployed by the refining industry so far have been to reduce its carbon footprint by adding on renewable diesel production solutions.

“Nobody is talking about reducing actual emissions from oil refining,” Obluda says. “The refining of fossil fuels is going to go on for a long time, so our idea is to do refining better.”

In seeking to address this challenge, Obluda points to an odd quirk of the US oil industry as it stands.

“An amazing thing in the US is we’re producing all this light, sweet, crude all of a sudden, and light sweet crude can more easily be converted to finished transportation fuels,” he explains. “But all our existing refining base, which has been built up over more than 60 years, is set up to run primarily heavy sour crude. Upgrading heavy sour crude uses a large amount of energy and makes a ton of emissions but that’s how they’re set up. So, we export all this light sweet crude and import heavy sour crude to fill up our refineries. It’s kind of crazy when you think about it.

We load up tankers of Saudi Arabian crude and bring them here to refine while exporting ours.”

To Obluda the solution seems straightforward. Refine all that light, sweet crude near the point of production, applying new technologies to the refinery that can dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of the refining process.

“All this light sweet crude is being produced in West Texas, and rather than shipping it out to the coast and across the ocean, we want to refine it right there where we produce it, refine it very cleanly, and sell the clean finished products locally,” Obluda says.

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POLARIS EPC

If this seems like a dramatic change, it is at the very least not unprecedented.

“It’s come full circle,” Obluda points out. “If you look back to the very beginning of refining, 120 years ago, they built little refineries close to where they produced crude to supply local markets. You didn’t have the current situation where crude is moved all over the world to refine and make products. But those refineries went the way of the dinosaur when they started building these mega plants. Now we’re once again seeing how it’s going to be better to build new plants closer to where crude is produced and thus be able to apply the latest emissions control technologies. Why export crude and import refined products to these areas? We think there’s room and space and interest in making refining better and quicker. And we have recently received a US Patent for our design to achieve these results.”

BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

Polaris is presenting a solid, practical solution, but it is one that Obluda believes will receive pushback from multiple directions.

“I think the existing industry is not going to be very interested in what we’re doing because everyone’s kind of accepted you can’t change refining. We’re trying to change that mindset,” he acknowledges. “Existing refineries won’t like it when they see people saying refining can be done cleaner and better.

The existing industry won’t be very receptive.”

At the same time, environmentalists pushing for a complete shift to renewable energy can often overlook short-term but practical solutions to mitigate the environmental cost of the existing petrochemical industry.

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The main fabrication facility of POLARIS EPC. “Anything at all to do with fossil fuels is looked at negatively these days. We focus on it being clean, our idea is that fossil fuels aren’t going away overnight, so while we’re using them let’s do it more cleanly,” Obluda argues.

“We’re making the case based on the beauty of how much we can reduce emissions. A lot of the other green projects don’t necessarily have economic payouts.

Most straight-up carbon reduction projects rely on ESG pressures and very limited tax breaks for government subsidies.”

Polaris EPC’s project, while being green and reducing emissions by 95% is also built on a foundation of good base economics, leveraging its location advantages.

“We plan to put these in the right locations, where the

crude’s being produced and there’s local market demand,” Obluda explains. “Even without its environmental features, our projects can be an attractive investment.”

It is a plan Obluda wants to roll out as far as possible, and the early steps have been promising.

“We would like to get multiples of these projects under construction. We have two so far that have been permitted for construction and operation in West Texas. Their owners are in the process of advancing those projects to further development,” Obluda reports. “We’d like to do more of them, we can see ourselves exporting this idea around the world. There is a lot of room to put these in regions where crude is produced but finished products are imported.”

“WHY EXPORT CRUDE AND IMPORT REFINED PRODUCTS TO THESE AREAS? WE THINK THERE IS ROOM AND SPACE AND INTEREST IN MAKING REFINING BETTER AND QUICKER. AND WE HAVE RECENTLY RECEIVED A US PATENT FOR OUR DESIGN TO ACHIEVE THESE RESULTS.” OIL & GAS | 151

ASHDOD PORT

RESERVE ADMIRAL MOSHE “SHIKO” ZANA TALKS ABOUT HIS ROLE AS CEO OF ASHDOD PORT, HIGHLIGHTING THE IMPORTANCE OF ISRAEL’S LARGEST PORT AND ITS PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

THE PORT AUTHORITY PROJECT MANAGED BY: LIAM PYWELL

Ashdod Port is a government-run port used to provide logistical services including storage, cargo loading and infrastructure facilities. Until recently, Ashdod Port has been the largest of four ports in Israel. With two new ports recently opened by commercial entities, the pressure is on for Ashdod Port to maintain its status as a key part of Israel’s economy.

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O

verseeing the operation of Ashdod Port is CEO Moshe “Shiko” Zana, a retired Admiral in the Israeli Navy.

In addition to over thirty years of service, Zana also has an MEng degree in systems engineering and a BSc in mechanical engineering. Before taking up the role of Ashdod Port’s CEO for the last couple of years, he has worked for Caterpillar Israel on a global construction project.

This varied background has benefited Zana in his current position. “I hold a challenging role as the professional and managerial authority who integrates the orchestra that operates the port. I strive to meet the goals and tasks required to motivate the employees and the managers.

My managerial approach is focused on harnessing people’s strengths” Zana states.

ASHDOD PORT

Moshe “Shiko” Zana, CEO, Ashdod Port.

SHIPPING, PORT & MARINE | 153

Pan-Mediterranean Engineering Company Ltd. (PMEC), the daughter company of multinational infrastructure giant China Harbour Engineering Company Ltd. (CHEC), was founded in Israel in 2012 to spearhead CHEC’s Mediterranean operations. Since its establishment, it has made significant achievements such as the successful construction of the new HaDarom Port, the renovation and upgrade of Quay 21 & the construction of a Grain Conveyance System in the existing Ashdod Port, as well as the acquisition, operation, and extension of Alon Tavor powerplant (±600MWh) in Israel.

Menahem Begin 52, Tel Aviv – Yafo, Israel

www.chec.bj.cn

Tel: +97 236 996 868

PAN-MEDITERRANEAN ENGINEERING COMPANY LTD.

ASHDOD PORT

WHEN A MARITIME GIANT ARRIVED IN THE STARTUP NATION “We approached the Israeli market with a deep understanding that the development of local and regional seaport infrastructure will boost Israel’s international trade and empower the local economy”, said Mr. Liu Dongbing, Pan-Mediterranean Engineering Company Ltd. (PMEC) CEO, while concluding nearly a decade of activity in Israel with significant achievements and a substantial local presence.

Mr. Liu moved to Israel a decade ago with the country’s national marine infrastructure development plan in mind – which included the construction of two brand new private seaports and development of the exiting two major seaports, all within a few years: “I admit, initially we thought of Israel’s marine development plan to be extremely ambitious. Development and construction of two artificial island based commercial seaports was going to pose significant challenges and require immense capabilities”, he explains, “but we found the local market to be well prepared for the challenge, demonstrating agility and innovation on every turn along the road, which greatly inspired us”.

