Industry Europe – Issue 22.1

VOLUME 22/1 – 2012 • €6

The world of European manufacturing

FISKARS - AT THE CUTTING EDGE RUUKKI MOVES INTO HIGHVALUE PROJECTS PARTNERSHIPS SPEED TRAKYA CAM’S GROWTH

CONTINUING CHALLENGES FOR THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

OPINION

PETERMERCER

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In denial Once again Europe’s leaders have come up with an inadequate answer to the wrong problem.

“P

oor old Jacques, he just doesn’t get it,” said Tony Blair after France’s president Chirac had warned him that charging into Iraq with his good buddy Bush might not be such an easy ride – the AngloSaxon liberators might not find themselves all that welcome and there was a good chance that they would set off a murderous civil war.

Poor old Jacques, of course, got it all too well.

But after yet another failure by the leaders of France and Germany at the EU summit in Brussels to come up with anything approaching a solution to the eurozone debt crisis, it is becoming disturbingly clear that, this time, they really don’t get it. When the urgent need was to restore confidence to the bond markets to avert a full-scale sovereign debt crisis, an EU-wide banking crisis and even the disintegration of the eurozone itself, what they tried to achieve was a Treaty change to impose lasting fiscal virtue on all members of the currency union. But changes in EU treaties take years to bring to reality – they have to be approved by national parliaments and may be subject to referenda in some countries – so, like the unlamented EU Constitution, they may never make it into law. And, by the time this one did, there might be no eurozone left to save.

As it happened, of course, Sarkozy and Merkel couldn’t get their Treaty change because the British prime minister wouldn’t agree without specific safeguards for Britain against future EU financial regulation. Maybe this wasn’t the wisest card for Cameron to play – red rags to bulls is the image that comes to mind, since Paris and Berlin believe that the primary agent of their current woes is, precisely, inadequately regulated Anglo-Saxon capitalism. During the UK’s sterling crisis of the late 1960s there was much talk of the machinations of the Gnomes of Zurich in bringing down the pound; now Paris and Berlin see the fat cats of London and New York – the hedge funds, ratings agencies and so on – conspir-

ing to pull the rug out from under the euro.

So Cameron might have been better off observing that he didn’t see the need for a Treaty change for the whole union to address a problem that was specific to the eurozone countries and could they not settle for an agreement among themselves. That, in any case, is more or less what they ended up with – a plan to strengthen fiscal discipline across all euro counties that Sarkozy and Merkel claimed was a major step towards full fiscal union.

But a real fiscal union means a lot more than a set of rules; it means central determination of most revenue and spending and, above all, central responsibility for debt. Now the mutualisation of eurozone debt might well reassure the markets and defuse the crisis but such a solution is what Germany and its chancellor are absolutely determined to avoid. So what we have is a fiscal pact, which doesn’t look that much different from the old Maastricht Stability and Growth Pact that France and Germany were the first to breach.

Can’t compete, can’t grow But is fiscal indiscipline the actual cause of the crisis anyway? Profligacy certainly did for Greece but in the five years up to 2008 every eurozone country except Greece was running budget deficits below 3 per cent of GDP (Ireland even had a budget surplus). In most countries it was the reckless expansion of private debt, fuelled in the eurozone by inappropriately low interest rates, that left them so exposed to the crash and which led, in turn, to dramatic worsening of their fiscal positions.

Now look at this: The Dutch bank ING has peered over the edge and reckons that if the whole eurozone fell apart, the new Greek drachma would fall by 80 per cent against the D-Mark, the Spanish and Portuguese currencies would drop 50 per cent and the Italian lira and the Irish punt by 25 per cent. Whatever the accuracy of those numbers, this is telling

us that all these countries are operating a currency – the euro – that is cripplingly overvalued in relation to their real economies whereas it is undervalued in relation to Germany. So Germany’s intra-eurozone exports are booming while the Club Med struggles to sell anything to anyone. As Martin Wolf has pointed out in the Financial Times, this is, in essence, a balance of payments crisis caused by a dramatic loss of competitiveness among the weaker countries of the single currency. That means that these countries may be quite unable to grow their way out of their current position, that they will therefore be unable to refinance their debt; their banks, which hold so much of that debt, will go bust and other banks across the world, which hold debt from those banks, will go over the edge too. That’s what the markets fear and they want a solution now – not promises of fiscal good behaviour years in the future. In fact, the fiscal austerity that Germany intends to impose on the weaker brethren will, in these circumstances, condemn them to permanent recession and ensure that they can never recover.

So when French politicians express their irritation that their country is threatened with a downgrade of its AAA rating whereas the UK, whose economy and fiscal position is scarcely in any better shape, is spared such indignities, it should be explained to them that the cause of this loss of confidence is not the speculation of global moneymen but the elephant in the room that they are so determined not to see – the single currency to which they are fast bound. Or to slightly mangle Hillaire Belloc’s famous rhyme about the Maxim gun, ‘Whatever happens, we have got/ The Bank of England and the Pound, and they have not’. That is, the UK has a central bank that, as a lender of last resort, can, in extremity, print money to pay its debts, and a floating currency that helps to maintain its competitiveness. France has neither. n Industry Europe 3

Editor Peter Mercer

Production Manager Kamila Kajtoch

Deputy Editor Victoria Hattersley

Administration Anna Chamberlain Amber Dawson Kayleigh Harvey

Profile Writers Abigail Saltmarsh Felicity Landon Piotr Sadowski Emma-Jane Batey Barbara Rossi Philip Yorke Joseph Altham

Art Administration Tania Balderson Advertising Manager Andrew Briggs Sector Managers Matthew Howe Eniko Kovacs Milada Preslova Massimo Ragazzo Jesse Roberts Helen Leisi Mac McCarthy Anthony McClintock Ben Snowing Kevin Gambrill Stephen Moore Richard Thomas Lisa Ackroyd David Disney John Cliff Mauro Berini

Art Director Gareth Harrey Art Editor Rob Czerwinski Designers Leon Esterhuizen Paul Abbott Claire Bidle Web Development Neil Robertson IT Support Jack Everson

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CONTENTS

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Pharmaceutical Industry p6

Comment 1 4 5

Opinion In denial Bill Jamieson Waiting for the trigger James Srodes Staggering on

Pharmaceutical Industry 6

Another challenging year Problems persist for big pharma

9

Pharmaceutical News The latest from the industry

News 14 16 18 19 20

Winning Business New orders and contracts Linking up Combining strengths Moving on Relocations and expansions Industry people Appointments Technology spotlight Advances in technology

Reports 12

Boot Düsseldorf picks up speed

21 22

Germany’s big yacht show Focus on France Ian Sparks reports from Paris Focus on Germany Allan Hall reports from Berlin

Agriculture 24

Intelligent farming is efficient farming Kverneland

28

Crystallised success Nitrogénművek

POSITIVE PUBLICATIONS

Automation 32 A Square Root Company

36 US Industry Today, Industry Europe’s sister publication, is published in the United States of America. For further information or to subscribe contact: Sue Poeton, 100 Morris Avenue, Suite 202, Springfield, NJ 07081. Tel: +1 973 218-0310 Fax: +1 973 218-0311. Email: corporate@USIToday.com. Web site: USIToday.com

4 Industry Europe

Providing customers with the key to success Gefran Group The world of automation Datalogic Automation

Automotive 40 44 48

Stroke of genius Stromsholmen Passing the test TSK Prüfsysteme A window on success Trakya Cam

VOL 22/1

Above: Datalogic Automation p36

Consumer Goods 53 58 64 68 72

Creating strong brands Evyap At the cutting edge Fiskars Leadership through innovation and sustainability British American Tobacco Pushing forward Gazelle Russian beauty Arnest

Energy 77 80 84 Above: Kverneland p24 Below: Trakya Cam p48

A global leader Dragados Optimising building efficiency Etavis A powerful operation Pohjolan Voima Above: Pohjolan Voima p84 Below: Ruukki p96

Metals 88 93 96 108 114 118 124

The keyword is added value Phoenix International Steel appeal voestalpine Rotec The appeal of steel Ruukki Steel appeal SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH Scaling new heights Eisengiesserei-Torgelow

Valuing quality, the environment and human resources AFV Beltrame Strengthening presence Erasteel

Transport & Logistics

Below: Fiskars p58

128 131 134 142

Improving efficiency Rail Cargo Shaping the future Hubner Group Beating the recession Waberer’s Fast track to success TZV Gredelj

Above: TZV Gredelj p142 Below: Hauser p146

Also in this issue...

146 152 156 160 164

Refrigeration innovation Hauser Keeping up with production growth HUNGERIT Poultry Processing and Food Industrial plc Expanding across the Atlantic Pierrel New world of cryogenics SPS Cryogenics

Innovative engineering excellence Pelican Rotoflex

168

Pioneering high-performance additives Unger Fabrikker

171 176

Shipbuilding in the fast lane Uljanik Global strength Welspun Industry Europe 5

COMMENT

BILLJAMIESON

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Executive Editor of The Scotsman

Waiting for the trigger For business Europe it has seemed like a crisis without end.

T

he year 2011 lurched from one euro crisis summit to another. Lofty declarations were made and earnest promises given. But even after the ‘momentous summit’ in December, the crisis of sovereign debt at the heart of the euro crisis still awaits resolution.

Thus has the eurozone limped into 2012 – and into recession. There is no resolution or even clarity on how the threatening debt problems of Greece, Italy and others will play out. Talk of a European ‘Grand Plan’ (version Four) not only left much to be desired, but it was also woefully short on detail of where the emergency bail-out funds would come from and how exactly it would work. Everyone waits for Germany and the eurozone to give in and resort to massive quantitative easing. It is like being caught in a prolonged game of Catastrophe Chicken.

That is why, for all the conferences and the countdowns, it is still a pending storm in need of a catalyst, a denouement waiting for the trigger.

And until the trigger is pulled, the waiting has cast a pall over business and household confidence. Investment has stalled because it is almost impossible to make a commitment with any confidence in such conditions.

The Europe of 2012 has an ominous 1930s feel to it: a foreboding that what has unfolded till now by way of intentions to create rescue funds and declarations to amend treaties will seem in retrospect well short of the action required. We are paralysed by the sense that an epochal and traumatic change is about to erupt with appalling consequences we cannot predict and at a moment unknowable.

Welcome to the Europe of 2012. We cope with it as best we can. We hope that the bomb of sovereign debt can somehow be safely defused. Until it is, we try not to look at those market screens too often. And we make the best we can of an unreal, ersatz normality.

6 Industry Europe

For all the talk of Britain being ‘isolated’ in Europe there is no isolation at all from the effects of this crisis on the fragile UK economy.

This country, too, is now almost certain to have been pushed into recession. Deepening contagion from eurozone banks could worsen a renewed credit crunch in the UK. The eurozone economy looks to be on course for a decline of economic activity (GDP) of almost one per cent – but it could prove to be so

We are paralysed by the sense that an epochal and traumatic change is about to erupt with appalling consequences we cannot predict and at a moment unknowable. much worse. In Greece, recession is deep and intractable. Deficit reduction targets are being missed. A Greek default and exit from the euro within a year is still widely predicted – but it is not this event in itself but its consequences that could prove profound as markets speculate on the next country to buckle. So long as this remains a credible scenario, a sustained recovery, not just in the eurozone but in wider Europe, remains impossible.

German resilience Bizarrely, for a currency at the centre of such fears, the euro has not collapsed, but has held up remarkably well. One reason it has done so is that the German economy is still capable of resilience. Figures showed German industrial production rising 0.8 per cent

month-on-month in October, considerably better than the consensus had expected.

Manufacturing activity rose 0.8 per cent, while civil construction and energy production both rose by about one per cent. Only building construction hardly rose at all (0.1 per cent). Coming on top of a 5.2 per cent increase in industrial orders recorded for October, this encouraged some to hope that, after a slight fall in GDP in the fourth quarter of 2011, the economy will recover to modest growth in the first quarter of the new year.

But Purchasing Managers Index survey data remains weak and conditions are volatile.

Meanwhile there is the persistent sense of a ‘Minsky Moment’ approaching – an economic phenomenon that occurs when over-indebted investors are forced to sell good assets to pay back their loans, causing sharp declines in financial markets and jumps in demand for cash. The eurozone’s ‘moment’ has been staved off for now. But still the debt bomb ticks.

So what good news is there to count on? It is in thin supply – and all of it comes from outside the eurozone. Signs that inflation is moderating in China have given rise to hopes that there may be an easing of monetary conditions, thus boosting Chinese demand for overseas goods. In America there has been a notable improvement in employment figures while consumer confidence has also shown a mild recovery.

And here in the UK, inflation is set for a sharp fall in the opening months of 2012, while the central bank stands ready to resort to more quantitative easing – which it almost certainly will. However, according to an analysis by the Bank of International Settlements, the effect of such central bank intervention is weaker than commonly supposed and fire power is limited, given the extent to which government bond yields in ‘QE’ countries has already fallen. Those hoping for an ECB n money printing miracle: take note.

USA

JAMESSRODES

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Veteran commentator on Washington & Wall Street

Staggering on What would the New Year be without some fearless forecasts?

S

urprisingly, after a year of dismal news all around, I face 2012 with a cautious optimism. I am reminded of the favourite line of one of the early television comedians whose bit was to have the straight man ask, “So, how’s your wife?” “Compared to what?” was his reply.

With that in mind, the economic prospects for the United States in the 12 months to come don’t look as bad as they did in 2011, if only because compared with the problems facing Europe, the turmoil in the Middle East and the instability in China, the Americans are in a better spot.

The big news in the year to come will be the presidential election campaign which is already underway and will rampage on until 2 November. President Barak Obama is the odds-on favourite to win a second term.

His own Democratic Party’s nomination is a certainty. The opposition Republicans appear set to repeat their 1964 self-destruction.

Back then, the incumbent President Lyndon Johnson was wildly unpopular even within his own Democratic Party. The Republicans had a choice between Nelson Rockefeller, a moderateto-liberal of some stature, and a Pennsylvania governor named William Scranton, who was also accomplished and moderately conservative. Instead they picked Senator Barry Goldwater who represented the farthest corners of the party’s right wing and who offered such a frightening vision of the future that LBJ was

swept back into office with a huge majority.

At the time of writing, with Mr Obama’s polls showing him unpopular with his own liberal base and positively detested by the middle-ground voter, the Republicans are offering Mitt Romney, whose opinions drift with the breeze, and Newt Gingrich, the former Speaker of the House, whose Goldwater-style conservatism is further hampered by issues of personal integrity.

The real contest will be in the one-hundred-seat US Senate where the Democrats currently hold a thin 53 to 47 majority. Fully 33 Senate seats will be up for grabs, 23 of them currently held

by Democrats so the Republicans have a good chance of controlling both chambers of the Congress through 2014.

While the prospect of total grid-lock in Washington is never an elevating sight, a Republican Congress would ensure that Mr Obama’s penchant for monetising an ever increasing government debt will be severely curtailed. This is not to forecast any substantial reduction in that debt burden; rather, it means it will be less likely that inflation will start to rise at a pace that would choke off the anaemic but nonetheless visible economic growth. The best guess is that real growth in gross domestic product probably will run at a 2.3 per cent rate this year and crawl up to a three per cent pact in 2013, all things being equal.

Probabilities and uncertainties Of course, not all things are equal.

It is pretty well certain that even with a lacklustre world economic environment, the price of oil will continue to trade above $100 a barrel. For much of the world, Europe especially, this is bad news on the inflation front but for America the news is not so bad.

Petroleum energy producers have been returning to the hydrocarbon-rich basins of North America in recent years in a big way. The result is that even though the United States is expected to consume $200 billion more worth of oil in 2012 than in 2011, imports of oil have reversed a 40-year pattern and have declined to 50 per cent of consumption instead of the traditional 60 per cent.

So one can predict that much of the $26.7 billion Exxon budgeted for spending in the first nine months of this year will be spent either immediately off-shore in US coastal waters or in Canada where oil shale and other projects are booming. Also, a transcontinental pipeline to take oil sands from Canada to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico coast will be pushed through despite the objections of environmentalists. One can also expect whoever is President to abruptly end the nearly 50-year embargo of trade with Cuba so US exploration companies can get a stake in the huge deep-sea oil field discovered there. And with a Republican Congress in charge there will be less money

to be wasted on non-productive ‘alternative’ energy experiments with wind, solar and geothermal power generation.

The big uncertainty is whether the United States – the Federal Reserve, that is – will be able to indefinitely fund the swap lines of credit it has been maintaining with the European Central Bank. A narrow Obama victory coupled with a Republican-controlled Congress would seem to argue against it. Yet it is clear this is no time for America to become more protectionist than its instincts make it already.

It is obvious that the fate of the US economy is inextricably interwoven with that of the eurozone economy. During the first six months of 2011 US exports alone totaled $153 billion. US banks have more than $220 billion in loans to just French and German banks alone; when loans to the two governments are added the total swells to more than $400 billion. Flowing the other way, European banks have traditionally accounted for one-fifth to one-quarter of all the capital available on Wall Street. A European-style Lehman Brothers collapse would send shock waves back across the Atlantic at once.

So while it could all come unstuck it has not happened yet. And while the year ahead is fraught with uncertainties, the signs are more encouraging than they were 12 months ago that we will stagger on somehow. Happy New Year to n all. Survive.

Industry Europe 7

ANOTHER CHALLENGING YEAR Patent expiries on big sellers and the funding problems of health authorities continue to impact on the pharmaceutical industry, as Sarah Houlton reports.

AstraZeneca 8 Industry Europe

Sanofi: Pharmaceuticals manufacturing site in Ain Sebâa (Morocco) – water control. credit Eric LARRAYADIEU / Interlinks Image

I

ndustry has been living under the shadow of the financial crisis for the past year, and although the pharma sector may not have been quite as badly affected as some, it is still taking its toll. When combined with the traditional pressures facing pharma – patent expiries, low R&D productivity, ever more demanding regulatory authorities and the reluctance of health authorities to pay for expensive new medicines – it all adds up to 2011 having been another challenging year.

Some of the most negative headlines were reserved for the announcement in February that Pfizer was to close its R&D site in Sandwich, UK, having already shuttered the manufacturing side of its operations there a couple of years earlier. Although a group of 650 scientists will now remain there, at least for the moment, it’s another blow for the UK pharmaceutical industry, which in the past couple of years had already suffered AstraZeneca closing its site in Charnwood, Leics, GlaxoSmithKline shutting its facility in Harlow barely a decade after it was opened, and Merck closing the former Organon site in Newhouse, Scotland. From a formerly booming and productive base, only two large sites remain – GSK’s in Stevenage and AZ’s in Alderley Park, Cheshire, plus numerous smaller sites and biotech outfits – all in the interests of cutting costs and improving efficiency.

The pharma market has finally gone over the long-heralded ‘patent cliff’, with patents on many of the big-selling drugs that have underpinned the profits of big pharma expiring. The ‘biggie’ here is Pfizer’s Lipitor (atorvastatin), the cholesterol lowering agent that has had annual sales in excess of $10 billion for several years, a figure that’s unlikely ever to be beaten. Its US patent expired at the end of November, but thus far prices are largely holding up, thanks to the way the US generics system works. As the first to file, Ranbaxy gained 180 days exclusivity, and thus the free-for-all on Lipitor sales won’t happen until May.

