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News and Updates from SWARCO Advanced Industry Systems Issue 1 | 2021
ROUNDER
UNIVERSAL EFFICIENCY
Wear-Resistant Coatings
PRODUCTS
Glass Beads Used as Filter Media
TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION Corn Cob Shot Used as a Blasting Medium
NEWS
Glocalization
UNIVERSAL EFFICIENCY
WEAR-RESISTANT COATINGS In laminate flooring, SWARCOFORCE glass filler beads reinforce the overlay, increasing abrasion resistance. EDITORIAL Dear readers, Processing and refining flat glass cullet into micro glass beads is SWARCO Advanced Industry Systems’ core competence. With over five decades of experience and continuous research and development activities at the Competence Center for Glass Technology in Amstetten, Austria, SWARCO has always been the front runner, setting new standards in the glass bead industry. Both internally and in its solutions, SWARCO has a long-standing commitment to quality and environmental protection. In the previous issue of the “All-Rounder”, we introduced you to our SWARCO JOIN&GROW innovation programme, our platform for collaborative product development. In this issue, you will read about two exciting applications of micro glass beads, which would have been impossible without innovative product development and spirit of innovation. The use of SWARCOFORCE glass filler beads in highly resistant surface coatings, and the fact that filter glass beads prevailed over conventional filter sand for swimming pool maintenance and cleaning, are two examples illustrating how versatile micro glass beads can be in the applications they offer. As one of the market leaders in micro glass bead production and sales, it makes sense for SWARCO Advanced Industry Systems to advance joint product and process development. After all, we can be certain that there are many new applications yet to be explored for glass beads.
Floor surfaces are subject to very strong mechanical impacts. For decades, thanks to their multi-layer build, laminate floors have proven their worth by demonstrating maximum resistance. What Exactly Is Laminate? Laminate flooring consists of 95% natural resources, primarily wood. The core board is made of compacted wood fibres (High-Density Fibreboard, HDF). The laminate underlayment serves as a backing layer for stabilization. Some laminate floorings also have an attached sound-absorbing padded underlayment. Beneath the top layer is the design layer, with decorative paper featuring the “face” of the laminate flooring with authentic wood or stone flooring effects or highly creative designs. The top layer of laminate flooring is called the overlay. It is made of a special type of cellulose treated with synthetic resin (melamine resin) and acts as the flooring’s hardwearing surface. Although it is quite thin (typically less than 1 mm), the overlay is what makes laminate flooring particularly durable and scratch-resistant.
a compelling case in a broad range of applications. SWARCO Advanced Industry Systems production facilities in Europe are ISO 50001 certified. We track and document each production unit’s energy consumption. We strive to further develop state-of-the-art technology to reduce our energy consumption and our emissions and to achieve better recycling rates in the raw materials we use. The recycled material consists solely of cuttings and scraps from high-quality industrial glass.
Filler Beads for Coatings SWARCOFORCE micro glass beads can serve as filling agents for paints, varnishes and coatings to utilize different physical properties of glass. These high-grade glass filler beads impact properties such as rigidity, warping and shrinking behaviour, abrasion resistance, scratch resistance, surface gloss, etc. In laminate flooring, glass filler beads reinforce the overlay, increasing abrasion resistance. In most cases, corundum glass bead blends are used. SWARCO, a Partner for Innovation With their outstanding precision and first-class quality, SWARCOFORCE glass filler beads make
Glass filler beads can be used as filling agents for coatings.
In the meantime, we hope you enjoy this new issue of the “All-Rounder”! Kind regards,
Robert Buchinger Business Development SWARCO Advanced Industry Systems
SWARCOBLAST corn cob shot used as a blasting medium: it is an extremely soft organic material that absorbs water and oil.
PRODUCTS
SWARCOCLEAR FILTER GLASS BEADS Glass beads have a highly effective filtering effect, and offer clear advantages compared with conventional filter materials. For centuries, sand and gravel filter media have been used to collect, extract, purify and treat drinking and process water. An environmentally friendly alternative, filter glass is constantly gaining popularity. Thanks to their precise geometric shape and the resulting homogenous filter bed, filter glass beads have outstanding filtration properties. Water well construction has already been using glass beads as a borehole support material in drinking water extraction for a long time. But in addition to drinking water wells, glass beads can also make a compelling case in filtration systems for water treatment and recovery. Many installations in private and public swimming pools as well as large industrial plants have proven this extensively.
Well Rounded The advantages of glass beads compared with sand as a filter medium are crystal clear: from the start, glass filters even the smallest particles out of the water thanks to its high bulk density, just like sand. But glass beads do not stick and clump together or form channels, and they are easy to clean mechanically by backwashing the filter. This enables a more economical use of maintenance products. Furthermore, because glass has a more open structure, pumping power can also be reduced significantly. This means the amount of filter material used can be reduced by up to 25%. By the same token, the much shorter backwash duration cuts water and energy needs drastically.
Higher risk of contamination and infection when using sand filters
Thanks to their advantageous properties, filter glass beads cannot clump together.
SWARCOBLAST CORN COB SHOT Corn cob shot is a natural blasting medium and ideal for smoothing, polishing, mass finishing, cleaning as well as for drying surfaces.