After two years of development and groundwork, in 2014 PMEC was awarded the construction of the new port. To assure top performance, technological & mechanical innovation, and professional flexibility, PMEC tapped into CHEC’s unprecedented expertise achieved through decades of maritime infrastructure development around the world. This resulted in the successful handover of the new port to the Israel Port Company, well ahead of the anticipated construction schedule.

Mr. Liu elaborates: “it was of utmost importance for us to uphold the highest standards of quality and safety while overcoming the challenges of working at sea. The support received from CHEC enabled us to commission special tools and equipment in scales never-before-seen in the region and we approached each challenge in the most analytic and innovative manner because we wholeheartedly believed that development of the Ashdod area will boost Israel’s international trade and significantly empower the local economy, which was a great motivation for our teams along the way, and as time proved was the correct approach.”

PMEC has a unique local operational model – it’s designed as a multi-cultural corporation, with integrated teams comprising of Chinese experts, international suppliers & engineers, and a local headquarters able to provide professional support in all spectra of fields from regulation to localized technical know-how.

“In order to create a homogenous solution which would best serve our clients, we maintain many of the usually outsourced professional services inhouse, through our dedicated international and local Israeli expert teams.”

The added value offered by PMEC allows it to further its involvement & support of the local market. Throughout the construction of the new port, relationship established between PMEC and the Ashdod Port Company, based on outstanding cooperation and communication by Chinese and Israeli teams, evolved into further cooperation in two flagship projects for the upgrade and renovation of the Port of Ashdod – Quay 21 & the Grain Conveyor, both significantly enlarge the existing Port of Ashdod’s handling and storage abilities, and thus its ability to operate in Israel’s renewed seaborne trade activity.

“It is our great honour to take part in promoting and developing the Israeli economy and the relationship between China and Israel. We are grateful to Israel Port Company & Ashdod Port Company for their years-long partnership – we learnt a great deal from the Israeli market will continue operating in this spirit in our future endeavors” concluded Mr. Liu. www.chec.bj.cn

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ASHDOD PORT

Zana is clear about the major challenges that Ashdod Port has to face. “We have two main challenges right now.

The first is the global shipping crisis affecting congestion in the ports in Israel, and the second is new competition ever since two new private ports were opened this year as part of comprehensive reform in Israel’s ports” he explains.

“The port is government-owned but functions and operates for all intents and purposes like a commercial business in terms of expenses, income, and investments” he details.

According to Zana, ports are an important part of Israel’s economy. “Israel is like an island country as almost 99 per cent of our imports and exports come from ports. We are the biggest port in Israel, not far from the Suez Canal and near the centre of Israel” he further explains.

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To improve efficiency, technology and innovation is the key to staying ahead of the competition. “We have almost completed the development of Pier 21 for containers and grain, to receive mega-ships with up to 24,000 containers. By doing so, we are adapting ourselves to the large ships that will arrive in Israel and to the competition” he further details.

Concerning issues with congestion and queues, steps have been taken to address delays that have caused worldwide issues with shipping.

“We have increased our waterline manpower strength and improved the maintenance and the competence of the equipment to better respond and service the cargo we receive. Currently, container ships do not wait for more than 48 hours to unload” Zana confirms.

“ISRAEL IS LIKE AN ISLAND COUNTRY AS ALMOST 99 PER CENT OF OUR IMPORTS AND EXPORTS COME FROM PORTS. WE ARE THE BIGGEST PORT IN ISRAEL, NOT FAR FROM THE SUEZ CANAL AND NEAR THE CENTRE OF ISRAEL” A COMMUNITY PROJECT

Zana has a clear idea of the employees he wants to join Ashdod Port. “The main qualities we look for in employees and managers that we recruit are the ability to work in a changing environment under a lot of pressure and the ability to initiate and think out of the box” he explains.

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ASHDOD PORT

For Zana, Ashdod Port is an important part of Ashdod’s community. “One of the main goals I set for the company for the next few years is to transform the port into a green port that preserves its environment and at the same time interacts and operates in synergy with Ashdod city.

The port has been a financial, social and vocational anchor of the city and is one of its main symbols” he states. “The close connections developed between the port, the city, and the community are very important to us, and we support educational, social, and environmental initiatives run by NGOs and civil society organizations in the city and maintain a dialogue with the public on environmental issues” he further details.

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ASHDOD PORT

One example of Ashdod Port’s community projects is the Sea Kindergartens program for children, helping them learn more about sea life.

“Sea Kindergartens is based on the educational approach of meaningful outdoor, out-ofclass studies of sustainability and the environment. Twelve kindergartens have already joined this cluster, and they enjoy a specialized program that includes a monthly outing to the seashore” he says.

FUTURE INNOVATION

Ashdod Port is utilising local business connections to further innovate processes behind the port. “This year, we established a technological incubator, in collaboration with 500 Global, a leading venture capital promoting innovative ports

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ASHDOD PORT

“THE PORT HAS BEEN A FINANCIAL, SOCIAL AND VOCATIONAL ANCHOR OF THE CITY AND IS ONE OF ITS MAIN SYMBOLS.” BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

and shipping technologies.

The incubator allows startups to transform their ideas into profitable products” Zana states.

The company is also investing approximately $700m in technology and infrastructure, with each development designed to make the port’s processes more efficient. “Our flagship project is developing pier and rear dock 21, into a semi-automatic logistical rear pier, with remote-control cranes using an almost fully automated computer program. Everything will be operated with large and suitable cranes that will both unload the ships semiautomatically and transport containers to their destinations” Zana explains. “We have been promoting system-wide and state-of-the-art infrastructures, including a computerized container port that operates with an innovative automated system.

New automated gates that electronically scan merchandise, license plates, containers, and biometric identification of drivers have been installed at the port’s entry points.” he further explains.

Zana believes that an innovative approach is symbolic of his nation’s drive. “Innovation is important to us because we are a start-up nation. We are looking to make our port a green port, we have invested a lot of money to take care of air and sea pollution. We aim to become more efficient, more green and more lean” Zana details.

While Ashdod Port has to face increased competition from new ports, Zana is not concerned and believe the company has the tools to take on what these new ports have to offer. “It is a very challenging time for us but we are not afraid of increased competition!”

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ERMA FIRST

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ERMA FIRST

SALES DIRECTOR NIKOS DRIMALAS, INTERNATIONAL SALES MANAGER KONSTANTINOS DIMOPOULOS & MARKETING MANAGER KIMON MADEMLIS DISCUSS HOW ERMA FIRST IS INNOVATING THE FIELD OF BALLAST WATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS.

THE FIRST IN BALLAST WATER TREATMENT PROJECT MANAGED BY: TIMOTHY GARWOOD

ERMA FIRST was established in Greece in 2009, but over the years its industry-benchmark ballast water treatment system has become a global business.

“We have a long-term commitment to working with prestigious shipping companies around the world. We pride ourselves on superior operational readiness, build quality, and ease of use.

Our ballast water treatment systems are in compliance with all the necessary legislation, and we are the top worldwide in terms of quality and sales”, states Konstantinos Dimopoulos, International Sales Manager.