Scientists at Bayer are focusing on novel substances to treat serious heart and lung diseases. Their efforts have met with success, and the first promising compounds for the treatment of pulmonary hypertension and heart failure are at an advanced stage of clinical development.

Credit: Bayer HealthCare AG

Testing of new formulations of the Aspirin substances at the laboratories of Bayer HealthCare in Morristown, New Jersey, USA. Credit: Bayer HealthCare AG

In the first few days, according to IMS Health, about 15 per cent of Lipitor sales went to generics – but very few of these were to Ranbaxy, rather to Watson Pharmaceuticals which Pfizer had authorised to make its own generic under licence. Pfizer managed to prop up sales of the branded drug, too, thanks to deals with pharmacy benefits managers and reducing the co-payments made by patients.

Ranbaxy had its own problems. Thanks to ongoing issues with the FDA about manufacturing quality, it was unclear right until the last moment whether it would have any products to sell. This was overcome by sourcing product from yet another generics company, Teva, which has been selling generic atorvastatin in Canada for some time. Needless to say, this will have an impact on the profits it will be able to make on atorvastatin during that crucial first six months.

the company believes the future is more in this side of the business than the pharma R&D part, whose new name is still to be announced – and some think this is a sign of things to come for the rest of the industry. “It is likely to trigger a trend among big pharma firms, namely Pfizer and J&J,” says Aparna Krishnan, a senior research analyst at IHS Global Insight. “They may not only necessarily look at a generics – innovative split as Abbott has done, but also, potentially, a consumer health/medical devices – pharma split.’

Takeovers and restructuring This is yet another reminder of the dramatic impact manufacturing failures can have on the future of a business. In extreme cases, it can lead to a company being so badly hit its share price plummets, rendering it an attractive takeover target. This is exactly what happened to US biotech Genzyme – problems in manufacturing two of its enzyme replacement products for rare diseases led to product being withdrawn from the market, investors getting jittery and Sanofi-aventis swooping in to pounce, bolstering its presence in the biologics arena at a knock-down price.

While there were numerous small deals and acquisitions, this was the closest to a large takeover in 2011. One company went in the other direction – Abbott Laboratories announced that it was to split itself in two. The part comprising its diversified medical products portfolio of medical devices, diagnostics, branded generics and nutritional products retains the Abbott name and the existing management team. This is perhaps a sign that

New drug approvals On a more positive note, 2011 was the best year for some time in terms of numbers of new drugs being approved: it’s likely to be around 30, after several years of the total hovering around the low 20s. While none will reach the sheer market volume of Lipitor, some have great sales potential and a number are designed to treat conditions where existing drug options are few and far between.

One of these is Gilenya (fingolimod) from Novartis, the first oral drug to treat multiple sclerosis which was licensed to treat patients with the relapsing–remitting form of the disease who don’t respond to interferon, or whose disease is progressing very rapidly. Hailed as a breakthrough by patient groups, this turned to dismay in the UK when the National Institute for Clinical Excellence declared that it wasn’t cost-effective, and declined to recommend that the NHS pays for it.

Hot on the heels of this decision was Merck-Serono – which was developing its own oral MS treatment, cladribine – announcing it was to pull out of the area altogether after both EU and US regulators asked them to run further clinical trials, which would have been both long and expensive – and with no guarantee of success at the end. This tale highlights the problem faced by pharma companies – they spend large amounts of money researching and developing new medicines, and even Industry Europe 9

AstraZeneca As part of quality assurance, Isolator technology is used routinely to test batches of sterile products, UK Manufacturing, Macclesfield.

getting them licensed, only to discover that hard-pressed health authorities are reluctant to pay for them.

There were other notable successes, however. After many years of the only treatment option for hepatitis C being a year’s dosing with interferon plus the side-effect-ridden drug ribavirin, two new antiviral agents both reached the market – Merck’s Victrelis (boceprevir), and Incivek (telepravir) from Vertex. While they are used in addition to the standard therapy, they both reduce the treatment time by half.

Another under-served disease, lupus, acquired its first new drug in half a century, in the form of Benlysta (belimumab) from Human Genome Sciences and GlaxoSmithKline. Like many of the drugs being developed these days, it’s a biologic – a monoclonal antibody.

This one is predicted by analysts to become a big seller, with annual sales figures anywhere from $3 million to $7 million being cited.

Personalised medicine has been much touted as the future of pharma, and increasing numbers of drugs for specific subsets of patients are reaching the market. They are increasingly important in cancer, where the genetic makeup of a tumour can have an impact on the way it is treated. Some tumours contain specific genes that can be targeted by drugs, and if the tumour doesn’t have these 10 Industry Europe

genes the drug will have little or no effect.

The rapid drop in cost and increase in speed of genotyping methods in recent years has rendered this possible.

Two such new cancer agents were approved in 2011 – Xalkori (crizotinib) from Pfizer, and Zelboraf (vemurafenib) from Roche.

Xalkori is licensed to treat tumours that express abnormal forms of the anaplastic lymphoma kinase gene, or ALK, while Zelboraf is for metastatic melanoma that has the BRAF-V600E gene. While both treat only a fraction of cancer patients, in those with these mutated genes they can have a real impact, and many more such drugs are certain to reach the market in coming years.

In contrast, another drug to treat melanoma, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Yervoy (ipilimumab) has been approved but, like Gilenya, has been knocked back by NICE. Unlike Zelboraf, it is not targeted at an identifiable subset of patients, leaving the outcomes data much less positive – particularly in the context of a very expensive medicine.

Contract manufacturing grows While the pharma companies are being impacted by patent expiries and thin pipelines, there are upsides elsewhere in the pharma supply chain – someone still has to make the

APIs that go into generic products, which is positive news for contract manufacturers.

“The jury is still out, but some are definitely on a growth track,” says Nick Hyde, associate principal at PharmaVentures. “The slightly better times for the contract manufacturing organisations are the flipside of the big pharma companies shedding assets. Sometimes when drugs go off patent, the volumes increase because the prices come down, and they become more affordable. The net manufacturing activity doesn’t fall – it shifts from one place to another.”

While ingredient producers in lower cost countries, notably India and China, have picked up a lot of business in recent years, there have been numerous well-publicised cases of companies there having problems with the FDA – Ranbaxy being a case in point.

“We are seeing the case for a balanced supply between low cost and western producers,” Hyde says. “I don’t think this is anything new, but have we reached the equilibrium point or not? Maybe not, as everyone will want to make Lipitor in low-cost markets. But, generally speaking, things are a bit more settled from a n manufacturing point of view.”

Dr Sarah Houlton is Science Writer in Residence, Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, UK.

NEWS

New developments in the Pharmaceutical industry Dr Marijn Dekkers

INDUSTRYNEWS

Bayer plans further expansion in Asia

T

he Bayer Group plans to further expand its production, distribution network and research activities in Asia and considerably increase its sales in the region in the coming years. “We aim to achieve a more than 60% increase in our sales in Asia by 2015,” management board chairman Dr Marijn Dekkers said. This would mean annual sales of well over €11 billion by 2015 at today’s exchange rates.

Of this figure, Greater China is planned to account for some €6 billion. Dekkers officially inaugurated a new production facility for TDI – a raw material for the production of flexible foams – at the Bayer Integrated Site Shanghai.

Twenty years ago, Asia accounted for only about 10% of Bayer’s sales, equivalent to just over €2 billion. Ten years ago, the proportion had grown to about 15%, and last year the region already accounted for some 20% of sales. In the Asian region, Bayer achieved sales of €6.9 billion in 2010, including €2.9 billion in Greater China, and anticipates further growth in Asia in 2011. “We have made capital expenditures of €3.4 billion in Asia over the past 10 years, creating a basis for outperforming market growth in this region,” said Dekkers. www.bayer.com

AstraZeneca Vaccines against cervical cancer and rubella for the world’s poorest countries invests in venture capital arm G A laxoSmithKline has welcomed the decision of the GAVI (Global alliance for vaccines and immunisation) Board to provide funding to facilitate the provision of cervical cancer immunisation programmes and rubella vaccination, across the world’s poorest countries.

GAVI has confirmed that it will open a new funding window for vaccines that target the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause cervical cancer. It is anticipated that as a result, up to two million women and girls living across nine developing countries could be protected from cervical cancer by 2015.

More than 80% of all cervical cancer deaths occur in developing countries where girls and women frequently do not have access to prevention services such as education, cervical cancer vaccination and potentially life-saving cervical cancer screening and early treatment.

Boehringer Ingelheim and AVEO Pharmaceuticals in manufacturing agreement

A

VEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Boehringer Ingelheim have entered into an agreement for large-scale process development and clinical manufacturing of ficlatuzumab, AVEO’s novel HGF inhibitory antibody that is currently in phase II clinical development

GSK produces a vaccine called Cervarix®, which is intended to help protect women against cervical cancer caused by infection with the Human Papillomavirus (HPV). www.gsk.com Jean Stéphenne, president of GSK’s Biological Division

in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Boehringer Ingelheim will produce ficlatuzumab for clinical trials at its biopharmaceutical site in Fremont, USA. AVEO retains all rights to the development and commercialization of ficlatuzumab.

“We believe Boehringer Ingelheim is an ideal manufacturing partner based on its expertise in monoclonal antibodies,” said

straZeneca has committed an additional $100 million to its venture capital arm, MedImmune Ventures, increasing the total capital under management to $400 million.

MedImmune Ventures is an evergreen venture capital fund that focuses on equity investments in private companies in the areas of biopharmaceuticals, medical and healthcare technology.

“With the additional funding from AstraZeneca, we look forward to expanding our investment activities globally and across therapy areas. We believe that in the current financial environment, there is a growing role for corporate venture capital funds such as MedImmune Ventures,” said Ron Laufer, senior managing director, MedImmune Ventures. www.astrazeneca.com

Elan Ezickson, executive vice-president and chief business officer at AVEO. “This agreement is further evidence of the progress we are making in the clinical development of ficlatuzumab, and we look forward to working with Boehringer Ingelheim to prepare for the manufacturing activities for ficlatuzumab that would support phase III and beyond.” www.biopharma-cmo.com Industry Europe 11

NEWS

New developments in the Pharmaceutical industry

Novartis gains EC approval for Rasitrio®

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ovartis has announced today that Rasitrio®, the first triple combination of aliskiren, amlodipine and hydrochlorothiazide (HCT) in a single pill, has received approval from the European Commission (EC) for the treatment of high blood pressure.

“For the first time, high blood pressure patients in Europe with complex needs will have access to a single pill combining the unique properties of Rasilez with two well-established and effective high blood pressure treatments,” said David Epstein, division head of Novartis Pharmaceuticals. “Rasitrio is the first Rasilez-based triple combination pill available in Europe to help patients requiring multiple medications reach their treatment goal.”

Rasitrio combines the first and only approved direct renin inhibitor (DRI) worldwide, Rasilez, with the widely used calcium channel blocker amlodipine and the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide. Rasilez is an important component of the treatment as it targets renin for optimal control of the RAAS (renin angiotensin aldosterone system), which is a key regulator of high blood pressure. Rasitrio has been approved as substitution therapy for patients with high blood pressure that are adequately controlled by the combination of the three components at the same dose. www.novartis.com

EDURANT® (Rilpivirine) approved in Europe

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anssen International NV has announced that the European Commission (EC) has granted marketing authorisation for EDURANT® (rilpivirine) as a once daily treatment in combination with other antiretroviral agents (ARVs), for the treatment of human immunodeficiency virus

type 1 (HIV-1) infection in ARV treatment-naIve adult patients with a viral load 100,000 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL. Rilpivirine is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI) and has been shown to offer similar efficacy and a better tolerability profile with respect to central nervous system (CNS) side effects (including insomnia, depression and dizziness), rash, triglyceride elevations and severe vitamin D deficiency compared to the standard of care (efavirenz).

David Epstein

“As people with HIV are living longer than ever before, there is a greater necessity for therapies with improved tolerability and dosing simplification, which can be tailored and individualised depending on patient needs,” said Jean-Michel Molina, MD, Professor of Infectious Diseases at University of Paris Diderot, Paris. “The approval of rilpivirine is an advancement for patients as it offers previously untreated patients more treatment choice.” www.janssen-emea.com

Actavis acquires PharmaPack International A

ctavis Group, the international generic pharmaceuticals company, has acquired 100% of the shares in PharmaPack International B.V. PharmaPack is based in Zoetermeer, the Netherlands, and is a specialist in packaging pharmaceutical as well as biotechnological products. The company has extensive experience with product, organisational and country-specific packaging requirements and has been involved in the pharmaceutical service industry for almost 30 years.

“I have known this professional company for a long time and I am very proud that the owners decided to choose Actavis as their new partner. It is obvious that they had other opportunities as well,” said Actavis CEO and chairman Claudio Albrecht. “This acquisition gives Actavis much greater flexibility in tender markets and allows for minimum order quantities for smaller markets.” www.actavis.com

Lilly’s ALIMTA® approved in Europe

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li Lilly and Company has announced that the European Commission has granted approval for the use of ALIMTA® (pemetrexed for injection) as a single agent for continuation maintenance therapy in patients with a particular type of lung cancer, called advanced nonsquamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

12 Industry Europe

ALIMTA is the first chemotherapy agent to be approved in Europe for continuation maintenance therapy. In this setting, patients whose disease has not progressed immediately following first-line treatment with ALIMTA plus cisplatin can continue maintenance treatment with ALIMTA alone and achieve additional benefit.

“This latest approval for ALIMTA

represents an important advance in the treatment of advanced lung cancer,” said Allen Melemed, M.D., M.B.A., senior medical director with Lilly Oncology. “Tailored therapies have come to the forefront of cancer treatment because they allow clinicians to select the right treatment for the right patient.” www.LillyOncology.com

INDUSTRYNEWS

Sanofi and Regeneron report positive results S

anofi and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. have announced positive preliminary results from the Phase 2 study program in which patients with elevated low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) were treated with REGN727/SAR236553.

REGN727/SAR236553 is a novel, high-affinity, subcutaneously administered, fully-human antibody targeting PCSK9 (proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9). Blocking the PCSK9 pathway is a novel mechanism for lowering LDL-C, the leading known risk factor for coronary artery disease.

“The preliminary Phase 2 results with our anti-PCSK9 antibody are very encouraging,” said Elias Zerhouni, president, Global Research & Development, Sanofi. “We look forward to analysing and presenting the complete data set and remain committed to advancing this program into Phase 3 development as soon as possible.” www.sanofi.com

Pfizer completes Strategic partnership acquisition of for Shire in Japan plc, the global speciality biopharmaFerrosan’s Consumer Shire ceutical company, has entered into an agreement with Shionogi & Co. Ltd. of Japan Health business to co-develop and co-commercialise certain of

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fizer Inc has completed its previously announced acquisition of the Consumer Health business of Denmark’s Ferrosan, which includes dietary supplements and lifestyle products, from Altor 2003 Fund GP Limited.

“Ferrosan Consumer Health’s innovative products and geographic footprint are a strong fit for our business,” said Paul Sturman, president, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare. “Today, we have taken an important step by adding leading brands to our existing portfolio as well as enhancing our presence in established and emerging markets such as the Nordic countries, Russia and Ukraine.

Through this acquisition, we’ll have the opportunity to provide a broader portfolio of highly trusted and differentiated products to consumers.” www.pfizer.com www.ferrosan.com

New consumer health care partnership

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he Procter & Gamble Company and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd have announced the creation of a new partnership and joint venture (JV) in consumer health care. The JV, to be named PGT Healthcare, will be headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and will operate in

Shire’s Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) medicines in Japan. Shionogi will pay a one time fee and share costs with Shire in exchange for rights to jointly co-develop and co-commercialise the products upon approval for the Japanese market.

Shire is a recognised leader in the area of ADHD treatment and support, with a portfolio of medicines and resources to help ADHD patients and their families. Shionogi & Co. Ltd. is one of the leading Japanese pharmaceutical companies with an expertise in developing medicines for the central nervous system, among other therapeutic areas.

Working together with the Shionogi team, Shire believes the path to regulatory approval, market development and commercialisation for ADHD medicines will be more effective and efficient. www.shire.com essentially all markets outside of North America. PGT Healthcare, a new model in the industry, will focus on best-in-class development and state-of-the-art commercialisation of branded OTC medicines.

The JV will bring together each company’s complementary capabilities and existing over-the-counter (OTC) medicines. As a result, PGT Healthcare expects to acceler-

Mike Yasick, senior vice-president of Shire’s ADHD Business

ate growth for its parent companies and compete for leadership in the fast-growing, $200 billion consumer healthcare industry. The partnership will start from a solid base of approximately $1.3 billion in annual sales with the potential to grow to $4 billion in annual sales towards the end of the decade. www.pg.com Industry Europe 13

BOOT DÜSSELDORF PICKS UP SPEED Germany’s major yachting and watersport show, boot 2012, will be taking place in Düsseldorf between 21 January and 29 January 2012.

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600 exhibitors from over 50 countries will be presenting their innovations for the coming season in 17 Düsseldorf exhibition halls from 21 to 29 January 2012 – from fishing rods right through to luxurious large yachts. Stand space is in great demand and the number of exhibitors is likely to exceed last year’s figures. Assessing the situation Goetz-Ulf Jungmichel, director of boot Düsseldorf, said: “The international yachting and watersports industry places great trust in boot as the central, European marketplace for the industry – not least due to the differing pace of growth on European markets. In Germany and northern Europe the economic recovery after the years of crisis is most noticeable. International exhibitors want to capitalise on this.”

Messe Düsseldorf expects some 650 foreign participations at boot 2012. This means 14 Industry Europe

more than one in three exhibitors will come from abroad. The biggest exhibiting nation will be the Netherlands with 150 shipyards, fitters and service providers, followed by Italy (60), France (50), Austria (35) and the United Kingdom, with 30 participants.

Boats and yachts will also be in the limelight at boot Düsseldorf in 2012. An unrivalled international array of boats with 1700 types of all sizes spreads over 11 exhibition halls.

Halls 16 and 17 will feature a range of sailing boats and yachts presented by 150 exhibitors.

Particularly positive is the trend in the small yet refined special segment of catamarans and trimarans which were given their own separate, dedicated platform in Hall 15 last year. The concept went down so well that many exhibitors have decided to extend their presentations at boot 2012; i.e. they now wish to bring their

boats rather than information stands to Düsseldorf. 15 suppliers in Hall 15 will be covering all aspects of the popular multi-hull sailing.

The Big Five The demand for exhibition space for sports boats and power boats up to 60 feet long is at the previous year’s level. 250 shipyards, dealers and importers are guaranteed to present a representative overview of power boating in a total of six exhibition halls. Clearly increasing in appeal is Exhibition Hall 4 as the centre of the ‘Big Five’ in power-boat building: Bavaria, Bénéteau, Jeanneau, Galeon and Nimbus.