It is used as a soft blasting medium in mass finishing processes to dry, clean or polish soft metal surfaces. Thanks to the natural honeycomb structure of its grains, corn cob shot has very high absorption capacity, making it the ideal material for removing detergent residues off metal parts that have previously been worked on. With its hardness of approx. 4.5 (acc. to Mohs), corn cob shot achieves exceptionally good polishing results. Corn cob shot is equally efficient when used for high-pressure cleaning. Unlike its fellow organic
The world is constantly changing. Naturally, this affects how people see it. It is an ever-flowing river, with its rapids, its vortices, its slow-moving parts. As a consequence, trends and interconnections that transcend borders may be received differently by people across different regions. For instance, while in Asia, Coca-Cola is viewed – and marketed – as a lifestyle beverage, the brand is considered a family drink in the US. In light of these localized perceptions of supraregional phenomena and of the associated need to adapt production and marketing strategies accordingly, sociologist Roland Robertson fused the terms “globalization” and “localization” together, coining the term “glocalization”. For companies, this newly recognized trend of “walking the tightrope” between global and regional means they increasingly have to adapt their products sold worldwide to regional “opinions”. This challenge involves marketing departments, in particular. For instance, a product can be marketed to Europe and North America in its luxury version, and to Asia in its more affordable version, or vice versa.
Source (in German): veraenderungsmanager.com
TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION
In addition to micro glass beads, SWARCO also relies on organic materials as blasting media. Corn cob shot has proven to be particularly suitable for mass finishing and pressure blasting systems.
Glocalization
For all these reasons, glocalization is a perfect opportunity for companies to engage in targeted marketing, which they have already been doing naturally for many years. They can manufacture one product in the same way and market it differently across regions, or create specific products for specific markets.
SWARCOCLEAR Excellence in water quality •U p to 95% filtration of particles up to 1 µm in diameter • 50 to 100% higher filtration rate compared to sand, with the same pressure loss • Excellent backwashing efficiency • Excellent removal of organic substances • Fewer process steps and backwashing sequences
NEWS
“competitors” on the blasting media market, corn cob shot is more impact-resistant, making it recyclable. It generates less dust and is therefore particularly suitable for use in sensitive areas, such as for cleaning historical monuments or in the fine forging industry. In sum, this organic blasting medium stands out thanks to its high absorption capacity (it can absorb up to 1.5 times its own weight in water), its strong resistance and resulting recycling potential, and its low dust generation. In addition, corn cob shot can be incinerated very efficiently (just 2% of its mass is left over as ash), which helps save on disposal costs. SWARCOBLAST corn cob shot is available in grain sizes ranging from 200 to 5,000 micrometres. All sizes are available in 20 kg units.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
OUR MISSION
We leverage the universal benefits of glass beads for your special industry applications, in energy-efficient ways. OUR VISION
Industrial glass beads by SWARCO Advanced Industry Systems – the world’s preferred choice in all niches OUR VALUES
Efficiency, Diversity, Intelligence OUR MOTTO
Universal Efficiency
IMPRINT: Responsible for content: SWARCO Advanced Industry Systems, Industriestraße 10, 3300 Amstetten, Austria, www.swarco.com/ais Idea, design and artwork: Kommhaus, www.kommhaus.com Photos: SWARCO Advanced Industry Systems, Robert Buchinger, SWARCO Road Marking Systems. www.shutterstock.com/easyshutter/ Kingsman Asse/Nelson Cardoso/dkidpix/Dan Kosmayer/threeseven English translation: Irina Pálffy-Daun-Seiler | Printed by www.druck.at Subject to change without notice. No liability for errors or misprints. We are deeply committed to gender equality. For the sake of brevity, only one gender may be used on occasion. However, this does not imply any discrimination against the other gender. If you no longer wish to receive our newsletter, please send an e-mail to ais@swarco.com.
INSIDE
EMPLOYEES TAKE CENTER STAGE For more than 42 years, Hans Jesacher held various executive positions within SWARCO. Now he can enjoy his well-deserved retirement. Hans, you took up your duties at SWARCO in 1977. How were the early days? At the time, after extensive training, I prepared to work abroad in the areas of road markings and the production of road marking materials. From 1978 to 1983, I headed the Sales Office in Baghdad. Hans Jesacher Former Head of Sales There, I was responsible and Proxy Holder at for implementing road M. Swarovski GmbH marking installations and for customer relations and support, both in the public and private sector. Back then, Iraq was at war with Iran, which took its toll on day-to-day working conditions. Did you travel elsewhere for SWARCO? Absolutely! From 1984 to 1986, together with a local partner, I had an exciting time directing the Sales Office in Saudi Arabia. We handled the same aspects as I did in Iraq: there, too, we focused on road markings and selling road safety products. After completing a comprehensive market study in Malaysia, I took charge of sales in the Arab countries and North African region. In 1989, my “SWARCO World Tour” took me to Turkey’s capital Ankara, where, with Austrian know-how, we set up a thermoplastics factory. After this three-year assignment as a Managing Director in Ankara, I took on a new challenge heading the sales of reflective and blasting glass beads at our production facility in San Marino. Then, for family reasons, I decided to settle down, and in 1994, I found my place as Head
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of Sales and also became one of the company’s proxy holders in Amstetten. Until 2020, my main responsibilities within the company were developing markets and go-to-market strategies for new products in Eastern Europe, the Baltic States, North Africa, former Yugoslavia, the Far East, Asia and Central Europe. Can you tell us the main lessons you learned from your activities abroad? I was able to acquire significant intercultural skills. In all cultural environments, communication is key, and networking, building and maintaining relations are vital success factors. When there are no preestablished paths, you become inventive, persistent and goal-oriented. Personally, I benefitted tremendously from experiencing the diversity of such a wide variety of countries and meeting so many people from different cultural backgrounds. Now that you are retired, I’m sure you are happy that you can dedicate yourself fully to your private endeavours. What are they exactly? I garden, explore the area on my e-bike, try not to forget how to ski, spend time on my motorboat on the Danube, and drive my 67-year-old “Baroque Angel” (BMW 501) in the beautiful Mostviertel region in Lower Austria. I plan to travel all around the world – this time, together with my wife Fatin. Together, we would like to nurture the worldwide friendships I have established over the past few decades. Thank you, Hans! We wish you all the best for this new chapter in your life!