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

N

ikos Drimalas, Sales Director, has a firm idea of what role his department has in the running of ERMA FIRST. “I’m leading the sales department. I would say I have the hardest ‘easy’ job in the world. There is a high expectation and demand for our products, as we are expected to provide a complete solution for their life cycle. We achieve this by offering complete product management and full sales support”, Mr Drimalas explains.

On the other hand, Konstantinos Dimopoulos has seen his role evolve alongside the company. “I was hired in the early days and have grown with the company. ERMA FIRST has trusted me with its development in my current role as the international sales manager” he recalls.

ERMA FIRST’s rapid growth has meant that they have had to be adaptable to meet the challenges their business comes up against. “Capacity has been an issue we have had

to deal with. Different vessels require different strategies so that is something we have to look at. To address this, ERMA FIRST has expanded its manpower, allowing us to study what needs to be done. We can offer an ‘A to Z’ service as well as being able to provide retrofitting” Drimalas details.

“On the sales side, we have numerous ongoing projects, and we are expected to support them throughout their lifecycle.

We recently established a new after-sales department and brought in a ticketing system for better after-sales support”, Dimopoulos further adds.

The company has also put in place contingency plans to deal with potential supply and delay issues, something that numerous industries have had to deal with in recent times. “We have also put spare parts and storage in specific geographical areas so that people can get there as soon as possible.

We want to ensure a smooth operation, which is why we train

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RELIABILITY IN YOUR EVERY NEED

30 YEARS OF PIONEERING IN PUMPING SYSTEMS

In 1978 our company’s founder Georgiadis Iosif enters dynamically the pumping industry, specializing in providing high-quality services to the Marine and Manufacturing industry, offering in each case reliable solutions. Based in Piraeus, one of the largest ports in the Mediterranean Sea, our core business consists of pumps and services and all relevant electrical automation, with a focus on water supply, distribution, and treatment.

In 1993, we included the GRUNDFOS Products in our available product range in the local market offering highly reliable solutions to our partners.

In 2004, the company’s transformation began. The two sons of the Founder entered the company with the ambition to continue their father’s valuable work by offering reliable and innovative solutions in the market. They achieved to combine knowledge and expertise with the necessary tools and skills to provide high-level services by having loyal and happy partners.

Our choice to promote the wide range of GRUNDFOS products helped us to offer even more attractive and reliable solutions in the Marine & Manufacturing industry contributing to energy and water savings.

Our adoption of promoting eco-friendly products in the market helped us to make the difference by offering unique and sustainable solutions to our partners having as first priority the environmental protection and climate challenges.

Our purpose is to invest in long-term partnerships building strong relationships that focus on a win-win collaboration helping us to care for our customers efficiently and effectively.

Our high level of expertise made us a key partner for shipping companies & shipyards offering custom-made and best value for money solutions that really contributed to building strong relationships for more than 30 years with a high level of satisfaction for all stakeholders.

Accountability and Innovation are a part of our company’s culture, we care about our customers, and we want to act with respect and responsibility in our business transactions with the common goal to meet any needs and demands ensuring to have loyal and satisfied customers.

Our people are oriented to provide high-level services in a professional way offering added value to the customers and implementing innovative solutions. Our target is to offer advanced engineering and to cover all parts of our services

in the market, such as sales with engineering & consultancy, support for the installation, and of course the valuable aftersales and service support.

State-of-the-art technology is part of our DNA and we intend to monitor the available innovations ensuring that we will stay also close to our customer’s needs in the near future. The climate challenges are here and our actions on a personal & professional level are needed and it is our responsibility to act now, it is a promise to the next generation. Our approach in the market has as a top priority environmental protection and we are very happy when our proposals contribute to energy and water savings improving in that way the quality of people’s lives. We have so many examples of the use of our solutions that decrease water and energy consumption diminishing the CO2 emissions.

We are very proud when we see that our long-term partnership with ERMA FIRST, a globally leading ballast water treatment manufacturer with a higher purpose of protecting the marine ecosystem which drives all its operations, has a positive impact on the environment.

In our company, we have adopted an environmental management system, ISO14001 and we are also quite sensitive to issues such as the recycling of products/materials and also to the use of renewable resources and waste & water treatment.

In a world so big and totally connected where any impact travels at dizzying speed, you must have partners who will be able to support you always and everywhere.

It is our commitment to provide professional and high-quality customer services, delivering what we promise to our customers with respect and reliability.

We are oriented to grow a sustainable business having clear strategies in place to overcome challenges and grab opportunities. Our vision is to pass our culture and learnings to the next generation with a focus on customer centricity and reliable solutions that will satisfy all stakeholders.

We often say To Be The Best, Be With The Best, so if you want to share the same experience with us and if you are looking for more than just a partner, feel free to call us!

GEORGIADIS IOSIF & SONS O.E.

GEORGIADIS IOSIF & SONS O.E.

GEORGIADIS IOSIF & SONS O.E.

21, Kononos str., 18545 Piraeus, Greece

21, Kononos str., 18545 Piraeus, Greece

21, Kononos str., 18545 Piraeus, Greece

Bureau Veritas Certification Holding SAS – UK Branch certifies that the Management System of the above organisation has been audited and found to be in accordance with the requirements of the management system standards detailed below

Bureau Veritas Certification Holding SAS – UK Branch certifies that the Management System of the above organisation has been audited and found to be in accordance with the requirements of the management system standards detailed below

Bureau Veritas Certification Holding SAS – UK Branch certifies that the Management System of the above organisation has been audited and found to be in accordance with the requirements of the management system standards detailed below

ISO 9001:2015

ISO 14001:2015

Scope of certification

Scope of certification

SALES, SERVICE & INSTALLATION OF PUMPS.

SALES, SERVICE & INSTALLATION OF PUMPS.

ISO 45001:2018 Scope of certification

SALES, SERVICE & INSTALLATION OF PUMPS.

Original cycle start date:

01-04-2021

Expiry date of previous cycle:

NA

Certification / Recertification Audit date:

16-03-2021

Original cycle start date:

01-04-2021

Expiry date of previous cycle:

NA

Certification / Recertification Audit date:

16-03-2021

Original cycle start date:

01-04-2021

Expiry date of previous cycle:

NA

Certification / Recertification Audit date:

16-03-2021

Certification / Recertification cycle start date:

01-04-2021

Certification / Recertification cycle start date:

01-04-2021

Certification / Recertification cycle start date:

Subject to the continued satisfactory operation of the organization’s Management System, this certificate expires on:

31-03-2024

Subject to the continued satisfactory operation of the organization’s Management System, this certificate expires on:

31-03-2024

Subject to the continued satisfactory operation of the organization’s Management System, this certificate expires on:

Certificate No.:

GR001815

Version:

1

Issue Date:

01-04-2021

Certificate No.:

GR001816

Version:

1

Issue Date:

01-04-2021

Certificate No.:

GR001817

01-04-2021

Version:

1

31-03-2024

Issue Date:

Certification Body Address: 5th Floor, 66 Prescot Street, London, E1 8HG, United Kingdom

Certification Body Address: 5th Floor, 66 Prescot Street, London, E1 8HG, United Kingdom