This hall was extensively refurbished in 2011 and fitted with new entrance concourses that not only make for a bright, friendly atmosphere but also improve visitor guidance and, hence, create more movement in the hall.

A presentation of Dutch steel-hull yachts comes care of ‘Holland Boats & Yachts’ in Hall 5.

Comfortable and luxurious yachts showcased indoors will also remain a hallmark of boot Düsseldorf in 2012. Hall 6 awaits visitors with around 40 large yachts as well as highend boats and tender boats. Up to 30 yachts will be travelling to Düsseldorf by waterway where they will make a ‘shore excursion’ to boot with the help of ‘Big Willi’, the lift, and heavy towing equipment.

From Fairline, Ferretti and San Lorenzo to Princess or Riva – the ‘who’s who’ of the world’s luxury yachts will be represented in Hall 6.

Virtual presences However, what is equally apparent here is that no sustainable recovery for yachts beyond 60 feet is in sight as yet. They are not available in pre-crisis quantities as exhibits. Specifically, Italian shipyards, which

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dominate this market, are still navigating in troubled economic waters and some are looking for better value-for-money options for participating at boot. Messe Düsseldorf has responded to this request and offered the affected exhibitors the option of image stands. As a complement, computer-aided applications including so-called ‘augmented reality’ are to be used to enhance such exhibits as yacht scale-models or images with virtual yacht animations via smartphone cameras or webcams.

For high-calibre customers in this sector the ‘Blue Motion Lounge’ in Hall 6 will be revived. This business and shopping area combines excellent catering with comfortable rooms for meetings and negotiations with customers as well as exclusive boutiques for browsing to visitors. There is a separate entrance area for VIPs. Still extremely well received is Düsseldorf’s Superyacht Show in Hall 7a boasting over 100 international participants. Here plans

rench shipbuilder OCEA is exhibiting at boot 2012 in Hall 07A. OCEA is recognised as a pioneer in aluminum shipbuilding and enjoys a strong and reliable reputation in the professional shipbuilding sector. With four production sites located along the French Atlantic Coast, OCEA Shipbuilding delivers annually 10 to 15 vessels, up to 60m long, ranging from Fast Patrol Boats and Passenger Vessels to Motor Yachts. Professional knowledge combined with its aluminum expertise has enabled OCEA to conceive two ranges of

and scale models of yacht projects and the associated services are presented at information stands including such joint participations as Deutsche Yachten, Superyacht France and Holland Yachting Group.

Classic and traditional boats or replicas are centre stage at the Classic Show in Hall 15.

The hotspot for yachtsmen is the ‘Sailing Centre’ in Hall 17 where yachting stars inform visitors about their current projects and sports ambitions. Globetrotters share their experiences while experts provide tips revolving around sports and boats. Visitors can take a look at the various yacht classes, from Optimists to Starboats, and gather useful information on their sailing characteristics from the relevant class associations.

Want to be kept right up to date about boot Düsseldorf and its sector? The Internet portal boat-duesseldorf.com keeps visitors and n watersports fans informed.

Visit: www.boat-duesseldorf.com

yachts: OCEA Commuter and OCEA Classic. These yachts constitute real value-added products, with excellent stability underway and at anchor, great ease to manoeuvre, speed of 10 to 20 knots, low fuel consumption, transatlantic ranges and low maintenance.

Impelled by care for the sea and its preservation, OCEA is strongly committed to designing environmentally-friendly yachts.

Visit: www.ocea-yacht.fr

Industry Europe 15

NEWS

New contracts and orders in industry

Heijmans wins two contracts valued at more than €26 million

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eijmans will be developing two projects under contract to Eindhoven Airport NV, namely the expansion of the terminal and the construction of a new 120-room hotel. Heijmans Non-residential Building will assume responsibility for all structural components. The value of the terminal contract is in excess of €3 million; the hotel contract is worth approximately €9 million.

The logistics is an area that demands special attention particularly in view of the fact that the airport will remain in operation throughout the expansion and construction. A special phasing

and contingency plan has been prepared in close collaboration with the client. A special aspect of the realisation of the hotel is the construction technique that will be used; the building will be constructed 13 metres above ground level.

In addition, Heijmans will be working on the new development and renovation of the living and care centre Jozefzorg/Satijnhof in Tilburg.

The project will be carried out under contract to TBV Wonen and Stichting de Wever. The contract is valued at approximately €14 million.

Visit: www.heijmans.nl

STRABAG lands new orders worldwide worth €110 million

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he environmental technology specialists of the European construction group STRABAG SE have recently landed new orders worth a total of €110 million. In Brazil, STRABAG acquired the contract for the engineering and delivery of a flue gas treatment facility for petroleum major Petrobras. The company is also building a waste gas & waste liquid incineration plant in Singapore as well as five flue gas treatment facilities for Formosa Plastics Group in China and Taiwan. In Leskovac, Serbia, in Târgoviste, Romania, and in Baishan, China, the company won the contracts to build three wastewater treatment plants. STRABAG will also build a water supply plant in Bilisht, Albania and a solid waste treatment plant in Tychy, Poland.

STRABAG also pulled in contracts in the field of landfill construction, with an order in Ciuperceni, Romania. Further projects involve a biological waste treatment plant in Freudenstadt, Germany, as well as landfill remediation and site decontamination works conducted under joint ventures in Brückl and Rum, Austria, and Pont Rouge, Switzerland.

Visit: www.strabag.com

Russia’s NordStar Airlines adds up to 7 ATR 42-600s to its fleet T

Bouygues Construction wins contracts in Switzerland worth almost €200 million

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osinger Marazzi, a Swiss subsidiary of Bouygues Construction, has recently signed a number of substantial contracts worth a total of over €190 million. In Monthey, in south-western Switzerland, the firm will build a commercial property

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he European turboprop manufacturer ATR and Russia’s NordStar Airlines have agreed the purchase of up to 7 ATR 42-600s (5 firm aircraft and 2 options). The total value of all these airplanes is estimated at some US$ 132 million.

ATR and NordStar had previously unveiled in September 2011 an order for 2 firm ATR 42-600s plus 2 options, which has now been increased with the 3 additional firm aircraft.

This follows an order in 2010 for 4 firm 42-500s plus 3 options.

NordStar Airlines will become the very first operator of new ATR ‘-600 series’ aircraft in the Russian Federation. NordStar already operates 4 ATR 42-500. With the introduction of the 5 firm ATR 42-600s, NordStar will bring to 9 aircraft its brand new fleet of ATRs. Visit: www.atraircraft.com

development consisting of 6000m2 of retail premises and 1300m2 of offices.

The development, which is located in the Trollietta district and will be known as M Central, will be built according to the principles of sustainable construction and will be compliant with the Minergie® standard.

Losinger Marazzi is also to construct two complexes with a combined surface area of

12,400m2 in Thoune, in the canton of Bern, incorporating offices, apartments, a retirement home, shops and a multi-screen cinema.

Meanwhile, Losinger Marazzi has signed a contract worth around €25 million as the main contractor building a shopping centre in Nyon for Migros, the leading supermarket chain in Switzerland.

Visit: www.bouygues-construction.com

WINNINGBUSINESS Bombardier wins contract from Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation

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ombardier Transportation has won a groundbreaking contract for propulsion and control equipment in India from Mumbai Railway Vikas Corporation (MRVC). MRVC is a joint venture between the Ministry of Railways and the Government of Maharashtra.

The project, funded equally by the World Bank and the Government of India, is valued at approximately INR 11.2 billion (€162 million). It involves design, manufacturing, delivery and testing of BOMBARDIER MITRAC propulsion and control equipment, as well as additional equipment including fans, compressors, passenger information systems and high voltage instruments. The order relates to a total of 72 commuter trains of 12 cars each. Deliveries of the equipment will start in the last quarter of 2012 with completion of deliveries in the third quarter of 2014.

The production will take place at Bombardier’s plant in Maneja, India, supported by Bombardier’s sites in Mannheim and Hennigsdorf, Germany. Bombardier’s Propulsion and Controls Production and Development Centre at the Maneja site in Vadodara, Gujarat, was recently expanded and has been supplying Indian Railways for decades with converters and electronic devices for train control and communications.

Visit: www.bombardier.com

signs contract in Wuppertaler Stadtwerke awards Studsvik Russia worth US$ 1 million megacontract to Vossloh S V ossloh Electrical Systems, Düsseldorf, and Wuppertaler Stadtwerke (WSW), Wuppertal, have signed a contract for 31 new suspension railcars to be delivered by the end of 2015 to replace the present units dating back to the 1970s.

The Wuppertal ‘Schwebebahn’ is a highmounted suspension monorail. The new cars will feature innovative traction systems from Vossloh Electrical Systems including traction and board invertors and the control technology. The units will be assembled by Vossloh Rail Vehicles in Valencia. These two Vossloh subsidiaries together recently won a megacontract from the municipality of Karlsruhe and have already successfully completed projects for the Spanish provinces of León and Gijón. Both, Vossloh Rail Vehicles and Vossloh Electrical Systems, will also deliver 13

Cobham SATCOM antenna selected

by Virgin Atlantic Airways

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obham’s HGA-7001 SATCOM high gain antenna subsystem has been selected

by Virgin Atlantic for the airline’s Boeing 747 cabin upgrade programme to commence in 2012. Virgin Atlantic will retrofit seven of its Boeing 747 aircraft with the Cobham antenna, which will enable Inmarsat Swift-

new tramways to the city of Rostock from end 2013 until spring 2014.

The first of the new suspension railcars for the city of Wuppertal will be shipped out and then put through their paces in mid-2014.

Thereafter and until the end of 2015, two to three vehicles will be delivered monthly.

Visit: www.vossloh.com Broadband (SBB) SATCOM connectivity into the cockpit and cabin.

“Virgin Atlantic’s selection of the Cobham Antenna system is a result of a rigorous and thorough selection process. The combination of technical excellence, coupled with a good commercial position, has secured the ongoing partnership between Virgin Atlantic and Cobham Antenna Sys-

tudsvik, through its subsidiary Studsvik Scandpower, has signed a contract with the Russian nuclear fuel producer JSC TVEL to deliver software and certain related services in 2012. The contract is worth US$ 1 million.

JSC TVEL already collaborates closely with Studsvik in the international SCIP-II project on the justification of fuel behaviour. The sale is, however, an important step in Studsvik’s broadening of its customer base within the software area as well.

JSC TVEL is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of nuclear fuel that is used in 76 commercial and 30 research reactors in 17 countries.

“We decided to deepen our cooperation with Studsvik within software and services in nuclear fuel design since software developed by Studsvik Scandpower is widely recognised in the world. We trust that their use, along with the relevant Russian products, could serve as an important step in getting established as a PWR fuel vendor in the West,” says Pyotr Lavrenyuk, senior vice-president of JSC TVEL. Visit: www.studsvik.com

tems and secured the best overall solution for our Boeing 747 cabin upgrade,” says Sean Swain, general manager, Supply Chain for Virgin Atlantic.

Cobham’s antenna sub-system will be retrofitted to the fleet of seven Boeing 747-400 aircraft through an independent Supplemental Type Certificate (STC).

Visit: www.cobham.com Industry Europe 17

NEWS

Combining strengths

MTU Aero Engines and Sagem (Safran Group) to form joint venture

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TU Aero Engines and Sagem have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to form a joint venture in the development of safety-critical software and hardware for military and civil aviation applications. Located at the MTU campus in Munich, Germany, the new company is set to start its operations in 2012. The 50/50 joint venture will gather some 200 engineers, mainly from the current MTU organisation. Main products will include safety-critical engine controls for programs such as TP400-D6 for the A400M military transport aircraft, as well as further safety-critical hardware and software solutions such as controls for landing gear, braking, monitoring or information systems.

“Our intention is to provide a sustainable perspective for our joint hardware and software skills and activities, while military budgets are decreasing. Together with Sagem, the JV can access a wider range of market segments and additional third party business,” explained MTU CEO Egon Behle.

According to Philippe Petitcolin, CEO of Sagem, “this Franco-German JV will constitute an important step towards European consolidation of the sector and a high-quality vehicle to better answer to our customers in the context of pan-European programs and projects.”

Visit: www.mtu.de

Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works to acquire Flinders Mines Limited

Addtech Group acquires Rollco

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agnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works OJSC (MMK) has announced the execution of a Scheme Implementation Agreement to effect the acquisition of Flinders Mines Limited by MMK. Flinders’ flagship asset, the PIOP (Pilbara Iron Ore Project), is located in the West Pilbara region of Western Australia. The PIOP has a large 917.3Mt JORC-compliant resource of high quality direct shipping and feed ore with average grade Fe 55.2 per cent and significant potential for further resource upgrades.

With this transaction, MMK will gain access to a high-quality iron ore development project with a substantial resource base and robust economics with low operating and capital costs.

MMK board of directors chairman Victor Rashnikov said, “I am delighted to announce our agreement to acquire 100 per cent of Flinders Mines.

With the support of MMK and under the continued leadership of their professional management team,

Lödige cooperates with Semco in Brazil

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ebrüder Lödige Maschinenbau GmbH has established a strategic partnership with the Brazilian Semco Equipamentos Industriais Ltd. The Brazilian manufacturer of industrial mixers with a registered office in São Paulo will represent Lödige in South America as a distributor and licence holder.

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I am confident that Flinders will develop into a leading iron ore producer in Australia. This transaction represents another important step forward for MMK to become a highly efficient vertically integrated international metals and mining company.”

Visit: www.mmk.ru

ddtech Components, a business area in the Addtech Group, has signed an agreement to acquire all outstanding shares in Rollco Holding AB. Rollco is a leading supplier of components and solutions for linear motion and automation solutions to the manufacturing industry in the Swedish and Danish markets. The Rollco group also has operations in the other Nordic countries and in Taiwan.

Rollco will become a part of the business area Addtech Components where the company’s products will complement the existing sales of mechanical components in the Nordic markets.

The Rollco group has 38 employees and a revenue of approximately 100 MSEK. The closing is estimated to take place in the beginning of January 2012. The acquisition is estimated to have a marginally positive effect on Addtech’s earnings per share during the current financial year.

Visit: www.addtech.com

Semco has long experience in the production of mixers, reactors and dryer as well as the process technology field.

Semco is now responsible for the sales and installation of Lödige machines in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina and Chile. All standard components for process technology applications will be manufactured under licence directly in Brazil.

All South American countries are expecting a strong and sustained economic growth. The demand for imports is steadily growing.

With the new partner Semco, Lödige will be able to react much better to the specific regional customer requirements. This will strengthen Lödige’s position on the South American market on a long-term basis.

Visit: www.loedige.de

LINKINGUP SCA to acquire Georgia-Pacific’s European tissue operations

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CA has delivered a binding offer to acquire Georgia-Pacific’s European tissue operations, with sales in 2010 amounting to €1.25 billion.

The offered price is €1.32 billion.

“The deal is a strategic fit and will strengthen our product offering and geographic reach in Europe. It also leads to substantial synergies,” says Jan Johansson, president and CEO of SCA. Georgia-Pacific has a well-established presence in Europe in both away-from-home and consumer tissue products. Their products in both segments are in particular marketed with the wellknown Lotus brand.

Consumer tissue accounts for some 60 per cent of total sales and away-from-home tissue accounts for approximately 30 per cent of sales. Personal care products such as cotton pads and facial cleansing wipes account for some 5 per cent. In the consumer tissue business, close to 70 per cent of sales are branded products and the remainder are private label products.

Georgia-Pacific’s European tissue operations have approximately 5000 employees and 15 production sites in seven countries.

Visit: www.sca.com

Systemair acquires air conditioning company in Italy

Statoil and Centrica sign major gas sales agreement

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ystemair has agreed to acquire the Airwell factory in Milan, Italy which is part of the Airwell Group. Airwell Barlassina manufactures chillers for comfort cooling. The product range includes chillers from 20 to 1200 kW. Airwell has one of the widest product lines in the sector and manufactures chillers with both liquid cool-

ing and air cooling. In recent years, there has been extensive product development and most products are currently Eurovent certified.

The factory has 155 employees and Systemair will also take over parts of the sales department for commercial air conditioning in Italy. The plant has one of the most modern R&D centres in Europe for development and testing of chillers, a showroom and a training centre.

The turnover of the company is estimated at around €24 million for 2011. Closing is expected to take place in January 2012.

“The acquisition will strengthen us considerably in our sales of air handling units where cooling is included to create a good indoor climate. We will become much stronger in the project business and see clear synergies through this acquisition,” says Gerald Engström, CEO of Systemair.

Visit: www.systemair.com

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Clyde Blowers acquires Moventas

gear manufacturing groups in the world.

“We are very pleased to get an excellent owner for us with an industrial background; Clyde Blowers offers us stability and further development of our business. This also significantly strengthens our position and opportunities on our main markets,” comments president & CEO of Moventas Jukka Jäämaa.

Clyde Blowers is an industrial engineer-

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lobal industrial engineering group Clyde Blowers has signed an agreement to acquire the wind gear manufacturer Moventas Wind Ltd and the industrial gear manufacturer Moventas Santasalo Ltd. Following the acquisition of the Moventas companies, Clyde Blowers, with its existing David Brown Gear Systems business, will be one of the largest

tatoil and Centrica have entered into a longterm gas sales agreement for the delivery of 5 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year from 2015 to 2025 to the UK market. This new long-term gas sales agreement follows an existing agreement between Statoil and Centrica that expires in 2015.

“The agreement demonstrates that natural gas is set to play an important role in the UK’s long-term energy mix,” says Statoil’s president and CEO Helge Lund, adding that “Natural gas has all the features needed for the UK to reach its long-term energy policy goals of affordability, security of supply and CO2 emissions reduction.”

The gas under the contract is linked to indices at the National Balancing Point (NBP), the virtual price setting point in the UK gas market. The volumes will be delivered through existing pipeline infrastructure from the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

Visit: www.statoil.com

ing group headquartered in the UK. Its interests cover a wide range of industrial engineering activities in the power, oil & gas, mining and minerals, rail and other industrial markets.

The business has been acquired for the price of €100 million, and has been solely financed by equity investment.

Visit: www.moventas.com Industry Europe 19

NEWS

MOVINGON

Relocations and expansions across Europe

European Investment Bank support for Nissan’s LEAF

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he European Investment Bank has agreed to support production of Nissan’s first electric car to be built in Europe and the company’s first European production of electric vehicle batteries.

Agreement for €220 million funding from the European Union’s long-term lending institution was signed in Sunderland by Trevor Mann, Nissan Europe senior vice-president for Manufacturing, and Simon Brooks, European Investment Bank vice-president for the United Kingdom.

European Investment Bank funding will support the integration of new machinery and tooling for production of the 100 per cent electric Nissan LEAF, the world’s first affordable, mass-market, pure-electric vehicle. The Nissan LEAF, the reigning

European Car of the Year, will go into production in Sunderland in 2013 with an initial production capacity of around 50,000 vehicles a year.

This funding is also supporting construction of the company’s new European Mother Plant for the production of lithium-ion electric vehicle battery cells at the Sunderland Plant. Together the battery and LEAF projects represent a £420 million (€468.2 million) investment by Nissan, and are expected to maintain about 2250 jobs at Nissan and across the UK supply chain. The investment is also supported by a £20.7 million (€23.1 million) Grant for Business Investment (GBI) from the UK Government.

Visit: www.newsroom.nissan-europe.com

WACKER expands Technical Centre in Mumbai

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ACKER, the Munich-based chemical company, has expanded its technical centre in India. This centre of excellence located in Goregaon, a suburb of Mumbai, now also includes laboratories, applications technology and test equipment for polymer dispersions for coatings and paint applications. These dispersions are needed for interior and exterior paints in the coatings industry. The expansion not only enables WACKER to support its Indian customers to develop new and locally adapted formulations, but also encourages the exchange of know-how and promotes internationally recognised quality standards in India.

The expansion was made necessary by India’s strong economic growth, particularly with regard to sophisticated coatings applications. This measure will help WACKER to further bolster its position as the market and technology leader for vinyl acetate-ethylene copolymer (VAE) dispersions used as binders for demanding coatings and paint applications.

Visit: www.wacker.com

Rolls-Royce to develop new Marine Service Centre in Hong Kong R olls-Royce, the global power systems company, has announced the expansion of its presence in Greater China with the development of a new Marine Service Centre on Hong Kong’s Tsing Yi Island, which is scheduled to open in 2012. The new Marine Service Centre will offer specialist support

services and engineering expertise to customers in Hong Kong. It will form an important component of the Rolls-Royce marine service network that covers the entire east coast of China, with existing facilities in Dalian, Guangzhou, and Shanghai already providing technical support and after-market care. The

Research unit dedicated to ecofriendly chemistry opens in China

research unit devoted to eco-friendly chemistry based in Shanghai (China).

This international joint research unit is based at Rhodia’s research centre in Shanghai and will bring together research scientists from academia and industry in addition to a number of students. The aim of this research unit is to deliver new products and ecoefficient processes capable of reducing our

ON

November 4, 2011, the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), Rhodia, the Ecole Normale Superieure of Lyon and the East China Normal University officially opened the Laboratory of Eco-efficient Products and Processes, an international joint

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new facility will provide support for a variety of vessel types, including the large number of fast ferries that are in service between Hong Kong, Macau and the Pearl River Delta, many of which are installed with Rolls-Royce propulsion systems.

Visit: www.Rolls-Royce.com

dependence on oil. The scientific challenges are so great that they call for the association of a great many key skills in order to rapidly overcome the various technological barriers.

For this reason, the laboratory will house joint international research carried out by scientists from academic institutes in China and Europe working together with industrial partners.

Visit: www.cnrs.fr

NEWS

INDUSTRYPEOPLE

DEUTZ Board member is ‘Female Manager of the Year 2011’

D

r Margarete Haase, a member of the Board of Management of DEUTZ AG, has been voted ‘Female Manager of the Year 2011’ by Financial Times Deutschland.

She came first in a ranking of Germany’s 25 leading businesswomen in the fourth such annual survey carried out by Financial Times Deutschland. Dr Haase, 58, has been a member of DEUTZ AG’s Management Board since 2009 and is responsible for Finance, Human Resources and Investor Relations.

Steffen Klusmann, editor-in-chief of the FTD, said: “Margarete Haase is the best possible proof that women are now indispensible even in male-dominated industries and in core functions such as finance.”

New Head of VW Sales Europe New deputy

X

avier Chardon (40) is to be the new head of Sales Europe of the Volkswagen Passenger Cars Brand. Xavier Chardon started his career in marketing with Citroën Italy in 1994 before joining the Citroën sales team in France a year later. In France, he was the regional manager responsible for Italy and Denmark before becoming price and product manager for western Europe in 1999. He gained further international experience from 2001 to 2007 as managing director in Denmark and Germany. Subsequently, he became head of marketing and PR in France. He has been managing director of Citroën in France since April 2009.

chairman for QinetiQ

New operations director at Concentric Birmingham

J

ohn Beadsworth (54) has been appointed operations director at the Birmingham plant of Concentric AB, where the Stockholm-quoted company manufactures oil, water and fuel pumps for diesel engines.

John joined Concentric in 2003, having previously worked in a variety of managerial roles at Honeywell Serck, also in Birmingham. In his new position, he is responsible for all aspects of the factory’s manufacturing operations, including the implementation of the Concentric Business Excellence programme which is designed to involve the whole team in continuous improvement.

Atlas Copco Compressors appoints new Industrial Air business line manager

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tlas Copco Compressors has announced the appointment of Paul Clark as business line manager of its Industrial Air division in Great Britain. Commenting on his new position, Paul Clark said: “I see my task as ensuring that the company con-

M

ichael Harper has joined the QinetiQ Board as a non-executive director. Michael will become the group’s deputy chairman and senior independent director. Michael is a non-executive director of the BBA Aviation plc Board, which he joined in February 2005, becoming chairman in June 2007. He is an engineer by training and has a wealth of experience gained as a director of Williams plc where, on the demerger in 2000, he became chief executive of Kidde plc. Michael is chairman of both the Vitec Group plc and Ricardo plc.

tinues to be represented by professional, trained, motivated and experienced people, backed by world-leading products.”

In his new role Paul and his team will be focused on the sales and marketing of cost-effective, energy-efficient industrial air compressors, quality air accessories and nitrogen generators, including solutions that not only embrace improved

productivity but offer the tangible benefits of energy recovery, remote monitoring, and real-time control and management. They will also continue to increase Atlas Copco Compressors’ representation across Great Britain through direct and distributor sales and continue the long-term support and stability which the company has maintained for its customers over the years.

Industry Europe 21

NEWS

TECHNOLOGYSPOTLIGHT

Advances in technology across industry

Safe crane operation at sea W

ind farms and drilling platforms are becoming more widespread, with construction costs playing an integral role in their development. In previous years, the lack of convincing crane technology has proven to be a big problem.

“Right now, standard floating cranes encounter difficulty with waves cresting at thirty centimetres.

Safe crane operation can no longer be guaranteed,” says Jan-Paul van der Bos from Dutch company Barge Master BV. Even minor swaying of just two to three degrees can move the tip of the crane by four to five metres. This results in an unstable load and puts the crew at risk.

By working with Bosch Rexroth, Barge Master developed a comprehensive solution including all

the necessary drive and control components. “With Rexroth heave compensation we have expanded the application window for floating cranes handling waves of up to 150 centimetres,” says van den Bos. This is achieved through a moving platform which neutralises roll, yaw and heave.

Three hydraulic cylinders, affixed vertically, attach the crane to the hull of the ship through joints that incorporate ball bearings. Connection rods with limited mobility freeze the remaining three degrees of freedom so that the cylinder movements can compensate for wave action.

The controls are the heart of the solution. Special sensors deliver motion data which is used to calculate target values for the compensatory movements

that keep the platform stable. Even with irregular swells and crests of over a metre, 95% of motion can be neutralised.

Visit: www.boschrexroth.co.uk

Ultrasonic camera

QinetiQ’s Zephyr solar aircraft double ADS Innovation Works, the corporate Eandresearch and technology network of EADS, award by IET the Norwegian SME DolphiTech AS have

Q

inetiQ’s Zephyr team has been honoured by the IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology) for their world record breaking work on a High Altitude Long Endurance (HALE) unmanned aerial vehicle by winning both the awards for Emerging Technologies and Product Design at the prestigious IET Innovation Awards.

The judging panel commented: “The Zephyr takes a giant step towards the goal of eternal flight.

The entire aircraft design has been considered and optimised – power, weight, sensors, propulsion – in order to make the prospect of ‘near-eternal’ flight a realistic possibility.”

The Zephyr platform is a flagship UK-developed technology which has already achieved three official world records, including absolute flight endurance of 14 days, 22 minutes, 8 seconds in 2010 at heights of up to 70,000 feet.

Using solar power and state-of-the-art rechargeable batteries with a total mass of only 50kg, the Zephyr is capable of hosting commercial communications and remote camera payloads for months at a time. It promises formidable advantages in defence and security roles as diverse as persistent wide area communications relay, missile detection, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and maritime patrol.

Visit: www.qinetic.com 22 Industry Europe

signed a cooperation agreement for the development of a new non-destructive testing (NDT) system based on an innovative ultrasonic camera component for composite inspections.

The new tool can be used for all types of NDT applications for composite materials. NDT is a method of screening structures – for example an aircraft fuselage – and detecting damage not visible from the outside without destroying the material.

Amplitude and time C-scans loaded in NDT kit software and analysed (impact sizing)

Methods used for NDT include radiography, the application of infrared light, electromagnetism or endoscopy. The new ultrasonic NDT device will be used by manufacturers and operators of aerospace products as well as in other industries.

“The adaptation of our novel ultrasound technology for impact assessment by EADS Innovation Works and the EADS Divisions will open a very attractive global market for our technology,” said DolphiTech’s managing director Terje Melandso.

Visit: ww.dolphiscan.com and www.eads.com

EURO-REPORT

FOCUS ON...

France Ian Sparks reports from Paris on opposing views on the future of the sex industry.

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nationwide debate has erupted in France over the future of the nation’s huge black market sex industry, which is thought to ‘employ’ more than 20,000 people.

Politicians on one side of the argument are pushing for a change in the law to legalise brothels and generate much needed revenue by making prostitutes pay tax and become a ‘legitimate part of the French economy’.

At the same time, another group of hardline MPs are calling for a tough new law aimed at abolishing prostitution and jailing men who pay for sex.

The row began earlier this year when rightwing MP Chantal Brunel tabled a motion in parliament to legalise brothels and make it legal for women to sell sex on licensed premises.

She said the move would ‘generate millions in taxes’ for the government and protect girls from exploitation.

She told the French media: “Women selling sex should be allowed to do so legally on special licensed premises. This would free thousands of women from the abuse they suffer at the hands of pimps and criminal gangs and offer them much more security they currently have on the streets.”

Ms Brunel is currently pushing for a formal debate on the issue in her bid to get her proposals enshrined in law.

Meanwhile a rival group of MPs is demanding a crackdown on the sex industry with legislation which aims to impose steep fines and prison sentences on men who use prostitutes. A draft law drawn up by the antivice campaigners states that France should seek ‘a society without prostitution’ and that sex work ‘should not be designated as a professional activity’.

A non-binding resolution on their plans was approved by lawmakers in December, paving the way for MPs to hold a formal vote on the new rules next year.

Under current French laws, it is legal to ‘seek or offer money for sexual services’ as

long as it is done without advertising. Only soliciting and pimping – living off the earnings of a prostitute – are criminal offences.

In Britain, prostitution and paying for sex are legal if the girl is over 18 and not acting under duress. But related activities including public soliciting, kerb crawling, keeping a brothel and pimping are all outlawed.In Europe, only Sweden and Norway have made it illegal to pay for sex.

French socialist MP Roselyne Bachelot, who has led the drive for tougher laws, described men who hired prostitutes as ‘promoting a slave trade in human beings’.

She said: “France should follow the example of Sweden, where it is the clients of prostitutes, and not the women, who are punished.

Prostitutes rarely do their job voluntarily. Most belong to networks from eastern Europe and Africa that are operated by pimps. It is they who are the victims and they need the protection of the law.”

She said it was no longer acceptable to tolerate prostitution simply because it is described as ‘the oldest profession in the world’.

And socialist MP PS Danielle Bousquet added: “This new law would be the most effective way of reducing the number of prostitutes in France.”

But sex workers’ union Strass said the law ‘denies the freedom of certain women under the guise of equality’. Spokesman Cloe Navarro added: “Penalising clients will not end prostitution, but it will contribute to isolating girls even more and pushing them into the hands of pimps.

“A more realistic solution would be to legalise brothels, which would protect girls and create income from taxes. There are at least 20,000 sex workers in France, making us a very significant part of the French economy.”

A recent survey found six out of ten French men AND women wanted brothels to be legalised. France had 1400 legal brothels before they were all shut down under a new

law banning prostitution in 1946. Brothels are still legal in Germany, Holland and Switzerland, and tolerated in Spain.

Produce in France Meanwhile, French president Nicolas Sarkozy – who has not aired his views in the debate on prostitution – has pledged his backing to France’s more ‘traditional’ industries in a bid to woo voters ahead of next year’s leadership election.

Mr Sarkozy made an impassioned plea to businesses to resist the temptation to shift their workers overseas, even if it is cheaper to produce elsewhere than in France.

He launched his defence of French industry during a visit to ski manufacturer Rossignol, which he hailed as an example of economic patriotism after the firm brought back some of its production to France from Taiwan.

Mr Sarkozy said: “Our policy is to encourage companies, whether they are French or foreign, to produce in France. The strategic question, the essential question, is about keeping France a country where things are produced.”

Both of Mr Sarkozy’s two main presidential rivals have also launched bids to promote the production of home-made French goods in France.

Part of the president’s teasers to lure business back to France are an easing of the hefty social welfare contributions companies must pay and a further relaxing of rules on France’s 35-hour working week.

Mr Sarkozy’s socialist rival Francois Hollande meanwhile blamed the president for the loss of 400,000 jobs in the industrial sector during his five-year term and vowed to ‘turn the tide’ if he is elected as leader next May. But Mr Hollande gave no details of how he aimed to achieve this, adding only: “During the next five years we are going to reindustrialise France, increasing our production capacity and making the country a better place to work n for both bosses and their employees.”

Industry Europe 23

EURO-REPORT

FOCUS ON...

Germany Allan Hall reports from Berlin on Germany’s continuing export boom.

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he euro may be continuing its meltdown and the future is more uncertain than at any time since 1945, but that hasn’t stopped the German economic locomotive which this year will see exports go over the €1 trillion mark for the first time in history.

Long the driving force behind Europe’s biggest economy, it grew by a massive 12 per cent this year to reach €1.075 trillion, according to the BGA exporters’ federation. Little wonder that Chancellor Angela Merkel has sometimes seemed indecisive when dealing with the troubles of the rest of the continent; with results like this at home, is it any wonder she wanted to resist Germany becoming the bailout bank for everyone else?

The export news is also expected to continue with predictions of sales overseas hitting €1.14 trillion in 2012. “This rate of growth is absolutely within the long-term average,” said BGA president Anton Boerner.

“Emerging markets will remain a strong outlet for German exporters, despite an expected slow down in global trade in the coming months due to the eurozone debt crisis and US economic gloom. They continue to invest massively in the technologies of the future, in energy sectors as well as telecommunications and transport infrastructure.”

While German politicians reach for the superglue pot to try to hold the eurozone together, the manufacturing, chemical, engineering and automotive industries of Germany are pitching their products increasingly farther afield, namely at the emerging giants of Brazil, Russia, India and China, and increasingly at fast-growing countries such as Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Peru and Ecuador.

But, and it’s a big but, all bets will be off if the eurozone cannot get its house in order.

Sixty per cent of German exports still go to European trading partners. “All forceasts will be null and void if the crisis worsens,” he said.

Yet defying the odds that have shaped, for the most part for the worst, the destinies 24 Industry Europe

of other lands in recent months has become something of a German trait of late. Gross domestic product jumped considerably in the country between July and September 2011, growing by 0.5 per cent over the previous quarter.

The Statistical Office has also revised its figures for spring, indicating that growth was stronger than previously assumed. During the period, GDP grew by 0.3 per cent instead of the 0.1 per cent previously assumed.

Germany’s Institute for Employment Research (IAB), a labour market think tank, calculates unemployment in 2012 will drop from 2.984 million to 2.868 million. Interest rates on corporate loans are currently very low. Companies are easily able to access fresh capital at favourable conditions, making it easier for them to invest or expand.

Whatever happens as the eurozone tectonic plates continue to shift, Berlin remains on course to become the tech capital of Europe Wages are rising for millions of people in Germany. In numerous industries the stillstrong unions have successfully negotiated wage increases of several per cent out of employers. And at the same time, researchers believe consumer prices will rise only modestly. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a leading economic think tank, is forecasting an inflation rate of less than 2 per cent in 2012.

“Germany is still in good shape compared to many other eurozone economies,” wrote Der Spiegel magazine, a leading publication and one that towards the end of 2011 began predicting the demise of the euro.

According to Eurostat’s figures, the German economy grew by 0.5 per cent in the third quarter. France, the eurozone’s secondlargest economy, grew by 0.4 per cent. The

only country that showed stronger growth than the two motors of the European Union was Estonia, with 0.8 per cent.

Hi-tech boom Whatever happens as the eurozone tectonic plates continue to shift, Berlin remains on course to become the tech capital of Europe.

Venture capital is pouring in from London, California and India.

“Since 2009, it has become crazy,” said Roger Bendisch, head of IBB Beteiligungsgesellschaft, a state-backed provider of venture capital in the Berlin tech scene. “Things are moving and we are starting to work with more and more international investors.”

Venture capital funds put €48 million into 64 Berlin-based high-tech companies in 2009.

The first nine months of 2011 saw €136 million invested in 81 businesses, according to statistics compiled by the German Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (BVK).

Most of the companies receiving funds were Internet start-ups.

As stock markets continue to oscillate and even German bonds look like a bad bet, analysts are saying that venture capital is now being increasingly seen as a better place to park cash.

Earlybird Capital, which set up in Berlin specifically to finance tech start-up firms, is optimisitc that what is happening in the capital is not the kind of fragile boom which fizzled out in America in 2000.

Maximilian Claussen, of Earlybird, said; “What you see going on here now certainly isn’t a bubble. In Europe, we will have made a fantastic return if our exit is €200 to €400 million. With the pricing you see in the US right now, you would need exits of several billion.”

No-one knows what the future of the continent will look like in a decade. What is sure is that the future belongs to the brave – and those willing it to back their hunches with hard n cash, whatever currency it might be in.

INTELLIGENT FARMING

IS EFFICIENT FARMING

The Kverneland Group develops and produces agricultural machinery. Joseph Altham interviewed Thomas Bortz, the managing director of Kverneland Group Germany, to find out how the company is employing high technology to make agriculture more productive.

24 Industry Europe

K

verneland has been manufacturing agricultural implements since 1879, when a small forge in a Norwegian village started making scythes. Today the company is a multinational operation, employing over 2000 people worldwide.

For Kverneland, size is a source of strength, making it possible to offer farmers a comprehensive range of machines in the area of arable to crop care and grass harvest applications. The company’s most important factories are located in Norway, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands. Kverneland’s German factory, at Soest, specialises in sow-

ing technology and manufactures pneumatic seed drills and cultivators. Kverneland now plans to make improvements to this factory, which was built in the early 1960s. “We are investing €10 million so that we can completely change our production processes and make them even more flow-oriented,” said Mr Bortz.

Kverneland has a growing market in eastern Europe. Here, the company can draw on the knowledge it acquired after German reunification, when the agriculture of the former East Germany was modernised. In 2006, Kverneland set up a factory in Lipetsk,

in Russia’s black earth region, to produce machines for the Russian market. “The farms in East Germany were arranged on a larger scale than those in West Germany and needed bigger and more robust machines.

We learned to make machinery for the East back in the 1990s. As a result, we were able to jump over to Russia later on.”