Certification Body Address: 5th Floor, 66 Prescot Street, London, E1 8HG, United Kingdom

Local Office: 23, Etolikou Str., Piraeus, 185 45, Greece

Local Office: 23, Etolikou Str., Piraeus, 185 45, Greece

Local Office: 23, Etolikou Str., Piraeus, 185 45, Greece

Further clarifications regarding the scope and validity of this certificate, and the applicability of the management system requirements, please call: +30 210 4063 000

1/1

Further clarifications regarding the scope and validity of this certificate, and the applicability of the management system requirements, please call: +30 210 4063 000

1/1

IOSIF GEORGIADIS & SONS CO. 21Str. Kononos 18545 Piraeus, Greece Tel.: +30 210 41 17 404 www.g-pumps.com

Further clarifications regarding the scope and validity of this certificate, and the applicability of the management system requirements, please call: +30 210 4063 000

1/1

01-04-2021

ERMA FIRST

the crew. This can be on-site, via our headquarters, training centres, e-learning platforms, and remote seminars. This should allow for the best upkeep of our systems”, Dimopoulos continues.

In some cases, there are specific regional demands that the company has to adapt to. “We recently established a training centre in Manila, Philippines, as a lot of our crews are based there and we believe it was important they received hands-on training”, Drimalas further elaborates.

TEAM PLAYERS

Nikos Drimalas, Sales Director, has specific ideas when it comes to hiring people to join the ERMA FIRST team and what qualities they should bring to the table.

“It depends on the position.

Preferably, we would like people with solid academic background and relevant maritime experience as this provides a better perception of the technical side of our business, although this can vary depending on the department” he states. “For anyone coming into the business, we are looking for strong organisational skills, attention to detail, and quick decisionmaking”, Drimalas adds.

Konstantinos Dimopoulos, International Sales Manager, comes at this from another angle, citing his background and how it affects his role. “I am a mechanical engineer by trade. For me, I am looking for positive team players. We are all part of the company, and it is important that we are customerorientated” he explains.

Kimon Mademlis, Marketing Manager, takes over to raise awareness of the ERMA FIRST CSR plans. “At ERMA FIRST, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is not a one-off action, but what we do on daily

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basis. We transform CSR into purposeful, tangible, and meaningful actions.

ERMA FIRST builds and implements CSR plans serving our higher purpose and company values, based on three key pillars: local community, inclusivity & sustainability.” ERMA FIRST’s brand DNA is based on the company’s higher purpose of protecting and preserving the marine ecosystem.

Hence, ERMA FIRST is an example of a company where CSR is at the forefront of its operations, building and committing to a solid full-year plan with monthly actions. “Giving back to the community is extremely important for us, as well as our

commitment to sustainability and the environment. We have a monthly volunteering schedule and communicate our activities organically through our website and social media” Mademlis explains.

Kimon Mademlis elaborates further providing a recent example where the company was able to give its support during a terrible disaster.

“During the forest fires in Greece, we worked to support the reforestation of the local area to help the forest recovery.

And this is just one example of an extended array of actions we undertook to serve our purpose and environmental commitment” he proudly states.

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ERMA FIRST

THE MOST IMPORTANT SHIP

Nikos Drimalas, Sales Director, is optimistic about the future of ERMA FIRST, citing their ability to maintain consistency and the specific steps they have taken to remain competitive in their field. “We are a long-term player in this market - this is not a business for opportunists! We believe that this is a marathon, not a sprint. With this in mind, we have made a number of acquisitions.”

These acquisitions included METIS Cyberspace Technology in 2019, a company producing an intelligent real-time data monitoring digital platform for optimizing vessel’s performance. In May 2021, ERMA FIRST acquired RWO GmbH, a leading and well-respected

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ERMA FIRST

German marine water treatment system manufacturer. Following that, during the summer of 2021, ERMA FIRST acquired oneTANK, a US-based company manufacturing the world’s smallest, easiest to install, and fully approved ballast water treatment system. The ERMA FIRST oneTANK footprint is only 600mm x 600mm, half the size of its nearest competitor, meaning it can easily fit into any vessel space. The installation is straightforward and, more importantly, at the end of the vessel’s operational life, the whole system can be removed and installed on another vessel.

On top of that, referring to costs, oneTANK is the lowest priced fully approved ballast water treatment system in the

BUSINESSFOCUSMAGAZINE.COM

market, as well as its power consumption, is similar to that of a household washing machine. oneTANK is a gamechanger for the ballast water treatment market being the ultimate solution for tanker aft peak tanks as well as smaller vessels, such as superyachts, fishing vessels, workboats, and semi-submersibles.

The company is also looking to invest in further technological advances to stay ahead of the competition, while making ballast water treatment technology more energy efficient. “Our R&D team is continually working towards introducing new technologies and improving the existing. We are currently looking into antipollution measures, as well

as ways of using solar power and more energy-efficient processes”, Drimalas further explains.

For Nikos Drimalas, the company must continue progress while maintaining a high standard. “We are going to continue working according to regulations, producing and developing new technologies that will further benefit the shipping industry. We are a customer-orientated company.

As a maritime business the most important ship is a partnership”, he confidently states.

AS A MARITIME BUSINESS THE MOST IMPORTANT SHIP IS A PARTNERSHIP” SHIPPING, PORT & MARINE | 167

HӦEGH AUTOLINERS

Andreas Enger, CEO Höegh Autoliners.

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HӦEGH AUTOLINERS

HÖEGH AUTOLINERS HAS ALWAYS BEEN AN INNOVATOR, AND NOW THE INDUSTRY FACES A TIME WHEN THAT IS NEEDED MORE THAN EVER.

REVOLUTIONISING THE MARITIME INDUSTRY PROJECT MANAGED BY: TIMOTHY GARWOOD

Höegh Autoliners has always been a pioneer. The company has been a constant in the shipping industry for almost 100 years.

Always innovating and always adapting. Höegh Autoliners was the company that combined oil and iron ore transportation in the early 60s and developed the first specialised LNG carriers in the 70s. But the company’s biggest breakthrough came in its development of specialised car carriers.

I

t was Leif Høegh, Höegh Autoliners’ Chair, and a descendant and namesake of the company’s founder whose great uncle designed the first dedicated car carrier in 1966, to transport the Ford Anglia. It was an innovation that would inspire the firm’s future during a period of massive industry consolidation.

“By the late 70s, only six or seven operators were using special-purpose vessels. We had our position in that industry cemented by the late 70s,” says Leif Høegh. “We have continued our tradition of innovation. In the mid-1980s we were the first to build what is now the standard 6,500-unit ship that has now been copied by most operators. The company has always aligned its service innovation with those of our customers and we continue to do that today.”

It is a legacy that the company continues to honour today, when once more Höegh Autoliners looks set to transform the industry.

“We have worked for a decade developing our environmental and social sustainability profile,” says Andreas Enger, Höegh Autoliners’ CEO. “We have taken delivery of the largest and most efficient car carriers in the world, and as the only player in the industry, we have firm orders for a series of new and even larger and more environmentally friendly vessels with a clear path to zero emissions.”