Seeding The Soest factory has recently brought out a new version of its pneumatic precision seed drill for vegetables, the Miniair Nova. To achieve the best yields, farmers have to sow

Industry Europe 25

the seeds at the right distance apart from one another, as required by the particular crop.

The Miniair Nova allows seeds to be spaced apart at a fixed distance anywhere between 0.9 and 43.4cm. The machine’s frame is light but strong, while the tyres ensure it is properly balanced and minimise the impact on the soil during sowing. The heart of the machine is a rotating aluminium disc with holes. The disc is fed seeds from a hopper and sucks them into the holes. As the disc turns, the seeds are then ejected and

26 Industry Europe

thereby placed precisely in the soil. “We have taken back market share with this compact, highly precise machine. The blossoming of the seeds is outstanding.”

The Soest factory also makes much bigger seed drills like the DG pneumatic seed drill, a high performance machine offered with a working width of 9 or 12 metres. “The machine is designed for large field applications and delivers high operating speeds. It can cover between 12 and 15 hectares in one hour.”

ISOBUS With such a wide variety of products, Kverneland has many advances to display at the upcoming Agritechnica exhibition in Hanover. These include updates to the company’s loader wagons and to its range of fertiliser spreaders and sprayers. Kverneland’s Ikarus S sprayers come equipped with the company’s ENFO (environmental focus) cleaning system, offering automatic rinsing of the spray lines. “The new cleaning system enables very low consumption of

water. The farmer can clean the sprayers in the fields, which means no liquid has to be brought back to the farm.”

Kverneland has pioneered the concept of the electronic control of farm machinery.

Over 50 different Kverneland machines, including the new generation of sprayers, are now equipped with the company’s ISOBUS technology. ISOBUS, originally developed by a subsidiary of Kverneland in the Netherlands, is a standard for data communication between tractors and agricultural equipment. Kverneland’s ISOBUS terminal, the IsoMatch Tellus, is a touch screen that can be fitted inside the cabin of a tractor and used to operate many different kinds of machine. Whatever machine the tractor is pulling, the same screen is used to control it. The IsoMatch Tellus therefore makes the tractor cabin less cluttered, and means it is easier for the farm worker to learn to use a new piece of equipment.

Farming efficiency The IsoMatch Tellus also allows information to be gathered from the farm machinery. Data such as the total area covered, the operating time or the total amount of fertiliser spread can be captured and saved onto a memory stick for managers to analyse. In combination with a seed spreader, the IsoMatch Tellus terminal can be used to shut off the flow of seeds at the field’s edge. “The seeding machine can calculate where the border lies. This is a big help to the tractor driver when the tractor drives around the border of the field, and it also saves on seed.”

Mr Bortz believes that the future of farming will depend on technological innovation of this kind. “Agricultural efficiency has risen by 600 per cent over the last 60 years (measured as number of people a farmer was able to produce food for, starting in 1950 towards today).

The farming sector is one of the most dynamic in our civilisation and in the future KVG intends

to drive this dynamism further forward. The tractor may be what provides the power, but greater efficiency comes mainly from improving the processes and working results provided by the “tools”, the implements. If you want to achieve higher yields, then you need better, n means more efficient implements.”

Tecnove srl Tecnove srl was founded in Novellara, in the heart of that Italian area renowned worldwide for the excellence of its engineering industries. Strong in its decades of experience, Tecnove is a leading company in steel sheet processing for third parties.

Working with customer drawings, Tecnove creates components for agricultural machinery, fork lift trucks, garage equipment, earth moving equipment. It’s business partner, since many years, of Kverneland Italian plant in Modena. Production units are equipped with machinery for moulding, bending, laser cutting, welding and other work stations. In order to promptly respond to

customer requests and ensure a suitable stock of raw materials, Tecnove also has a 500 pallet-capacity automated warehouse.

With a view to a concrete cooperation with its customers, Tecnove has a large warehouse for finished and semi-finished products, in order to assure just-in-time deliveries and flexibility.

To work competitively and responsibly, and to satisfy customers through the constant strive for quality, Tecnove has obtained and continues to update its UNI EN ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System certification and its UNI EN ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management System certification.

Industry Europe 27

CRYSTALLISED SUCCESS Hungary’s only nitrogen fertiliser producer, Nitrogénművek Zrt, has been in business for 80 years. Since 2008 the company has achieved steady growth thanks to its focus on capacity utilisation and changes in the company structure. This year its output rose to 1 million tonnes, resulting in a €300 million turnover. Edina Beale reports.

E

stablished in 1931, Nitrogénművek Zrt is the only nitrogen fertiliser producer in Hungary that has the ability to manufacture ammonia and chemical fertilisers. The company has acquired a 60 per cent share of the domestic market and as a member of the Bige Holding Group provides the full range of chemical fertiliser products under the Genezis brand.

The parent company, Nitrogénművek Zrt is headquartered in Pétfürdő whilst four

subsidiaries in Hungary are operating in two locations, in Pétfürdő and in Nádudvar.

The company’s structure has gone through a recent change as the management decided to in-source some of its actitivities including storage, packaging, logistics and maintenance. “We used to outsource these activities to other companies,” explains Mr István Blazsek, CEO of Nitrogénművek Zrt. “But we realised that we can be more efficient and cost effective if we do these activities ourselves, especially with things like maintenance as it is vital to keep our operations smooth at all times. For this reason our staff numbers grew to 670 at the parent company, whilst our subsidiaries employ nearly 80 people.”

Strong competence Competition in the chemical fertiliser market in Hungary is fierce due to the high level of imports. Nitrogénművek Zrt puts great emphasis on marketing and provides a nationwide consultancy service for its agricultural partners. The Genezis Partner Network consists of a large number of industry professionals who inform the partners about the results of the experiments carried out by research companies and universities as well as advising them on the most suitable products that meet their individual needs.

The company’s long lifecycle products have contributed to its long-term success. Pétisó (CAN) and the basic products

of ammonia and nitric acid have been produced since the establishment of the factory. Urea products have also been manufactured for 40 years and ammonium nitrate for over 60 years. The company’s excellent-quality products and the ability to offer fast and flexible distribution as well as its high-quality packaging has enabled Nitrogénművek to maintain its leading position in the domestic market throughout the years.

The company has also established strong links with most universities in Hungary to carry out various experiments in the fields of greenhouse and agricultural production. “In recent years we have carried out several experiments on Pétisó in many

Chemoprojekt, a.s.

Member of SAFINA PROJEKTY Group Czech Complex Engineering Company since 1950, specialised in turn-key projects

CHEMOPROJECT NITROGEN a.s.

Products and Services: Biofuels Biodiesel Bioethanol Pyrolises Oil

Nominated in the lead position in the EPC projects executed in cooperation with members of SAFINA PROJEKTY Group

Industrial Infrastructure Products and Services: and Pipelines: Chemistry Pipelines (Crude Oil, Gas, Products) (Chemoprojekt, a.s. in cooperation with Compressor and Pumping Station CHEMOPROJECT NITROGEN a.s.)

Storage of Fluids Nitric Acid, Ammonium Nitrate Urea and Nitrogen Fertilizers Aniline

Třebohostická 14, 100 31 Prague 10, Czech Republic Phone: +420 261 305 201 | E-mail: info@chemoprojekt.cz www.chemoprojekt.cz

different universities, because this was the first granulated product in Hungary’s history of chemical fertilisers and we needed to convince our partners about the advantages of this product,” adds Mr Blazsek.

As a result of an increased demand for the company’s products in foreign markets, the capacity utilisation ratio has continuously increased since 2008 and by 2011 it reached 100 per cent. Currently 55–60 per cent of production is exported to countries including Serbia, Romania, Slovakia, Germany and Italy, where Nitrogénművek set up subsidiaries in order to boosts sales.

Large capacity increase Nitrogénművek completed a €100 million investment in 2008, when a brand new nitric acid factory was built and a new chemical fertilizer manufacturing plant was developed to produce granulated Pétisó. At the same time, all operations were ended in the company’s old units.

“The new plants are much more efficient compared to the old ones: the specific energy consumptions of these facilities are much smaller, so the environmental strain fell drastically, as less material and energy is needed to produce the same product,” explains Mr Blazsek. “Granulated Pétisó

is one of the most popular products in the export markets and it is now being produced much more efficiently.”

Whilst enjoying the benefits of the previous investments, the company has also spent € 4 million to modernise its storage facilities. “This investment was needed to increase our ability to maintaining product quality. In addition to this, we currently run several projects to increase capacity and to reduce energy consumption. We aim to increase our capacities to produce ammonia, nitric acid and Pétisó by 15–20 per cent within the next 2–4 years,” reveals Mr Blazsek.

Preparing for new industry laws From 2013 a new emission trading system (ETS) will be introduced that will force ammonia and nitric acid producers to

reduce their specific energy consumption.

Nitrogénművek Zrt is already preparing to meet the new requirements set by the largest multi-sector cap-and-trade programme currently in effect. “In our nitric acid plant N2O emissions are under the European benchmark level; however, in our ammonia plant we need to make further investments to reduce our energy consumption to the required level,” says Mr Blazsek. In addition, the company has also set a goal to reduce its costs for buying energy and therefore planning to develop a power production capacity in Pétfürdő.

The new investments will enable Nitrogénművek Zrt to increase product output significantly and to drastically improve operational efficiency, thereby increasing competitiveness for at least n another 80 years.

Palota-Vidék 2000 Zrt is one of the oldest companies in Várpalota; its predecessor was established 51 years ago.

The company operates 11 plants in the town and its nearby settlements and is in 100 per cent Hungarian ownership.

Our main activity is dolomite mining.

Our production is operated in several mines and therefore we are able to provide stones and rocks in a varied quality for a wide range of industries including chemical industry, road construction, construction industry and the agriculture sector. We offer transportation service for our mined products using our own vehicle.

Our joint-stock company also owns an agricultural firm engaged in plant cultivation, milk production and sheep farming as well as providing related services with its varied machinery.

Tel: (88) 592-840, 592-800 • Fax: (88) 592-891 • E-mail: palotavidek@vnet.hu

PROVIDING CUSTOMERS WITH THE KEY TO SUCCESS

Industry Europe finds out more about the Gefran Group, which, thanks to its 40-plus years of experience, its extensive know-how, R&D focus and customer-oriented vision is a leader in industrial process automation systems and components. Barbara Rossi reports.

32 Industry Europe

T

he Lombardy-based Gefran Group employs more than 800 employees and is directly present in six countries. The group, headquartered near Brescia, northern Italy, has six production plants and started its activity in the 1960s as a manufacturer of electrical panels for plastic machinery. Over the years its activity expanded to the manufacture of other products and the group underwent internationalisation with the opening of foreign offices and subsidiaries, as well as through the acquisition of other companies. Another important step in the group’s life has been its

being listed on the Milan stock exchange since the 1990s and in the “high performance” Star segment since 2002.

Nowadays, with its strong international presence in key western markets and established direct presence in fast-growing markets, the Group has achieved true global coverage (it has more than 70 authorised distributors all over the world). Presently the group is organised around four main production divisions: sensors, components for automation, systems and motion control. It acts as a single-source supplier for the market, as it offers both high-

tech products and fully integrated systems, and supplies its products to OEMs as well as to system integrators and end users, in a wide range of target markets, such as textiles, iron and steel, wood, pharma, glass, food, packaging, rubber and plastics.

Gefran considers its team of fully qualified engineers to be its most valuable asset in its quest for new industrial automation development, and it invests in its human resources, both in terms of training paths and continuous educational projects. As part of its after-sales service, Gefran also offers technical training courses to its customers, intended to provide industrial automation sector operators with a basic grounding in SIEIdrive DC, AC and servo-brushless drives.

2011 innovations Its strong focus on R&D has resulted in interesting product innovations in 2011. One of those has been GFT, a new line of advanced power controllers for electric heaters, offering greater precision, careful and prudent energy use, detailed process diagnostic and full interconnectivity with motion networks, thereby exactly fulfilling all the growing requirements of the industrial electric heating process sector.

GFT adapts easily to the widest variety of needs, offering a high degree of flexibility, starting from the input control, and it allows the connection of any type of heating load, thanks to its ability to field configure the trigger. It also features numerous highly practical control functions, limiting the instantaneous power lev-

Industry Europe 33

els used, resulting in an optimised consumption and an increased working life of the load.

Among the many functions there is an innovative on-board electronic fuse, eliminating the need for external high-speed fuses and reducing the length and cost of machine downtime.

Because of their high level of flexibility and wide range of applicability the GFT models permit control of small heating systems, as well as of medium and large thermal machines, guaranteeing compactness and working voltages of 480VAC and 600VAC. Another 2011 product is the GFX4-IR, an advanced power controller with hardware and software functions specifically designed for IR (infrared) heating elements

34 Industry Europe

of any wavelength, representing the new frontier of IR heating control. IR lamp heating technologies are increasingly employed in industry and offer concrete advantages over traditional heating devices. They are used in a wide variety of industrial processes, including PET bottle manufacture, cooking foods in ovens, furniture finishes, silicon heat treatment and photovoltaic panel wafers. This flexibility in the range of applications is typical of contactless technologies in which the products is not, or must not be, in contact with the heating element. The use of IR lamps has many advantages, including better process control and reduced dissipation of electri-

cal energy, thanks to a highly sophisticated control technology that directs heat to the required point of the product/process.

2011 also saw an innovative and useful addition to Gefran’s Impact series of pressure sensors, the new Performance Level C version. These new products are the ideal solution for increasing the safety of extrusion machines, in compliance with new international regulations. They also offer concrete and immediate advantages in terms of greater strength, a longer average sensor life, resistance to wear by high temperature abrasive materials, resistance to pressure spikes at cold start, simplicity of installation, reliability and total environmental friendliness,

as well as featuring smart electronics, with auto-diagnostic detecting all possible fault conditions. They are ideal for being deployed in plastic transformation processes.

Finally, a new solution for measuring displacement by means of magnetostrictive technology, whose main feature is simplicity, recently appeared in Gefran’s portfolio. It’s called Onda (wave) and is the result of constant technological research and innovation.

Its simplicity, in terms of choice of options, installation and transducer maintenance is such that it can even be used in applications that do not require high technology. It has an excellent price versus performance ratio and it distinguishes itself for its high measurement accuracy and longer life, due to a reading system based on a magnetic (contactless) principle. Its features make it suitable for most n industrial automation applications.

Industry Europe 35

36 Industry Europe

THE WORLD

OF AUTOMATION What is the best identification system in the industrial world: laser scanning, imaging, or others? According to Datalogic Automation, it doesn’t make sense to try and answer this question by identifying one single technology. Neither laser scanners nor imagers are intrinsically better.

Any choice must be based primarily on the customer’s process.

Interview with Gian Paolo Fedrigo, CEO of Datalogic Automation

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atalogic Automation, whose main site is in the Bologna area, belongs to the Datalogic group. The automatic data capture group started its activity in Italy in 1972. The group, which has now spread both geographically and in terms of market segments, being present in barcode readers, data collection mobile computers, RFID, sensors and vision systems design and manufacture, interestingly, in Europe, entered the world of automatic data capture from the industrial automation side.

Today Datalogic Automation employs 600 people and has a turnover over €90 million and several European production sites. The company designs and manufactures several product groups which target the factory automation and transportation & logistics sectors. 70–75 per cent of its turnover derives from factory automation products, with the remaining part originating from its transport and logistics production. More specifically the Company offers products in automatic identification with a unique offering portfolio: both laser technology and imaging based equipment – where the company ranks as

number two in the world – industrial sensors (employing optoelectronics and inductive technology), security (safety light curtains), laser marking (ranging from DPSS, to Fiber and CO2 technologies) and vision.

Datalogic Automation is a global player with a global footprint. Its main markets are Germany, North America, China and Italy, but it is present worldwide with its direct sales and service organisation and through its distributors and partners. The company is also focusing on emerging markets, such as Brazil, Turkey, Poland and South Korea, offering both its industrial automation and transport and logistics products.

The company has recently enhanced its global position by signing agreements for two important acquisitions.

The first concerns Accu-Sort Systems, Inc. – a leading supplier of Automatic Identification systems in the United States, with revenues of approximately 92 million USD in 2010 - and will enable Datalogic to double its presence in the Industrial Automation market through a wider and more comprehensive range of products and solutions.

The second concerns PPT Vision Inc., a US-based company which is a pioneer in the machine vision market with a turnover of around 6 million USD. With this, Datalogic hopes to strengthen its presence in the artificial vision market.

Offering solutions Significant investments are made in R&D every year – about 8 per cent of the turnover. 70 employees are dedicated to R&D and Datalogic Automation also cooperates with external research centers. Datalogic has been active on the market for almost 40 years and it has a deep knowledge of both clients and markets, which has allowed it to develop an offer based on market needs and its evolution and also to have a clear and trustful dialogue with its clients. The company builds solutions for its clients’ present needs and provides them with a solid roadmap for their future.

“Clients are looking for somebody who can answer their needs. They usually have high expectations, because they are ‘high tech’ companies themselves and also because

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we usually respond to needs connected to their mission critical processes. For instance when we provide scanners and cameras for handling and sorting operations in airports and logistics” Mr Fedrigo explains.

The company is a valued technological partner, offering quality products and is regularly audited by its clients. Hence the Company’s ability to respond to clients is as important as its quality and technology. Mr. Fedrigo adds: “To give you an example, let’s take luggage sorting in airports. The client

is interested in achieving a certain reading rate; how we reach the given target doesn’t matter so much, even if, obviously, technology is a part of it.

“Another example can be drawn from the factory automation field, in particular from tires industry, a field in which we have leadership, offering internal plant tyre tracking solutions, which are very successful on the market. Other manufacturers offer pre-packed solutions, while we offer solutions developed through a dialogue with our customers. We

can manage our leadership thanks to our customer intimacy even when we don’t sell directly to the end customer, but we supply our solutions through our partners.”

Datalogic Automation partners are sometimes pure distributors, while, most of the times, they are system integrators with which Datalogic Automation has built long term partnerships.

The company forecasts a bright future and in the next three years it will look to growth through merges and acquisitions, as

well as through organic growth. It will invest above the average industry in sustaining developments in the promising markets of vision and safety and in the development of the subminiature technology for sensors and the new Fiber Laser Marking technology. A particular focus will be on upgrading laser solutions for transport & logistics.

There are also plans to enhance the supply chain management, to gain additional efficiency and leverage the industrial footprint

as well as further enhancing trade working capital through rationalisation of SKU (stockkeeping units) and inventory processing reengineering. As a conclusion Mr Fedrigo provides a final consideration on the market: “One key driver which leads our target market growth is clear to everyone: further develop automation processes in the industrial production, even in in China. The other one’s goods and people movement, which is growing and growing, exponentially.” n

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STROKE OF GENIUS

Stromsholmen is global leader in the design and manufacture of industrial gas springs with a clear focus on the automotive industry. Philip Yorke talked to Johan Runesson, the company’s managing director, about its latest innovative products and plans to move into new market sectors.

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tromsholmen was founded in Tranas, Sweden in 1876 and over the years has been responsible for the development of many ground-breaking engineering products. However, in 1983 its pioneering development of the gas spring for press tool applications exceeded all previous engineering achievements. At a stroke, it became the world leader in gas spring technology 40 Industry Europe

and its brand, Kaller, is synonymous with exceptional quality and reliability. Since that time, the company has focused exclusively on the development and introduction of new and advanced gas spring products in close cooperation with its customers.

Stromsholmen AB is a member of the Barnes Group, a US corporation with more than 5000 employees and a turnover of $750

million. This strong financial resource continues to guarantee the company’s place at the forefront of its specialised business sector.

Innovation and service driving sales Many years of innovative development have resulted in a range of products that have established an international reputation for quality, reliability and cost-effectiveness.

All the company’s products are life-cycle tested to withstand two million cycles and provide built-in safety features that exceed the relevant requirements laid down by pressure vessel regulators.

Gas springs offer a clear advantage over mechanical springs and provide particularly effective solutions where high force and compact dimensions are required. This explains why Stromsholmen’s branded Kaller gas springs can be found in the world’s leading makes of automobiles, as

well as in dump trucks, waste compressors and industrial robots. Kaller gas springs provide full load on contact without the need to pre-load. Other advantages over mechanical coil springs are that they offer greater tonnage per diameter and as a result can replace the work of several mechanical coil springs. In addition, gas spring output force can be easily and simply adjusted.

Runesson said, “Gas springs are utilised in 90 per cent of all press tool applications for the tool and die market worldwide. Of these,

over 80 per cent go into specialised tools for automotive industry components. The balance is used in the white goods industry and in a wide range of steel formulation products.

Our advanced gas springs guarantee to achieve more force in less space than other products, thus saving costs and minimising waste. In addition, this is combined with the exceptional safety factor that we build into each and every product.

“We are the clear brand leaders in our field with more than 50 per cent of the world mar-

ket for gas spring products. We take pride in everything we do including the dedication to our customers through our global distribution and services network as well as with our comprehensive service directory. We are also environmentally aware and some years ago moved from hard chrome piston rods to chrome-free products whilst maintaining the highest quality standards in reliability and longevity of life the product’s cycle.”

Stromsholmen is present across every continent and its distributors and dealers stock the full range of Kaller products worldwide, whist at the same time guaranteeing just-in-time deliveries and on-the-spot service. The company’s headquarters is based in Sweden and from there its full range of products is manufactured for its markets worldwide.

Highly automated production and testing Stromsholmen has continuously invested in state-of-the-art production technologies to keep it ahead of its competitors and be able to offer economies of scale to its customers. The company’s machining resources

are a customer’s guarantee of consistent quality. Furthermore, Kaller gas springs are designed, manufactured and tested according to PED 97/23/EC for two million full cycles. This testing procedure is done at the highest allowed charging pressure and running temperature and applies to all specified mounting methods. The Kaller unique ‘Flex Guide’ system absorbs lateral piston rod movements and reduces friction as well as lowering the operating temperature. This in turn prolongs service life and allows the use of a higher number of piston strokes per minute.

Kaller has also developed a unique ‘overstroke’ protection system that significantly adds to the reliability and safety of its products. The cylinder wall is designed to deform in a predetermined way, thus venting the internal gas pressure in a controlled manner.

The company has also designed an overload protection system which has an integral safety stop feature and an over-pressure protection system, which is designed to efficiently vent excessive gas pressure.

Continuing global expansion Stromsholmen is continuing to invest in the emerging markets of the world, in particular Asia which already represents 40 per cent of sales and is the group’s fastest-growing market. Mr Runesson added, “We are always looking to acquire companies that subscribe to the same high standards as we do and provide us with the synergies required for strong growth. However, we expect to continue to grow organically with much of our growth coming from the Asian markets and in particular China.

“We also plan to expand our business by entering new market segments, a good example of which is our success in the large, earth-moving sector where the need for heavy-duty gas springs is a growing requirement. In addition, we are now involved in designing products for military vehicles such as tanks and personnel carriers as well as for heavy construction equipment. We can make a difference because of our in-depth knowledge of vehicle dynamics and knowhow gained in the automotive industry.” n

PASSING THE TEST Global product testing market leader TSK Prüfsysteme GmbH is utilising the opportunities across a number of emerging markets to achieve its aim of a rapid growth that’s 100 per cent reliable. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to sales director Holger Müller to find out more.

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ounded in 1983 in the German city of Porta Wesfalica just west of Hanover, product testing equipment developer TSK Prüfsysteme GmbH has steadily grown to become one of the leading names in quality assurance of electrical and electronic assemblies, primarily for the automotive supplier industry worldwide. The company launched its operation with its innovative wire harness testing system, and a few years later it developed the industry’s first PC-based cable tester. Today, TSK Prüfsysteme has continued its tradition for creating pioneering testing assemblies with its CS WIN testing software, which has quickly become the global market leader.

TSK Prüfsysteme is divided into two business units, each with a dedicated testing function focus. Its core business is the wire harness testing unit, with the second being

its general electric function testing system unit, which sees a range of high-quality testing applications for various electromechanical parts ranging from major automotive parts to washing machine parts.

Working together Sales director Holger Müller explained how these two units work together and how they contribute to the company’s financial results.

He said, “Although the wire harness unit is currently our core business, and we have worked hard to lead the industry in this field, we are keen to increase our activities in the function testing system unit. The reasons behind this are that it is a particularly wide field, so our expertise can be appreciated by a wider audience of industry customers, and that suits our focus on expanding in emerging markets such as India where the

automotive market is not as prevalent as our traditional markets.”

TSK Prüfsysteme operates six state-ofthe-art production sites, with locations in the USA, Brazil, Germany, Tunisia, Turkey and China and employs around 330 people. The skill and dedication of the TSK Prüfsysteme workforce is a key element in its continued success, with a high level of engineering expertise, enabling it to achieve its current €26 million turnover, with expectations of posting €38 million within the next two years.

Mr Müller added that the capabilities of the people employed at the company are what allows it to maintain its market-leading position. He said, “We have a large number of specialists here at TSK, particularly with regard to engineers that know all about the exact demands of designing connector parts. While designing matching parts for

Industry Europe 45

new connectors from OEMs is not necessarily high tech, it is certainly high skill, with our engineers needing a lot of technical knowledge to create the solutions we are famous for delivering.”

Total reliability This high level of engineering competence is what sets TSK Prüfsysteme apart from the competition, with its reputation for 100 per cent reliability being an important characteristic. As the company is expanding rapidly into new markets, and gaining further market share in existing European markets, its promise of total reliability in terms of product

quality and service is helping it to meet its ambitious growth targets.

One such territory marked for rapid expansion is India, where TSK Prüfsysteme’s service technician is already working alongside a carefully selected sales agent to identify potential customers. The company’s new market growth strategy always starts with the recruitment of a sales agent that totally understands the local market, with gradual expansion leading to additional sales and services, then a local production facility and finally dedicated design experts.

This process is ably supported by TSK Prüfsysteme’s extensive IT provision, which has been created to offer a valuable global resource for all its employees and sister companies. Mr Müller explained, “All our subsidiaries and global workforce can access every single design we have on a shared fileserver. It gives us a major

advantage over our competitors as it allows the local knowledge and technical expertise of each market to be even greater than the sum of its parts. It also assists us when we start to develop in a new market, as the sales agent can effectively deal with a designer anywhere in the world, and any production facility we operate can take advantage of the technical know-how of a colleague on the other side of the world.”

With the TSK Prüfsysteme expansion strategy already in full flow, Mr Müller added that each new market needs to see an annual turnover of €1million prior to the huge investment of machinery, facilities and manpower being made, in order to ensure that the company maintains its affordable growth. The next target market for the company is Russia, where it has already identified a need to introduce its own sales, service and technical n people in the near future.

A WINDOW ON SUCCESS Established by the Şişecam group in 1978, Trakya Cam ranks among the top six flat glass companies in the world and is in the top four in Europe in terms of its production capacity. It currently produces a variety of glass products for use in the building, automotive, solar energy and home appliances sectors.

Trakya Cam’s chairman, Teoman Yenigun, talked to Industry Europe about the company’s current positioning and its operations.

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he Şişecam Group, whose own establishment dates back to 1935, is known to have pioneered the production of flat glass, tempered glass, automotive glass, mirror and insulation glass from 1967 to 1976 in Turkey. When Şişecam set up Trakya Cam, it became the first company to deploy float technology among any east European, Balkan, Middle Eastern and North African countries and had its first fully operational float glass line in 1981. Today it operates seven float glass lines and is among the top glass suppliers in the world. Mainly the automotive glass and home appliance glass products are designed for the specific needs of clients. This means that the company must establish very close relationships with clients from the inception of projects to the start of serial production.

In addition to the domestic market, Trakya’s major markets are the Balkans and central Europe, the Middle East and Russia.

New investments in progress The company is headquartered in Istanbul and currently has plants in three cities in Turkey.

It is in the process of constructing a new flat glass plant in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, in order to meet the rapidly increasing demands of the

48 Industry Europe

Turkish market. It also has production facilities abroad, one of which is located in the city of Targovishte in Bulgaria. Additionally, as a result of a joint venture established with Saint-Gobain in 2009, it has a production facility in Ain El Sukhna, Egypt.

Mr Yenigun states that further investments in flat glass, mirror, coated glass and automotive glass will also be realised in Russia in partnership with Saint-Gobain. He continues by explaining that Trakya Cam is also investing in another production complex in Bulgaria. He highlights the successful collaboration with Saint-Gobain and says, “We believe that our partnership with SaintGobain has been a successful collaboration.

We believe that strategic cooperation and ventures in collaboration with other companies will play a key role in Trakya Cam’s future.” The company aims to expand and penetrate the markets they are involved in, mainly with its value added products.

An environmentalist future According to Mr Yenigun, energy conservation and environmental protection have become the focal points of every nation, considering the robust growth of energy demand and

the increasing CO2 emissions going into the atmosphere. Because of this fact, he says, products that consider the need for energy efficiency and renewable energy production have become the driving force for growth in the flat glass industry. As a result Trakya Cam is paying special attention to diversifying its products that will have a great importance within the context of sustainability.

“Trakya Cam puts emphasis on research that focused on products in the renewable energy area and multifunctional glass systems which decrease energy consumption and are environmentally friendly”, Mr Yenigun says. Within this framework, Şişecam and Trakya Cam conducted research projects and developed new multi-functional products for architectural applications and managed to achieve successful production trials for some of these products.

Mr Yenigun expects that coated glasses for use in various climates within a wide range of performance will have a major growth in the construction sector. He adds that in the renewable energy area, various glass products for solar energy systems, including low-iron glass and glass with anti-reflective coatings have vast growth potential.

Industry Europe 49

HIGH ABOVE THE MAINSTREAM Bon Marine Logistics Ltd is a fast moving customer and market oriented organisation headquartered in Varna, Bulgaria.

By establishing long-term relations based on mutual interest and co-operation, we strive to be the preferred partner in the Transport, Freight Forwarding and Logistics sectors at the local and international level.

Bon Marine Logistics’ most distinguishing feature is the comprehensiveness of our services, which include the development of customized supply chains and their subsequent implementation through a complete transportation-customslogistic and loading/unloading process.

Our main customers are organizations in the field of Energy, Oil & Gas exploration and drilling, as well as other industrial enterprises and their suppliers. www.bonmarlogistics.com

He also draws attention to the incentives in the European automotive industry which are mostly provided for environmentally friendly technologies. He says that some applications have rapidly gained importance, such as reducing CO2 emissions as well as reducing the weight of vehicles, lowering the energy usage required for cooling, saving fuel and using lead-free materials for this purpose.

He states that in line with this objective, in 2010 and 2011, Şişecam and Trakya Cam have carried out various research and development projects in the field of automotive glasses. As part of this project an original heat-reflecting car wind shield was developed and its initial trial productions were completed successfully.

Proactive approach against the financial crisis When the global financial turmoil hit the sectors where flat glass is used, Trakya Cam decided to pursue a proactive policy to adapt to the new circumstances. It intensified its regional operations to have wide access to the Turkish market and to raise the number of its customers and thus penetrated extensively into all market segments through product diversification. Regarding the strategies pursued in the export markets, Mr Yenigun

states: “The serious turbulence in European and Russian flat glass markets was largely compensated by market share gains and increased sales in markets in the Middle East, Central Europe, the Balkans and North Africa, in line with our company’s market development activities.”

Mr Yenigun also outlines the fact that the company’s 2010 figures presented

an uptrend in flat glass demand which had contracted in 2008 and 2009 due to the financial crisis. He points out that the recovery of the economy and specifically of the glass sector has been ongoing for some time and has been reflected in Trakya Cam’s operations, with the company experiencing a 17 per cent increase n in sales revenue during 2010.

CREATING STRONG BRANDS Evyap is the owner of some of the most successful brands in Turkey for personal care and cosmetics products. Having started as a soap manufacturer in 1927, the company’s wide range of products are now leading their markets not only in Turkey but also in neighbouring countries. Aynur Adiller spoke to Evyap’s marketing director Burc Ustun.

Industry Europe 53

IT

would be almost impossible to find anyone in Turkey who hasn’t heard of the soap brand Duru, Arko Nem hand care creams or Arko Men personal care. Yet at the same time not many would know that behind these personal care brands is a family business started by the Evyap family and now being managed by the third generation.

Today Evyap is situated in the top 100 Turkish industrial firms, has over 2500 employees and is one of the major soap producers in the world. Its competitors are often multinational companies whereas Evyap is a more centralised business and remains fully Turkish-owned and managed.

The Duru and Arko brands are just two of the many successful brands that Evyap has created over the years. Evyap currently has four product groups:

54 Industry Europe

• Personal wash products: Bar and liquid soaps, shower gels

• Personal care products Skin care products, hair care, sun care, oral care products, and men’s toiletries

• Hygienic products Diapers, hygienic pads, wet wipes Evyap’s main brands are Duru, Arko Men, Arko Nem, Evy Baby, Evy Lady, Gibbs, Fax, Activex and Sanino.

The main principle behind the company’s success appears simple when it is explained by Mr Burc Ustun: to contribute to the happiness of people Evyap has to produce high quality products by using the latest technologies available and to offer customers reasonable prices.

No doubt the business’s strategic decisions regarding which markets to operate in have also played an important role in the company’s

success both in its choice of domestic markets and its positioning in other countries.

Once the company had achieved a leading position with some of its products in the domestic market it concentrated on increasing the variety of its products and entered into new sectors while steadily moving into foreign markets by spotting opportunities for specific products. Evyap’s products are now sold in more than 100 countries. For example, while Evyap is leading the domestic market with beauty soaps, pre and aftershave products and skincare products, it also managed to position its Duru, Fax and Arko brands into leading positions in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Romania, Poland, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Albania, Moldova, Egypt, Iraq, Iran and other markets.

Duru and Arko have also been chosen to be supported by the Turkish state’s Turquality programme, beating hundreds of other well-known brands for the honour. The programme, which is supported by Deloitte, aims to help create 10 world brands in 10 years and helps the chosen products to succeed with a variety of different support strategies.

Why not western Europe?

Mr Ustun explains why the company has never entered western European markets despite having such high quality and competitive products. He says that the main reason is that Evyap has generally preferred to operate as one of the first companies in the markets they have chosen to enter, and have thus selected places where branding barriers and competitiveness are more favourable for their products. He claims that in Europe branding barriers are very high and the market already has many firmly established brands. He says that while they do sell their products in western Europe for the Turkish community, they have thus far chosen not to invest in branding in that region. Instead Evyap has concentrated its marketing efforts in primary markets like Russia, eastern Europe, the Turkic Repub56 Industry Europe

lics, Iran, Iraq and North Africa, where they have spotted better opportunities for growth. The company even opened its only soap production facility outside Turkey when it moved into Egypt in 2002. It also has sales teams in many other countries.

Current market penetration Evyap’s identity is almost entirely wrapped up in its products. Arko Men, a shaving products brand, is currently the market leader in Turkey, as is Arko Nem dailycare cream, which leads in the area of women’s skincare products. Mr Ustun says that a recent change in market positioning for the Arko Men brand has proven to be a good move as the brand became more dynamic, Mr Ustun claims that Turkey has a developing market in men’s skincare and body care products. The company is therefore in a position of great strength for its men’s products and aims to reinforce this as the product area continues to grow.

Another important category for the company is personal washing and Evyap claims that “Duru is the first name to come to mind when people think of Turkish soaps”. It is currently leading the market with a 45 per cent share of the beauty soaps segment and is leading liquid segment also with 20 per cent market share. Its shower gel has a 20 per cent market share and is the second biggest brand in Turkey and the company has introduced different brands in the shower gel category, Arko Men Shower Gel and Activex Antibacterial Shower Gel. Mr Ustun claims that its antibacterial liquid soap, Activex, has been a great success.

The company is also focused on developing special products for children, following a strategy to make hygiene products more fun and attractive to younger users. Well-known cartoon characters are used in the packaging for a new series of special products for children and Evyap has also been active in promoting education on hygiene, recently being involved in the Health Ministry’s handwashing cam-

paign, which was widely seen as a success.

Evybaby, the company’s brand of baby nappies, has a 7 per cent market share in Turkey. Mr Ustun claims that the firm is making investments into this brand and its production facilities. The market has fierce competition in this product group with very strong foreign and domestic brands.

In 2006, Evyap strengthened its leadership position in personal care products after it acquired Aromel cosmetics, a leading firm in the fragrance sector. With this move it added well-known brands like Bellissima, First Class and Privacy Emotion, to its portfolio and afterworth Evyap has also launched two new brands Blade and Tatoo under Aromel cosmetics.

Evyap’s current strategy for growth is to strengthen its position in the markets that it has chosen to enter and successfully answer the changing demands from these markets. In the long run the company plans to enter new markets, new categories and new brands . n

AT THE CUTTING EDGE

Leading global supplier of consumer products Fiskars is the global number one for garden tools. EmmaJane Batey spoke to Thomas Enckell, president of the Garden division, to learn more about how the company is investing in innovation to retain the top spot.

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ounded in 1649 in the small Finnish village which bears its name, Fiskars has grown to become a leading global supplier of consumer products. Divided into the four business areas of Home, Garden, Outdoors and Other, which incorporates the company’s real-estate interests, its corporate headquarters and shared services, Fiskars remains in the town, where it is an important employer and supporter of local arts and design.

The market leader in the Nordic countries and Scandinavia, Fiskars is also the number-one garden tools brand in the UK, France, Russia, Poland, the Baltic countries, Czech Republic, Slovakia and second in Germany. In the USA and Australia, Fiskars is the market leader for garden cutting tools.

With around 15,000 hectares of land and

58 Industry Europe

more than 3600 employees, Fiskars generated net sales of €715.9 million in 2010. A multinational corporation, the company’s main activities are found across Europe, particularly its local Nordic region, as well as North America and Australia. With its main state-of-the-art production facilities in Finland and Poland, Fiskars also operates smaller satellite facilities in Russia and pottery facilities in the UK and Germany.