Höegh Autoliners has taken decisive steps before and is taking new important steps to improve its performance on sustainability.

Mr Enger adds, “With a focus on reducing our environmental footprint and continuously

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TURN TURN UNCERTAINTY

INTO CONFIDENCE CONFIDENCE

The pressure is on shipping to reduce GHG emissions – but to find the right pathway, you need the The pressure on shipping to compliance, reduce GHGnext emissions – butfuels, to find the and rightoperational pathway, you need the right partner.isFrom regulatory generation vessel optimization, right partner.advice From regulatory generation fuels, vessel and operational optimization, to in-depth and insight,compliance, explore ournext decarbonization solutions.

And find out how together towe in-depth advice and insight, can realize a greener future.explore our decarbonization solutions. And find out how together we can realize a greener future.

Learn more: Learn more: dnv.com/maritime dnv.com/maritime

ABOUT DNV DNV is the independent expert in risk management and assurance, operating in more than 100 countries. Through its broad experience and deep expertise DNV advances safety and sustainable performance, sets industry benchmarks, and inspires and invents solutions.

Whether assessing a new ship design, optimizing the performance of a wind farm, analyzing sensor data from a gas pipeline or certifying a food company’s supply chain, DNV enables its customers and their stakeholders to make critical decisions with confidence.

Driven by its purpose, to safeguard life, property, and the environment, DNV helps tackle the challenges and global transformations facing its customers and the world today and is a trusted voice for many of the world’s most successful and forwardthinking companies.

About DNV Maritime DNV is the world’s leading classification society and a recognized advisor for the maritime industry.

We enhance safety, quality, energy efficiency and environmental performance of the global shipping industry – across all vessel types and offshore structures.

We invest heavily in research and development to find solutions, together with the industry, that address strategic, operational or regulatory challenges.

For more information visit: www.dnv.com/maritime

KONGSBERG DIGITAL is a provider of next-generation software and digital products, to customers within maritime, oil and gas, renewables and utilities. We are committed to digitalize the world’s industries for a better tomorrow.

kongsberg.com/digital

KONGSBERG DIGITAL DIGITALIZING THE WORLDS INDUSTRIES Established in 2016, Kongsberg Digital has quickly become a marketing leader in digitalizing the energy sector and maritime industry, in addition to driving the green shift forward by supplying digital expertise and solutions to the renewable sector. KDI’s three business divisions – Digital Ocean, Digital Energy, and Digital Wells – are all targeting industrial assets with complex operations.

KDI’s three business divisions help digitalize the world’s industries: • DIGITAL OCEAN: Save costs, become more efficient and sustainable with Vessel Insight and Kognifai Marketplace. The consistent and standardized way of collecting data through Vessel Insight enables quality reporting, empowers transparency, and allows for in-depth analysis to optimize vessel and fleet performance.

• DIGITAL ENERGY: With the groundbreaking digital twin technology Kognitwin, we offer an advanced process simulator for the understanding of dynamic process behavior, performance modeling, and optimization of design and operations. We provide an end-toend experience with your industrial data, operations, and a place to execute your work.

• DIGITAL WELLS: With SiteCom, our industrial work surface for wells, we offer a complete ecosystem for safer and more reliable drilling and wells operations. SiteCom generates and contextualizes real-time drilling data, minimizing non-productive-time.

With the powerful blend of data science, technology development, and domain expertise, Kongsberg Digital is helping industries reach their NetZero and sustainable goals, higher cost efficiency and safer operations.

Together with more than 700 employees located in six countries, we are proud to digitalize the world’s industries towards a better, safer and greener tomorrow. www.kongsberg.com/no/digital/

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HӦEGH AUTOLINERS

Photo Credit: Thomas Nagel

step further in designing the Aurora class, a multi-fuel and zero-carbon ready vessel,” Andreas Enger says.

These are the first vessels in the PCTC segment to have both DNV’s “ammonia ready” and “methanol ready” notations.

The vessels will also be the first in the segment to be able to operate on carbon-neutral ammonia. According to Andreas Enger, The Aurora class will be able to transport up to 9100 cars, and by increasing the size, modernising propulsion, and significantly reducing emissions, the vessels will revolutionise the maritime industry.

assessing our customers’ transportation and logistics requirements, we developed our latest innovation, the Horizon class. These vessels are the world’s largest and most fuel-efficient Pure Car and Truck Carrier (PCTC) vessels. Delivered in 2015, the vessels can transport up to 8500 cars and ship cargo up to 375 Metric Tonnes and are still considered the largest and most efficient PCTC vessels today, emitting 40% less CO2 per car transported compared to a standard car carrier.

“The benefit of the Horizon class is that they are larger ships with smaller engines which reduces the emission footprint significantly, by being more efficient during transport.

To meet our ambitious goal of a net-zero by 2040 and support our customers in decarbonising their supply chain we have taken the Horizon class a significant

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HӦEGH AUTOLINERS

Photo Credit: Thomas Nagel

The Aurora class is designed for future cargo. Its strengthened decks and enhanced internal ramp systems allow Electric Vehicles on all decks and provide more flexibility for heavier project cargo.

Andreas Enger adds, “With the Horizon class and now the Aurora class we are not only helping to combat climate change but also supporting our customers in decarbonising their supply chain.

And once again proving that Höegh Autoliners is an innovator, leading the way towards a netzero emissions future for our industry.”

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Between 2008 and 2020 the firm has reduced its carbon footprint by 37% across its fleet.

SUSTAINED EFFORT

Sustainability is clearly a huge part of Höegh Autoliners’ vision for the future. The company not only focuses on carbon footprints and emissions data but takes a broader approach to its sustainability efforts.

“WE GIVE OUR PEOPLE ROOM TO TRY OUT NEW THINGS, AND HAVE AN INCLUSIVE CULTURE.”

“Sustainability is so often tagged as only about carbon and environmental impact, but for us, it is a lot more,” Enger tells us. “It is about our people, creating a safe and inclusive place to work all over the world.

Having experienced, loyal, and dedicated people has been instrumental during the Covid pandemic. It has been their hard work and dedication that has enabled us to serve our customers and maintain our ocean services. I am very proud of the way our people both on land and at sea has dealt with the challenges of the pandemic.”

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HӦEGH AUTOLINERS

Photo Credit: Owen Foley

Höegh Autoliners not only takes care of its people but offers an environment that encourages innovation.

“We give our people room to try out new things, and have an inclusive culture,” Enger says.

“We work across cultures with our largest office in the Philippines and other locations around Asia, South Africa, North America, and Europe. We have that diversity in culture and people.”

“We invest in our people.

With many of them working on ships we offer a more structured environment for training and advancement,” Høegh adds.

“We were early in adopting our own internal training course for our seafarers which allows them opportunities to grow. We do not focus on gender but rather ability and have more and more female seafarers joining us and rising through the ranks. Although it is a small representation in the industry as a whole, we are creating a career path and a better balance. “ Höegh Autoliners invests in its people and sees this as a long-term investment.

“Both our vessels and our people stay with us for a long time. Ships last for 30 years.

Our cadets join us when they are 18 and move up and become master mariners and the chief engineer or captain of a ship,” Høegh tells us. “Careers of 30 years or more are not unusual in Höegh Autoliners.

It is a gratifying experience to see that development as they become senior officers in our company.”

SEA CHANGE

Of course, the industry Höegh Autoliners is a part of is undergoing some fairly radical changes at the moment, with raw material shortages and supply chain issues combining

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HӦEGH AUTOLINERS

with the energy transition to create a volatile environment.

“There has been a tight container market, making container space more difficult to come by and costs have gone up significantly. Sometimes this forces cargo out of containers, and we provide attractive alternatives for some types of cargo outside of containers,” Leif Høegh says. “Exports out of China almost doubled, largely electric vehicles, cars, buses, and commercial vehicles. A lot of that volume came our way, and it has added significant demand to the market. The EVrevolution in Europe and the US has opened the window for manufacturers to come up with cars that appeal to the public in price point and quality.”

There are challenges and opportunities, but Enger believes the automotive industry is a strong partner to have in addressing those challenges.

“We have the benefit of serving the global automotive industry, large global consumer brands that are at the forefront of sustainability and technology,” he tells us. “We are proud to partner with them and see ourselves taking a strong role through innovation, providing more sustainable solutions. The Aurora class represents the future of our business and the industry. It will further strengthen our service offering, accelerate our path to zero and put us at the forefront of sustainable shipping.”

Photo Credit: Thomas Nagel

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MARELL BOATS

MARELL BOATS SPECIALISE IN ROBUST, HIGH-SPEED BOATS FOR A WIDE VARIETY OF PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS - BUT THEY ARE ALSO MUCH SOUGHT AFTER IN THE LEISURE SECTOR.

A VOLCANO UNDER ICE PROJECT MANAGED BY: CHRIS CONWAY

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MARELL BOATS

“A wolf in a sheepskin,” “A volcano under the ice.” These are ways Marell Boats’ customers have described its products.

A

Patrik Söderholm, CEO, Marell Boats.

lot of people when they see this boat, they see this mix of two qualities which is the real trademark of Marell, a high-speed interceptor and a comfortable cruiser,” says Gerard Törneman, Head of Global Sales at Marell Boats.

“The boats are always designed and tested for high speed in rough weather conditions at the same time giving great comfort and safe feeling for the crew and passengers.

You operate the boat sitting from a central position, with full control of the surroundings, in all types of operations and in high-speed

manoeuvres. We have had responses from the US to the Far East, saying this is the best hull they have seen and we are really happy just to hear that.

You get a total dry deck, no spray on the front window and the boat running full ahead at 50 knots. Everyone says they have the best hull, but we really do have the best hull!”

It is a hull borne out of Marell Boats’ towering ambition, led by CEO Patrik Söderholm.

“We are not afraid to shoot for the moon and, that is an approach we have followed so far with awesome results,” Söderholm tells us. “We take a long-term view, finding our own market niches. When I look at the kind of boat, we are producing now compared to what was being made five or six years ago, it is crazy just how far we have come.”

Marell’s boats fit a wide variety of purposes, for business and pleasure.

Photo Credit: Christopher Rydblom, High Speed Boat Operations Forum hsbo.org

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PROUD TO BE THE WATERJET SUPPLIER FOR MARELL BOATS

Marell M17 Patrol with a Scania hybrid driveline and MJP X-Series WaterJets The modular and scalable hybrid electric system is located in-between the gearbox and diesel engine, improving powertrain performance with exceptional torque making it a great solution for hybrid waterjet installations. This hybrid option offers lower fuel consumption, lower operational costs and can significantly reduce CO2 emissions. This solution is commercially available for diesel engines up to 864kW and compatible with the MJP X-Series waterjets.

X-SERIES

MIXED FLOW HIGH-EFFICIENCY WATERJE T WITH INBOARD HYDR AULICS

PASSION for green

Marell Boats uses green products from VEIDEC - sustainable even for the toughest conditions. ”We want to build modern boats and part of the modernization is to work with products that are more environmentally friendly and not harmful to health.”

“To work with VEIDEC’s green products, we do not need large ventilation systems, no protective clothing. We do not ingest dangerous substances. It makes the big difference.”

Say the employees at Marell Boats Interested? Please contact: Per Ågren +46 70 512 9580 per.agren@veidec.se, ww.VEIDEC.se

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MARELL BOATS

POWER.LUXURY. FREEDOM. Furthering the legacy of the Verado engine family, Mercury reimagined outboard performance to deliver the ultimate luxury boating experience. Meet the most powerful, most innovative outboard in Mercury history.

The 7.6L V12 600hp Verado. .

7,6 L V12 600 HP VERADO. POWERFULLY CRAFTED. GRACEFULLY REFINED.

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Verado_V12_2022_88x266.indd 1

13/04/2022 14:22:52

“Clients say they want a rough boat but with that luxury feel inside,” Söderholm says.

“The mix of that huge navy style from outside with an elegant boat inside. It is a market we see growing in the future.”

At the same time, a tumultuous international situation is suggesting other applications.

“When we see projects coming up because of countries worried about their blue borders, we will develop the boats to be there,” says Törneman. “We also see license production of highspeed interceptors and patrol boats around the world, in South America, the Middle East and South-East Asia for this purpose.”

Söderholm is able to drive this level of innovation and improvement thanks to his vast experience in the sector.

“When you have so much experience from your own background it gives you a real competitive edge,” he says. “I have been building & welding aluminium boats for 40 years and I have been working with the design of boats for a long time. I know about engineering and manufacturing processes, and how to spend too much time and material making something. Our way forward is to manage our growth by optimising all production steps, for instance, you can use sheet metal bent into position to save welding time and create a more robust & higher quality product.”

“CLIENTS SAY THEY WANT A ROUGH BOAT BUT WITH THAT LUXURY FEEL INSIDE.” BUILT FOR QUALITY

That quality is crucial, as Marell is competing in some of the highest stakes markets out there for boats in its class.

As a relative newcomer, it is essential that Marell is able to meet those standards.

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MARELL BOATS

“When you start up this kind of company, and it’s just five or six years old, you need to get the market to trust you,” Söderholm says. “That is the biggest challenge, particularly if you want to aim for the big orders.”

“This is particularly true in the police and patrol boat segment, where we want to establish Marell in the future,” Törneman adds. “Those boats are held to the highest standard. We have received a lot of good feedback from people who have tested our boats for those applications, and the price is quite high but accepted because of the quality we provide. These organisations pay for quality, and when you are in a public tender you often find that puts ahead of the competition.”

To get and stay ahead of the competition it is essential to know how the market and its requirements are developing.

“The world is changing all the time. Just now, when we are looking for tenders from the government, for example, they want boats with a minimum of 50 knots of speed. Recently it was only 30 knots,” Törneman says.

“But we know how to handle and make boats with that kind of high-speed performance.”

While Marell Boats is a relatively young company, even aside from Söderholm’s extensive industry experience, the company has decades of knowledge to draw from.