Centuries of experience In 2009, Fiskars celebrated 360 years of business experience, making it Finland’s oldest company. This impressive fact gives the company a unique perspective on business cycles and trends, particularly coupled with its long-held passion for innovation. Thomas Enckell, president of Fiskars’ Garden division,

told Industry Europe, “We started as a manufacturer of cast iron and forged products back in 1649 and we still specialise in highquality garden tools, so we have an unrivalled experience. Over the years, we’ve been able to appreciate what people want and need, and to meet or exceed their expectations by delivering excellent products that allow them to be more productive with their time. Our orange-handled scissors are our most wellknown product and can be found in homes and workplaces worldwide thanks to their reliable quality and performance.”

With a garden tools product range described by Mr Enckell as having ‘the X factor’, Fiskars offers its own brand products worldwide in addition to its Sankey, Ebert, Leborgne and Zinck-Lysbro brands. As the ‘global master’ brand, the Fiskars name is

Industry Europe 59

Oy Varax-Products AB has been delivering pipe and sheet metal products for four decades.

Today, the company’s long experience is complemented by the latest technology in the field.

Varax has 50 employees, who will provide you with a quick and reliable service. Varax subcontractors are carefully selected; Varax uses high quality raw materials from leading European suppliers.

Varax-Products Oy – turnkey service

Varax Solutions offers services from the planning and development of pipe and sheet metal products to their production, packaging and delivery. Varax Solutions will provide you with complete solutions, or just take care of certain parts of your project.

Planning

Varax helps you choose the right materials and structural solutions to ensure that the manufacturing of products is efficient, economical and of a high quality. Versatile production ensures high quality from prototype to production.

Multi-Dimensional tube/pipe bending

Varax advanced and versatile pipe bending machines allow for both fixed and variable radii. Our machines can also handle oval and square (rectangular cross-section) materials. We are able to bend steel, stainless steel, aluminium and copper with precise accuracy.

Robotic welding

Robotic welding is the key to the high and consistent quality of our work, and is also cost-effective for you. We use four MIG and TIG welding robots, which can handle pieces of different sizes. In addition to these, our equipment includes spot welding machines. Varax has qualified IW-welders that work according to the EN3834-2:2005 weld standard and have extensive experience in the manufacture of welding jigs, whilst manual welding is also a part of our expertise.

Powder-coating

Varax can also offer you powder coating services with pre-treatment. Automated powder coating equipment is used both for the painting itself and the pre-treatment. Varax uses phosphate-free Bonderite NT-1 nanoceramic for its pre-treatment. This significantly reduces the environmental impact of the process while ensuring high quality and a wear resistant paint surface.

Packaging and delivery

Varax can package all products according to your needs for retail or industrial purposes. Products will be delivered in a professional manner and, if needed, we can also handle intermediate storage for you.

www.varax.fi

recognised as a premium brand that embodies the company’s historical heritage and commitment to Finnish quality and design. Mr Enckell continued, “Even though we’re thoroughly respectful and appreciative of the history our long establishment affords us, we are resolutely dedicated to continuous innovation.

We love good design and love to pass that on to our customers through creating ergonomic products that make life easier.”

The company offers various hand tools for digging, cutting and cultivating within

60 Industry Europe

the garden sector. Product development represents an important investment area for Fiskars, and it is this financial commitment that supports the skilled design teams in creating fresh ideas within these key areas.

It has recently introduced a brand new product – a cutting device used for pruning, with the Fiskars branded tool able to cut through thick branches with less power needing to be exerted by the gardener.

This lightweight, easy-to-use innovation is a perfect example of how Fiskars maintains its

thread to the past, with high quality, Finnishdesigned garden tools, yet has a clear eye on the future.

Ahead of the curve Mr Enckell explained, “With the two major global trends of an aging population and many people being time-poor impacting on our industry as they are on many others, reliable products that take less effort to create a great result in the garden are perfectly in tune with customer demands. We are

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always working to renew our offer of cutting tools, keeping the Fiskars’ unique quality and design as standard.”

Launching in 2012, Fiskars have developed a new garden drill that promises the ability to ‘dig a hole with a drill’, saving considerable physical effort from the customer.

Not a spade, the garden drill is an innovation that looks set to establish a segment of its own. The company has also recently launched a new generation of axes, which is

an important category for the company, as part of its ‘constant flow’ of NPD. With Fiskars already performing well across much of Europe, its expectations for continued growth will see a concerted drive in eastern Europe as well as in Turkey, which is expected to be a strong market for the company in the coming years. Mr Enckell also said that it plans to develop its market presence in the Netherlands and Italy. He added, “We have enjoyed a positive progres-

sion by following international DIY chains as they grow, moving with them into new markets and staying relevant.”

The future for Fiskars is expected to be as successful as its past. Mr Enckell intends to ensure that the brand is as strong as possible in the garden hand tools market by maintaining its excellent quality and welldesigned products and introducing even more innovative options across its active n and emerging markets.

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LEADERSHIP THROUGH INNOVATION AND SUSTAINABILITY

British American Tobacco (BAT) is the world’s most international tobacco group with products sold in over 180 countries worldwide. Philip Yorke talked to Ralf Wittenberg, the general manager for central Europe, about the future of the tobacco industry and BAT’s leadership role in relation to health, the environment and sustainability.

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stablished more than 100 years ago, BAT continues to build a strong reputation for both quality and responsibility in its manufacturing processes and marketing operations. The company is the only international tobacco group with a significant interest in tobacco-leaf growing, working closely with farmers and providing direct agronomy support for those requiring it and covering all aspects of crop production and environmental best practice. In 2010 the group purchased 460,000 tonnes of leaf grown by around 200,000 farmers worldwide with over 80 per cent of these coming from the poorer, emerging economies of the world.

In the same year (2010), BAT’s subsidiaries enabled governments around the world to gather more than £30 billion in tax revenues, which represents almost ten times the Group’s annual profits after tax.

Responsibility is integral to the group’s strategy and through dialogue with its stakeholders, the company works to pursue its commercial objectives in ways consistent with the changing expectations of a modern tobacco business. The BAT Group operates 45 factories in 39 countries and employs more than 60,000 people worldwide. The company’s workforce is also strongly multicultural and has a devolved structure allowing each local company a wide freedom of action and responsibility for its own operations.

Innovation driving sales and sustainability BAT believes that good environmental practice is also good business practice and that businesses can enhance their efficiency through environmentally sound technologies. Almost everything that the Group han-

dles, whether it’s tobacco, paper or board, is grown in the natural environment, so it makes good sense to ensure that its use of raw materials is fully sustainable.

Wittenberg said, “We take our responsibilities concerning sustainability and the environment very seriously. As the world’s number two listed tobacco company, we have a mix of global, regional and local brands and we enjoy a wide range of business in these diverse markets Within Europe the market for tobacco products is slowly declining by around 3 per cent per year.

However, when it comes to value we are still a growth industry with prices increasing more than off-setting reduced volumes still; 20 per cent of all adults choose to smoke as a personal choice. We took the lead in what is probably one of the most heavily regulated manufacturing industries and sup-

Vaassen Flexible Packaging is proud to be a longstanding supplier to British American Tobacco of tobacco innerliner materials. VFP is the European market leading producer of innerliner for the tobacco industry and offers the widest range of innerliner – aluminium / paper, metalized paper and printed paper. Our expertise in coloured innerliner can help brand optimization by means of a colourful and unique identity.

ported the restriction of sales and advertising products that reduce the health risks of smoking.”

Mr Wittenberg added, “The premium end of the market remains buoyant for us, especially in the Middle East and we have been able to maintain our market share in this sector with the launch of innovative, new products. For example two of our biggest premium brands, KENT and Lucky Strike, are now also available as switch products, which means that the smoker can switch to a menthol cigarette at any given point thanks to a special menthol capsule included in the cigarette.

“In Sweden the demand for our ‘smokeless Snus product continues to grow and is acknowledged by independent health experts to be at least 90 per cent less harmful than smoking cigarettes. Snus is supplied in a small pouch which is placed under the upper lip and held in the mouth for up to an hour.

We sell this alternative, smoke-free product in Sweden and Norway and it is currently available in test markets in South Africa, Canada and Japan. However, one of our main fields of research is to reduce the number of harmful carcinogens found in tobacco and we have a pilot plant in Switzerland dedicated to the scientific reduction of these chemicals within the tobacco leaf. To date we have been success-

ful in extracting some of these carcinogens by washing them out of the tobacco leaf in a special process. In the area of environmental care we have also made significant progress in our packaging by removing aluminium foils and cello-wrap on some of our brands. We also use only recycled paper and board and are looking at ways of making our entire supply chain more environmentally friendly and sustainable e.g. via use of renewable energy.”

Increasing focus on biodiversity Running in parallel to its investment programme to reduce the health risks associated with smoking, the BAT group also seeks to reduce its carbon footprint based upon its three ‘R’s principle: Reduce, Recover, Recycle. The company’s diverse environmental programmes cover energy conservation, water, air and soil protection as well as afforestation and the minimising of waste and the use of natural resources. Key aspects include the continuing reduction of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and managing the company’s various impacts on biodiversity.

The Group’s approach to understanding and managing issues concerning biodiversity takes account of the objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Millenium Ecosystem Assesment and Target

9 of the Millenium Development goals. In addition, the three partner NGOs in the British Tobacco Biodiversity Partnership are also working with the company to further integrate biodiversity across its operations and key supply-chain programmes.

Many of the areas in which the Group operates include arid and developing countries where water is often a scarce resource. BAT works to control its water consumption and reduce it across the Group as well as minimising the environmental impact of its water discharges. In this, and many other aspects, the BAT group is leading the way in investing n in a better future.

PUSHING FORWARD Royal Gazelle NV is the leading bicycle brand in the Netherlands and a global exporter of high-quality, hand-made bicycles. Philip Yorke talked to a representative from the company about the success of its E-Bikes and about its strategy for future growth.

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oninklijke Gazelle NV was founded in 1892 and is the oldest and most famous bicycle brand in the Netherlands. The company achieved the Dutch Royal charter in 1992 resulting in the word ‘Koninklijke’ being added to the Gazelle brand name. The company has moved very much with the times and today caters for a diverse cross section of cyclists, from those who simply want a quality bicycle for leisure or for family, to those who prefer a racing bike, mountain bike, commuter bike or the latest E-Bike.

The company is still based at its original premises at Dieren, near Arnhem, where all its bicycles are assembled and tested prior to delivery. Gazelle manufactures more than 300,000 bicycles a year. The company employs around 500 staff and has a turnover approaching €200 million.

In June 2011, Gazelle turned over a new page in its history when it was acquired by the Dutch international trade and service organisation Pon Holdings BV. Pon’s ambition is to become a leading trendsetter in mobility provision, and Gazelle fits in well with this strategy. In particular, Pon hopes to profit from the growing popularity of the E-Bike, with which product, as we shall see, Gazelle has seen a great deal of success.

Setting the trend The company has always set itself high standards and been committed to innovation, thereby creating a following throughout Europe for its graceful, functional and smooth-geared bicycles.

Gazelle has built on this solid reputation by creating bicycles to meet the demands of today’s different cycling groups. The company representative commented, “We have come a long way since we were a basically one-model company with our Classic Dutch range. We now produce city bikes, hybrid bikes, folding bikes, racing bikes, mountain bikes, family bikes, kids’ bikes and of course our latest E-Bikes. We also export to most European countries as well as the USA and Australia, but, our biggest markets remain Germany and the Netherlands. Our price range also reflects our wide variety of products with bikes starting from €379 and going as high as €3000 or more for our custom-made, hand-crafted racing bikes.”

Gazelle was the first bicycle manufacturer in the Netherlands to be awarded the ISO 9001 quality certification, which recognises the consistent high quality of manufacture and quality control management. Gazelle also provides a 10-year warranty against defects in materials and construction – another trend-

setting ‘first’. All Gazelle bikes are equipped with top quality Vredestein and Schwalbe tyres, which embody the latest tyre technology and offer anti-leak protection. These tyres may also have a special profile on the outside, and with the addition of thicker walls and special composite rubber materials are far less prone to having a puncture. Most Gazelle models also offer a high-quality AXA wheel lock as standard as well as a conventional chain lock for maximum security.

Appealing to commuters Many of the Gazelle models are ideal for leisure pursuits or for local town work. However, the company’s latest innovative range of E-Bikes offer a new world of opportunity for those who would prefer to cycle to work. Originally designed to help the more elderly of the cycle population to keep mobile, the E-Bike offers a novel electronic drive to assist propulsion, whilst still relying on a contribution from the cyclist.

It was not long before commuters became aware of the additional benefits, as our interviewee explains: “As you may guess, the ‘E’ in ‘E-Bike’ stands for electronic drive and this can make a significant contribution to the effort required to pedal a bike and is ideal for those whose legs are not as strong as they were. Our E-Bike

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can keep them mobile and fit for many more years to come. We discovered that in Germany and the Netherlands many younger cyclists were also buying the Gazelle E-Bike. It looks just like a normal, stylish, well-appointed Gazelle but has a small, lightweight lithium battery attached to the rear parcel carrier. Commuters soon realised that they could pedal 15 or 20 kilometres to work with ease and save money, as well as saving the planet and keeping fit all at the same time! In the Netherlands many companies are offering rewards and incentives to their staff to cycle to work because it results in healthier, fitter and happier staff who take less time off work through sickness as a result.

“We launched our first E-Bikes in 2005 and they already represent around 15 per cent of our total sales in terms of volume but even more in terms of revenue – around 25–30 per cent – as they are a more expensive commodity. This particular model is called the Gazelle Innergy. These bikes are also becoming increasingly popular in the USA where our brand is continuing to experience positive growth.”

Infinite choice Another innovation from the Gazelle stable is the opportunity to assemble your own racing bike and customise it to suit your own particular requirements. The customer

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can choose the frame style and size, type of saddle, racing wheels, gear selection, brakes and the colour scheme of their choice. The bike that one customises offers an infinite variety of options and is another sector that continues to demonstrate strong growth for Gazelle. The company added that lifestyle bikes will also have this facility available in the near future.

Gazelle’s representative concluded, “The climate for bike sales has never been better with health and conservation issues driving the industry forward. We are continuing to meet the changing demands of our customers without compromising on quality or service.” n Industry Europe 71

RUSSIAN BEAUTY Arnest is the number-one Russian manufacturer of aerosol sprays and offers a wide range of hair styling products. Joseph Altham reports on an award-winning company that is responsible for some leading Russian brands.

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he company’s main factory is located in the Stavropol region in south-western Russia. This factory, in the city of Nevinnomyssk, was established in 1971. In 1993, after the end of the Soviet Union, the factory was privatised and renamed. When the words “aerosol”, “Nevinnomyssk” and “Stavropol” were combined, the result was the new name, Arnest. Following privatisation, the company received an injection of foreign capital, allowing it to modernise and expand its production facilities. Arnest now has a production capacity of 150 million aerosol packs and 15 million plastic containers per year.

Today the Arnest group of companies is made up of three industrial entities: Arnest in the Stavropol region, Aerozol Novomoskovsk in the Tula region and Divi in Moscow. The group possesses all the necessary industrial, legal and administrative resources for creating an exclusive product at the client’s request.

The various production facilities within the group of companies are able to work together to give the client a complete range of services: from creating formulae and testing the properties of products in the factory’s own laboratories, to designing and developing the look of the packaging, right down to completing the

certification procedures and registering all the necessary documents. Services are offered for the storage and transport of the finished products, including export shipment of the goods and clearing the cargo through customs.

One of Arnest’s strengths is its ability to produce its own aluminium spray cans. This is an important advantage, since for certain types of aerosol products, such as hair styling mousse and deodorant, aluminium containers are the only practical option. Arnest can also make its own valves and spray-caps, and even has the capacity to produce its own aerosol propellants. Modern, high-quality equipment from Industry Europe 73

leading European firms ensures that Arnest can meet international standards of quality.

The company maintains a system of quality management certified to ISO 9001. In 2004, Arnest achieved ISO 14001 certification for its environmental management system. “In our

manufacturing, the quality of the end product is the absolute priority,” said Helen Lukantseva, marketing director of the Company Arnest. “It is Arnest’s production quality that has made possible the dynamic growth that the company is showing. Over the past five years, Arnest has grown by more than 80 per cent, and we are ready for an even higher growth rate, together with our partners.”

Partnerships Arnest is a powerful presence on its home ground, manufacturing over 75 per cent of all the aerosols made in Russia. The company’s commitment to quality reflects its determination to retain the trust of Russia’s consumers.

In 2010, hair spray and hair styling mousse

from the Prelest Professional range won gold awards in the beauty products category of the national competition, “100 Best Goods of Russia”. “Arnest is the leader in the Russian market for styling, with an overall market share of 27 per cent. In the air freshener market Arnest is certainly the number-two player, with a market share of 18 per cent.”

High production quality also enables the company to satisfy the requirements of multinational firms. Alongside its own products, Arnest manufactures items for other companies under contract, and contract manufacturing is a valuable source of business. “In the field of contract manufacturing we work with famous European companies such as Schwarzkopf & Henkel, L’Oréal, Unilever

Manufacturer of Innovative Aluminium Aerosols Pleased to be associated with Arnest for many years We wish Arnest continued success for the future Envases UK Tel: (44) 1639 814441 Envases Spain Tel: (34) 94 672 62 50 Envases France Tel: (33) 559 26 60 94 Envases Italy Tel: (39) 010 54 1491 www.envases-group.com

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and Procter & Gamble. The products we make are famous all over the world.” These include items from L’Oréal’s Fructis range and products for the German hair styling label Syoss.

Brands Arnest is best known for its “Prelest” brand of hair care products. “Prelest” means charm, and for many years Prelest hair spray has been highly regarded in its home market. In total, the Arnest product range runs to over 350 different items. Arnest has created several Prelest brands, such as Prelest Professional, Prelest Bio and Prelest Classic, and the offering now includes styling mousse, hair gel, shampoo,

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conditioner and hair mask cream. Arnest even makes hypoallergenic shampoos and shower gels for children.

Because Arnest’s core competence is in aerosol sprays, the company is active in household chemicals as well as beauty products, and makes surface cleaning sprays and air fresheners. Mosquitoes and cockroaches are common hazards of Russian life, and Arnest manufactures the leading Russian brand of insect repellent spray, Dikhlofos.

Arnest also sells various products to deal with insects under its aptly named brand, Uboinaya Sila (“lethal force”). “The brands of the Arnest group of companies are brands with a history,” says Helen Lukantseva. “The

strongest are the Prelest umbrella brand in beauty products, and the Symphony brand in the air freshener segment.”

Expansion Through contract manufacturing, Arnest is helping foreign firms to operate in the Russian market. At the same time, Arnest exports its own products abroad. According to Ms Lukantseva the export markets include virtually all of Russia’s neighbours in the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States), as well as the Baltic republics, several Arab countries, East Asia and Indochina. “But we are not stopping here and at the moment discussions about exports are being held with various other countries.”

Another way for Arnest to expand is through acquisition, and in June 2011 it gained control of the Dividik brand of shoe polish and shoe care products. “This is a new line for us, but one that is actively and successfully developing nonetheless.” Arnest has become one of Russia’s fastest-growing businesses. Ms Lukantseva says this is because the company has pursued the right strategy for developing its manufacturing and distribution operations. “This includes modernising the equipment and processes for production and distribution, winning new markets for sales, and obtaining new production capacity.