“We are based in an area in Sweden where aluminium boats have been built for 45 years. Our staff and our families come from here,” Söderholm says. “The people living here have this knowledge and this tactical common sense. So, it is easy to recruit people with the necessary technical knowledge.

It also means Marell Boats has access to leading business

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MARELL BOATS

partners in the industry, something that has proved essential when the company is pushing the envelope.

“When you go into system design, we work together with engine manufacturers, with electronics companies and so forth,” says Söderholm.

You can see this approach put to work in Marell’s latest breakthrough product, the development of a next-generation sustainable and technologically advanced vessel, the M17 Patrol vessel with a hybrid driveline.

The project is being developed in collaboration with Scania Power Solutions.

“It is a masterpiece in engineering and complexity in propulsion and electric systems,” Söderholm says. “We cannot do this on our own. We do it with a team of excellent partners with whom we can cooperate.

People know their own specialist sector, whether it is water jet manufacturing, control system manufacturing, or making the seats and fittings. That is how we

built the company. We can grow it without employing more people but by supporting our business partners.”

BUSINESS AND PLEASURE

It is a boat built for speed, resilience and efficiency, and there is a wide range of people and organisations who can make use of it. However, regardless of the customer, Marell will not compromise on quality.

“I am out selling the boats for commercial and leisure purposes.

Our high-speed interceptor is a quite rough and tough boat. It is designed to take the impact from high waves and high speeds,” says Törneman. “When you’re selling leisure boats in the Mediterranean the customers want a lot of extra features, but Patrik will say, ‘You can have this so long as it does not affect the design and performance of the boat.’ We do not put in lots of unnecessary leisure amenities.

We are not making luxury yachts, we are making high-speed interceptors for the Police, Fire Brigade, chase boats and so on.

We do not build to the customer’s design. We build to their requirements, but Patrik’s design is intended to preserve features that need to be safeguarded in all boats we deliver.”

It is an approach that has put Marell in a leading position.

“We’ll be the market leader of high-speed interceptors, patrol boats and chase boats in the 12-to17-metre range for surveillance or customs duties,” says Söderholm.

“On top of that, we will be in the lead with our new propulsion system coming up. We are already providing the first hybrid boats, and when they go electric, we will be providing the first high-speed boats with electric propulsion. It is all coming to a front in high-speed applications.”

While there is demand in the policing, patrol, and rescue applications, sometimes a fast boat like this is just fun.

“People like to have the most impressive leisure boat that’s not a princess boat,” Söderholm tells us.

“It’s something completely different.”

Photo Credit: Christopher Rydblom, High Speed Boat Operations Forum hsbo.org

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PORT OF STOCKTON

WE LEARN HOW THE PORT OF STOCKTON IS EXPANDING ITS FACILITIES AND SETTING ITS SIGHTS ON A GREENER WAY OF WORKING.

SERVING STOCKTON PROJECT MANAGED BY: RASH UDDIN

The Port of Stockton is a major deep-water port on the Stockton Ship Channel of the Pacific Ocean and an inland port located more than seventy nautical miles from the ocean. The port sits on about 4,200 acres on an island in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, and a portion of a neighbourhood known as Boggs Tract.

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PORT OF STOCKTON

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he port’s history goes back to 1846 when the first cargo boat ascended the San Joaquin River. Two years later the first ferry service was established on the river, and the first freight vessel, the sloop Maria, visited Stockton. By the 1850s, the port had become a centre of commodity shipping and the supply centre for the California goldfields. The first dredging contracts for the Stockton Deepwater Channel were awarded in 1930, with the

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Port District officially opening on February 2, 1933. As the role of containerised cargo grew the port management upgraded its dockside facilities and improved the ship channel to accommodate new, larger ships.

50 miles south of Sacramento, 80 miles east of San Francisco, located on Interstate 5 the port sits at the intersection of the Union Pacific Railroad and the BNSF Railroad. Today the deepwater inland port boasts 2,000 acres of operational property, divided into its east and west

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PORT OF STOCKTON

complexes. Besides that, there are another 2,200 acres of dredging sites around the delta.

The port features 12,000 linear feet of dock space, 75 miles of railroad track within port proper, and 7.7 million square feet of covered storage.

“I think what sets us apart is we’re in the San Joaquin Valley, which is an agricultural hub,” says Kirk DeJesus, the Port Director.

“That gives us a big appeal to certain customers. We’re focused on bulk and breakbulk cargo. We don’t operate containers at this point, but we’re a good outlet for breakbulk and bulk.”

DELIVERING IMPROVEMENT

The Port of Stockton has changed a lot since those earliest days, but there is still more work to do.

“Right now, we have challenges with rail limitations.

We have 75 miles of rail track inside the port, but we’re limited to one entry point for both complexes,” DeJesus says.

“Another challenge is that we have a draft of 35 feet which prevents certain cargos and larger loads from importing and exporting through here.”

The Port has extensive plans in place to meet these challenges.

“We have a rail infrastructure program in place. We’ve gone through the design concept phase and hope to be in construction next year,” DeJesus tells us. “The program will increase storage tracks inside the port and improve our rail bridge between the east and west complexes. We’re also pursuing legislative options to increase our dredging depth, but that’s a bit more complex.”

As well as vital facilities and infrastructure for the supply chain of the region, the port also plays a vital role in the economy.

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PORT OF STOCKTON

AN EXPANDING ROLE

“The port proper is responsible for just under 11,000 jobs, with the port staff itself made up of 117 employees, administrative staff for the most part,” DeJesus says. “We are an operative port meaning that we are able to handle cargo ourselves, such as fertilizer. Our staff operates a packaging warehouse, which is unique for a port.”

With recent events, it has been harder than usual to source talent lately.

“Like most employers, we’re struggling to find qualified candidates at the moment, but we try to source locally if we can,” DeJesus admits. “The majority of the jobs we need to fill are for management type positions. We need people to come in who are already qualified. We recently hired a real estate development director from LA with the skills and experience that we need.

Internally, we will pay for degree programs if someone wants an advanced or associate degree.

We open jobs up internally and promote from within when we can.”

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The Port of Stockton is not only seeking to expand its facilities and human resources but also seeking to play a greater role.

“95% of fertilizer used in the valley comes through our port, but you don’t see the agricultural exports come through here,” DeJesus points out. “They’ll go to a container port in Oakland, so we’re trying to push a different way of thinking, suggesting they send their volume out via breakbulk or even containers on smaller vessels. Every container or breakbulk load that moves through the Port of Stockton takes trucks off the road as well, reducing traffic between here and Oakland and bringing down the carbon footprint.”

As DeJesus explains, the port is perfectly positioned to fulfil this role, yielding numerous benefits.

“We’re right in the middle of the agricultural belt. Exporting from here would be more efficient and cost-effective. It’s just not something that’s been thought of in the past,” DeJesus says. “It’s always been containers through Oakland, but like I said it’s 70 miles by truck and it’s backed up. We are working to source empty containers here in Central Valley so that farmer and packers can ship out their agricultural commodity from here. Since farmers are struggling to get their commodities out because of the lack of containers, we are also looking for a path to import goods in containers. Once they’re unloaded, the packers will have better access, and then we can export them out from here as well.”

Talking with DeJesus it is clear that he cares a great deal about the role that the port plays in the local community.

“Our CSR programs are significant. We’re the economic engine for the valley, so we make every effort to support local causes. We budget a

considerable amount each year to support such causes. We keep our investments local, providing something to the community,” says DeJesus. “We’re a partner with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, as well as many other minority organisations. We also contribute to the local university, community programs, we sponsor local sporting teams, but our drive is with aid organisations such as hospices, child abuse prevention, and the like.”

The port has experienced unprecedented growth over the last couple of years, and DeJesus is expecting a similar performance this year.

“We started stronger than last year, so we need to focus on our business structure as we grow and ensure our assets are up to the task,” says DeJesus. “We have some berth improvements we need to make, as well as the rail improvements we have planned.”

The next big goal for the port is one of sustainability, with the facility aiming to achieve zero emissions in line with state directives.

“60% of our forklift fleet is already zero-emission, which we believe is the highest percentage in California and; therefore, probably the USA,” says DeJesus.

“We also have a locomotive that’s zero-emission, so that’s work that we are going to continue as we work on replacing the rest of our port vehicles, supported by a state grant. Community awareness is also important.

We border a neighbourhood, so we’re making the community aware of what we’re doing to be more environmentally sensitive.

We’re leading the pack on electrifying our rolling stock, reducing emissions, and bringing awareness to the surrounding community. It’s the right thing to do and we can help the surrounding area achieve their environmental goals.”

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CARLTON FOREST GROUP

CARLTON FOREST GROUP

AT HEART, CARLTON FOREST GROUP IS A SUCCESSFUL LOGISTICS BUSINESS, BUT FROM THAT PLATFORM, IT INTENDS TO MAKE A BIG IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT.

BRINGING SUSTAINABILITY TO LOGISTICS

PROJECT MANAGED BY: DEAN BROWN

Carlton Forest Group is built on three main pillars, a logistics proposition, a property proposition, and an innovative technology proposition. “The logistics business gives us our governance. We have a well-structured leadership team that has grown the business over the last ten years from a small parochial warehousing business to what stands at 1.3 million square feet of warehousing,” says company CEO, Mark Pepper. “Our driving force is what happens in the sheds, the safe management of goods into our warehouses, the picking and allocating to vehicles and delivery to a variety of different people.”

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Mark Pepper, CEO, Carlton Forest Group.

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he logistics business lists household names such as TK Maxx and KP Foods among its regular clients.

Carlton Forest offers not just warehousing, but a variety of complex order management services including picking and labelling products, running its own fleet of vehicles and full end-to-end service for those that require it.

In all these activities, the logistics sector of the business is supported by its property arm.

“We have over 1.3m square foot of warehouse space spread across four sites, with our main headquarters located in Nottinghamshire. We carry

out a variety of activities at these facilities including subcontracting property and supporting the main thrust of our business logistics,” Pepper explains.

RENEWED PASSION

Talking with Pepper it is clear there is one area of the business he is exceptionally passionate about, however.

“I’ve been focused on wasteto-energy for the last ten years, really gaining momentum in the last five years,” he tells us. “We have now achieved a position where we can take end-of-life tyres and turn those into recycled, recovered fuel and recycled and recovered carbon char. Both are raw state products that will need further refinement in one form or

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CARLTON FOREST GROUP

another, so as it stands when we start our plant in June of this year it will be the only continual operating pyrolysis plant in the UK. This is a different ballgame.

What we have worked towards is a commercially viable pyrolysis plant with a small footprint, easily deployable with SME partners as opposed to big investor partners.”

This new plant is emblematic of Carlton Forest’s other function- as an incubator for new innovations.

“We like to feed new ideas in and develop those new ideas.

One which we will be launching later this year is a filter,” says Pepper. “There is a lot of talk about tackling Covid SARs and there are filters out there that use UV to kill the bug. We use UV and a special filter that not only kills the bug but helps

disperse pure air to keep a working environment going while the filtering’s going.”

There are other technologies also in the pipeline, particularly around recovering and renewing waste products.

“At the moment logistics is supporting renewables, but we hope that soon that side of the business will be able to fly solo,” Pepper tells us.

The issue of sustainability has always been one that Pepper has wanted to wrestle with, and logistics looks like the perfect angle of approach.

“I was born into logistics and warehousing.

Building that business was an easier challenge than looking at these other areas,” he says. “I have always been personally focused on how we can tackle environmental problems in a

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way that your everyday person can access. The logistics business, because there are lorries and trucks involved in that, was a carbon-heavy, oilbased industry. So how can we deal with the issues that creates?”

The solutions Pepper has looked at include recovering oil from waste products such as old tires, which has had a domino effect as he has discovered oil from a pyrolysis kiln could have better uses in other industries.

“The benefits of the products that come out of that have structured other ideas,” Pepper says. “As time goes on, we can hopefully green up the logistics IDE by introducing electric trucks into the mix.”

Carlton Forest is no wealthy conglomerate, however, and Pepper makes his investments deliberately, and strategically.

“With less available cash to invest in these ideas, you have to be more focused and very savvy with the cash that you have,” he says. “My team are very focused on being as efficient as possible, but also very cost-conscious around the clientele we bring in. The root idea was to ask how we could utilise tires from trucks and cars, then the governance my team has provided helped me shape that side of the business.”

A key part of that approach has been to utilise Carlton Forest’s size to find the SME partnerships that will build effective, distributed infrastructure.

“When you’re trucking around the country, you want those technologies to be located regionally and be numerous rather than having them in one central processing plant which ends up being a governmentsupported scheme taking millions of pounds and burning more road

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CARLTON FOREST GROUP

miles,” Pepper explains. “We want small deployable plants supporting local businesses and actually cutting down on road miles.”

INCUBATING TALENT

As Pepper explains what his company does, he is careful to point out that his role is facilitating a talented, and dedicated team.

“We’ve got some very strong women that work in the Carlton Forest Group, and that balance of strong women and competent males has put us in good stead,” he tells us. “My Chief Operating Officer, Diane Ward has been a big part of driving this business forward.

The reason the business works is we have a competent team that delivers.”

Indeed, it is by empowering and building connections between people that Carlton Forest is able to generate the innovative solutions it has.

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“It is about making connections with people in its simplest form. I have always put myself out there and sought links with people,” says Pepper. “I think of it as a cascade method of connecting with people. In the team, we have now got three fully qualified engineers. I actively encourage my team to reach out and see what is out there. Sometimes they will come across someone who has an invention that might have potential, but nobody will listen to them.”

Spotting potential is an area that Pepper excels in.

“I’ve been in the discovery phase for ten years, I can

work out which ideas have legs, and which haven’t,” he says. “We want ideas that are commercially viable- green and profitable.”

Pepper wants to see Carlton Forest Group become the UK’s leading green logistics business, with his ambitions including green trucking and off-grid warehousing.

“I want to see a STEM manufacturing campus to support that side of the business with good green jobs,” Pepper tells us. “Technology got us into the environmental mess and commercially viable, green technology will get us out of it.”

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