Only a multi-faceted, considered and progressive approach on every level and in every n field can give positive results.”

A GLOBAL LEADER The Spanish engineering giant Dragados specialises in offshore equipment design, fabrication and installation for the oil and gas sector. Industry Europe looks at its current activities and some of its latest major projects.

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one of the undisputed world leaders in offshore equipment design, fabrication and installation for the oil and gas sector, Dragados Offshore has proven capabilities and all the necessary resources to develop large-scale projects. The company operates three strategically located Yards, one in Puerto Real in southern Spain, one in Algeciras, also in southern Spain, and the last in Tampico in the Gulf of Mexico.

Since 1972, Dragados Offshore has worked for some of the world’s leading oil companies, delivering a wide range of projects: the list includes the likes of jackets, integrated topsides, modular plants, semisubmersible topsides and hulls or FPSO modules. This is especially impressive when one takes into the account that this complex market has seen most of the European yards close, as fabrication moves to Asia.

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Yet Dragados has managed to remain not only competitive but to secure a much coveted pole position in this complex, rapidly changing market.

The last 30 years have witnessed the Spanish engineering giant going from strength to strength. The Scott Utilities and Services module for Ameralda Hess was its first heavy module at 9000 tonnes. In 1987 it completed its first on-shore project, the 15,000-tonne Mongstad modular refinery for Statoil. A real challenge followed with the Oresund Bridge for Sundlink Contractor HB. This is the bridge that links the cities of Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmo in Sweden, and Dragados Offshore played a major part with the construction of the 49 spans.

The first semi-submersible hull Dragados Offshore manufactured was for Kogas/Aker to operate in the Snorre B Norwegian sector

of the North Sea. It is reputed to be one of the most complete hulls ever delivered by a yard with a weight of some 15,000 tonnes.

Reaching out to the world The company’s main Puerto Real Yard in Cadiz is itself quite a feat of engineering, when one considers that it comprises almost 500,000m2 of land gained from the sea. It includes all the necessary facilities one would expect such as piping, blasting, painting, welding and fireproofing workshops.

Dragados’ workforce is highly trained for the increasingly complex projects it is required to carry out. The company has developed its own integrated management system, and this has allowed it to carry out hundreds of complex manoeuvres over the years – such as the lifting, roll-up, loading and transportation of huge structures – without any serious mishaps.

The yard’s strategic situation and the almost year-round good weather conditions it is blessed with have made it a location of choice for contracts destined for the Mediterranea, the west coast of Africa and the North Sea. And there is no question that Dragados Offshore is actively responding to the challenges of globalisation by reaching out to new markets. In the year 2000, and due to the predicted depletion of North Sea oil and gas reserves, the company decided to expand and chose Mexico as a vantage point. In 2004 the company decided to open an office in Houston in order to consolidate and strengthen its commercial presence across the Atlantic.

Recent projects The past couple of years have seen the company continue to strengthen its global position, with the successful winning and completion of

several large projects. In 2009 it won a contract in the Gulf of Mexico from Pemex Exploration and Production (PEP) for the ‘HA-LT -01’ living quarters platform, with a capacity of 201 beds.

The completion of this large project took place from the Dragados Tampico yard over a period of two years and covered the living quarter module of five stories, a helicopter deck and two equipment decks with a total weight of around 4500 tonnes, the jacket and piles of 2200 tonnes and a the platform interconnection bridge. The installation of the living quarters platform will be carried out by the ‘float-over’, making it the first module to be installed using this method in the Gulf of Mexico.

In April 2010 Dragados was awarded a new contract from ConocoPhilips for part of the Jasmine Field Development located in the British sector of the North Sea. The work covered constructability analysis, construction

engineering, partial purchases, construction, commissioning, load-out and sea fastening of two decks of around 6000 tonnes associated to two platforms: the Judy Riser Platform and the Jasmine Wellhead Platform. This project enabled the company to further consolidate its position as one of the leading fabricators in the offshore industry in the North Sea. Finally, and most recently, in December last year (2010) Dragados Puerto Real was awarded a contract by HESS Denmark for the South Arne Phase 3 project. The project includes the expansion of the existing South Arne field in offshore Denmark, covering engineering, procurement and construction of two wellhead platforms with weights of 1600 tonnes and 1350 tonnes respectively, as well as two jackets supporting these platforms with a weight of 2600 tonnes each. It is due for completion between April and June 2012. n

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OPTIMISING BUILDING EFFICIENCY Etavis is a European leader in the development and production of industrial automation systems for buildings and a part of the giant Vinci Group. Philip Yorke talked to Torsten Schink, one of the managing director of Etavis about the company’s latest investments in R&D and its strategy for future growth.

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TAVIS is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and in 2007 became part of the giant Vinci Group, a world leader in construction, employing around 180,000 people in over 100 countries worldwide.

Etavis forms an integral part of Vinci’s energy business line division which grew out of the combination of Vinci Energies and Cegelec in 2010. Major businesses and public authorities draw on the company’s extensive knowledge to equip, operate and optimise their energy requirements, industrial facilities and buildings.

Investing in efficiency Etavis has offices in Zurich, Basle and 32 business units all over Switzerland and has its own independent design department with more than 100 engineers engaged in a diverse range of projects from the chemical and pharmaceutical industries to those involved in food and beverages and building services. The company continues to invest in the development of energy-efficient technology and is also keen to invest in new acquisitions as Mr Schink explains, “At Etavis we are involved exclusively in the Swiss market and traditionally have grown faster than the overall market situation. We work with private investment companies as well as institutions like Credit Swiss and phar-

maceutical giants such as Novartis. We are open for acquisitions but rely on our organic growth to achieve our targets. We are also looking for strategic partnerships and PPP projects (private public partnerships)”.

“As part of the Vinci Group energy division, we are engaged in the development and building of automated efficiency systems and we provide independent solutions for our customers, which we bring to operational readiness within 1–3 years depending upon the size of the contract. We specialise in ABB systems where we are also ‘gold medal’ solutions providers and Siemens MES solution provider specialising in the implementation and management of advanced, energy-efficient and automation systems. Our USP is our entrepreneurial culture and close cooperation that we share within our various business units.

We also produce electrical cabinets for the automation of buildings and special products within a power supply of up to 6400 amperes.

Our main customers in this sector are Honeywell, Sauter, Siemens, Novartis and Roche.”

Growing energy business Etavis forms an integral part of the Vinci Group’s ‘Energy business line’ which predicts that its business will grow significantly in 2011 thanks to the robust overall resilience of the energy market. The group’s

Energy business line combines expertise in its own areas of advanced technology: electrical power, building services and information and communication technologies. The company leverages this combined expertise to develop high-value-added solutions in response to its customers’ demands for greater efficiency, reliability and safety.

These tailor-made solutions support their clients throughout each project’s lifecycle and thanks to an exceptionally dense network of over 1500 companies in 38 countries, (of which 20 are in Europe), the Group’s Energy business line is able to combine global reach with dedicated local services. Last year the Vinci Group’s Energy

business line achieved revenues of more than €7 billion and was supported by a workforce of almost 60,000 employees.

Joining forces for sustainable energy Vinci is the world leader in concessions and construction for the design, building, financing and management of facilities that improve everyday life and the systems that support it.

As a private sector company, Vinci successfully blends its business focus with today’s priorities for the long-term sustainability of its accomplishments and its integrated concessionsconstruction business.

In May 2011 Vinci signed a major partnership agreement with GDF Suez and Areva

to build a competitive, sustainable offshore wind industry designed to achieve a capacity of 6000MW by the year 2020. This agreement will lead to the creation of an industrial platform around three major players with complementary expertise in renewable energies and construction. The three initial sites should cover the electricity requirements of several million people for an average duration of 30 years.

For this major offshore wind project in France, Vinci will be mobilising both Vinci Concessions and its contracting, construction and energy divisions and each will be taking advantage of its well-established network of experts and integrators around the country. Etavis is supporter of the global Desertec Foundation. n

A POWERFUL OPERATION Pohjolan Voima produces energy at cost for its owners. Abigail Saltmarsh looks at the company, which also manages the entire lifespan of power plants.

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ydropower, nuclear power and thermal power – this is where the future of energy production in Finland lies, according to Riitta Larnimaa, executive vicepresident for communications and public affairs at Pohjolan Voima. Pohjolan Voima is a privately owned group of companies in the energy sector producing electricity and heat for its owners on a large scale in Finland, and will, she stressed, be focusing on these areas in the future.

“We are in a situation at the moment where our strategy is to concentrate more on large scale projects in Finland. This means hydropower, nuclear power and thermal power,” she explained. “We have also decided to focus on Finland for the time being, and have no plans to go abroad.”

A history in power Pohjolan Voima was established in 1943.

Its founder shareholders were Finnish forest industry companies but later on, municipal energy utilities and companies, as well as other industries, became owners as well. The company’s founders needed electricity for their operations, and wanted to ensure a supply of reasonably priced energy so a decision was taken to centralise the production of energy and to share the costs. Initially, Pohjolan Voima built hydropower plants. Then, in the 1960s, as electricity demand was increasing and the opportunities for further construction of hydropower were dwindling, the company undertook to build thermal power plants as well.

But the first thermal power plants were fuelled by oil, and when the oil crises increased

the price of fuel, Pohjolan Voima started to build coal-fired power plants and was among the founders of the nuclear power company, Teollisuuden Voima Oy. In the 1990s, Pohjolan Voima’s production capacity grew also with mergers and acquisition of energy businesses. At the turn of the millennium, Pohjolan Voima launched jointly with its shareholders an extensive construction programme of biofuel-fired power plants and contributed to Teollisuuden Voima’s nuclear power project as the main shareholder.

A good mix Last year the company, which saw a turnover of €1041 million, supplied energy by nuclear power (34.8 per cent), condensing power (16.5 per cent), hydropower (7.3 per

cent), combined heat and power – CHP or cogeneration – (9.5 per cent, industry, 6 per cent district heat) and wind power (0.3 per cent). Some 25.6 per cent was bought in.

“There are political issues with hydropower,” Ms Larnimaa admitted. “The government is saying there is not going to be any significant increase in it but we believe there is a real need for a national debate on this.

“We believe a variety of methods of energy production is needed – that it is important to have a balance. We will continue with our ongoing hydropower plant renovation programme, intensify our operations and study possibilities to increase production.”

Hydropower is a renewable, emission-free and cost-effective way of generating electricity. In addition, she said, it is without a doubt Industry Europe 85

the best source of regulating power. Approximately 240 – 350MW of additional regulating power will be needed, as Finland realises its plans to increase wind power significantly.

“We are hoping that there might be more support for hydropower and a better understanding of its importance in the future,” she added.

of the plants, which means that electricity is generated as much as possible.

“We have two power plants at the moment.” she said. “The third one has almost been completed. We are now looking at planning the fourth. Within the next three years those plans will be put into place.”

Nuclear power

Pohjolan Voima is the leading biofuel utiliser in Europe. Begun in the 1990s, the biofuel programme is one of the means adopted by Pohjolan Voima to reconcile the increase in electricity needs with the control of carbon dioxide emissions.

So far, Pohjolan Voima has realised 14 power plant investments within the scope of its biofuel programme. Its share of the invest-

In the meantime, investment in nuclear power also continues, she stressed.

Pohjolan believes nuclear power is the best means to satisfy the continuous and consistent need for electricity. The investment costs of a nuclear power plant are high, whereas the operating costs are low.

The objective is a high degree of utilisation

Investing in the future

ments amounts to approximately €1 billion.

Pohjolan Voima aims at efficiently utilising the biomasses available in the vicinity of its power plants. Its research and development projects associated with the programme have focused on the cultivation and harvesting methods of various biofuels and their storage, drying and combustion technologies. The biofuel programme has generated new jobs, mainly in fuel procurement.

“We have a commitment to biofuel” said Ms Larnimaa. “We have a new plant under construction, which will be finished by 2012.”

She added: “If we look ahead over the next five years, our third nuclear power plant will be running and we will also have some more biomass production. After that, there n may be more hydropower too.”

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THE KEYWORD IS

ADDED VALUE Roberto Maffioletti, the business development manager at Phoenix International, talks about the aluminium profile extrusion dies and tools group. Barbara Rossi reports.

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hoenix was established in Italy in 1972 by six founders and, although nowadays the majority of the group shares belong to an investment fund, five of the founding partners are still active in the company at operative and/or board level. The group continues to focus on the design and manufacture of dies and tools for aluminium profile extrusion. Around the year 2000 the group underwent an internationalisation process, setting up foreign operations.

The Phoenix group is now composed of Phoenix International SpA in Italy, as well as three production entities abroad - Iberia Dies Phoenix in Spain, Phoenix Nederland B.V. in Holland and a subsidiary in France. All of these companies operate independently and have parallel production profiles, although Phoenix International SpA is the one with the widest range of products. In Italy the

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group also owns Alto Aluminium Tooling Srl, which was a former competitor and now has a product range parallel to that of Phoenix International SpA; the dies thermal treatment specialist Alfa TT; and CFR, a company specialising in mechanical processes.

These three Italian companies are all based in Lombardy, northern Italy, and the last two are engaged in providing production services to the rest of the group, specifically for the activities mentioned before.

Phoenix International SpA is also based in northern Italy. Its administrative offices are near Brescia, while the production site is near Bergamo, where it covers an area of more than 8500m2 and employs more than 220 staff. Overall the company employs 240 people and produces 25,000 pieces a year, while worldwide the whole group employs about 500 people, produces 50,000 pieces

a year and has forecast a turnover of €65m for 2011. The group is headquartered near Brescia and can count on service offices operating at commercial, technical and assistance levels, in Russia, Romania and China.

The group, which co-designs its steel dies and tools for aluminium extrusion with its clients, distinguishes itself by its short delivery times, varying from 4–5 days to 2–3 weeks, according to the type of product.

The products have different market sectors, such as building and construction, mechanics, electronics, transport (high-speed trains) and automotive and many others. There are a whole series of application fields where the market has an increasing demand for aluminium’s profiles, rather than the previously used steel, because the former is lighter and more environmentally friendly as it’s 100 per cent recyclable. Phoenix products are mounted on extrusion presses for aluminium profiles, for instance in the automotive sector to manufacture front and back vehicle bumpers, in construction for door and window frames, in solar panels for supports and frames in which the panels are inserted, in mechanics for components where cylinders slide and in electronics for computer or server heat sinks. Phoenix is already offering the most complete die range among its competitors, ranging from dies with a diameter of 25–4 mm to 1200mm diameter dies.

Most innovation is carried out for the automotive sector, especially in terms of new product development, weight reduction and usage of aluminium with particular hard alloys, with the consequent need for dies able to

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extrude these particular products. These production improvements are in particularly high demand in European countries, because of the high costs of both human resources and raw materials. Phoenix International SpA carries out R&D at the Bergamo’s site, but is also aided by a Swiss partner and European universities, especially regarding simulation research, a subject in which Phoenix is an industry leader.

Flexibility is particularly important for Phoenix, as there are peaks and troughs in demand for its products. Phoenix regularly invests in new machinery, both in terms of design software and manufacturing equipment, so it is always at the technological cutting edge.

Being close to the customer Phoenix’s domestic market is Europe, including eastern Europe as far as Russia, where 80–90 per cent of its products are supplied.

Italy accounts for 30 per cent of overall 90 Industry Europe

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turnover, followed by the Iberian peninsula helped by the fact that there is a production unit near Zaragoza, and central-northern Europe, thanks to the group’s presence in the Netherlands. The remaining 10 per cent of production, mainly concerning special products, is destined for non-European markets such as the Middle and Far East.

Most production is for the European market because transport costs have a high impact and, therefore, supplies for faraway markets only tend to take place for high-added-value products, such as special large-dimension dies for high speed trains. Physical proximity to clients is also important because, as the products are co-designed with the customers, there is a need for interfacing with the client’s

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technical departments. Phoenix currently has 150–160 active clients, ranging from small to large extrusion groups, including names such as the Swedish Sapa Group, Norsk Hydro and Constellium, formerly known as Alcan.

Phoenix’s future European development could involve acquisitions and joint ventures. Similarly, joint ventures are also possible in the large and growing Chinese market where, due to the high transport costs, a production increase requires local facilities, while in the Middle Eastern (mainly Gulf States) market growth will be of an organic nature. As regards Europe, Mr Maffioletti forecasts a decrease in demand from the construction sector and a growing demand for more technological and

therefore more complex products, to which Phoenix will respond accordingly.

Phoenix is always searching for efficiency, while maintaining a high level of service and product quality. Because of the high impact of transport costs, Phoenix’s strategy is to focus on positioning its production sites in strategic areas near its customers. Its philosophy is based on offering a quality service in proximity to the client, both in geographical and cultural terms as well as being able to carry on a dialogue with customers in their language. For Phoenix the keyword is the added value that its products bring to the extrusion process.

These are the factors which Mr Maffioletti believes distinguishes Phoenix’s offer from n that of its competitors.

STEEL APPEAL

Specialising in the development, production and further processing of precision steel tubes, voestalpine Rotec has the strength of a major group and the flexibility of an independent organisation. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to the managing director, Christian Hansl, to see how this is being utilised.

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ased in Krieglach, Austria, and with a further six international locations, steel tube expert voestalpine Rotec has grown steadily to become one of the world’s leading players in the tubular and tube processing industries. One of seven companies in the voestalpine Group portfolio, the company has its own production sites in Austria, Germany, the UK, Poland, Sweden, Spain and the USA, as well as being able to draw on the considerable resources of the group.

voestalpine Rotec’s managing director Christian Hansl, told Industry Europe how this set-up enables the company to enjoy both support and freedom. He said, “Our mother company allows us to take advantage of the global reach it has established over many years, so this coupled with our enviable reputation for high quality, high precision tubes and the further processing of tubes means that we can perform well in our Nordic and European heartland and across the world.”

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Growing worldwide Particularly active in Europe and the USA, voestalpine Rotec is currently in the process of evaluating possibilities in China, which it believes represents a considerable opportunity in the coming years.

The steady growth of voestalpine Rotec has been driven by a passion for staying at the top of its game both technically and in terms of product performance. The company is committed to addressing current industry trends and ensures it offers products that meet the highest standards.

Mainly active in the automotive sector, Mr Hansl explained that the sector’s continuing focus on improved safety is perfectly in tune with voestalpine Rotec’s production capabilities. He said, “In the automotive industry we have noticed a general trend for greater safety as well as a requirement for lighter components in order to meet the increasingly stringent weight and CO2 emissions guidelines.

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These trends are especially good for us as our tubes have long been used by the automotive industry, so we know it very well, and our development and engineering teams are continuing to focus on creating lighter tubes.”

All about precision voestalpine Rotec offers a range of high precision and demanding tubes primarily for automotive applications, with other active markets including the engineering, hydraulic and processing industries. It is also increasingly involved in the household technical market, with applications such as tubes for domestic appliances. For all application areas, the company is keen to maintain its solid investment programme which guarantees it is using the latest equipment and machinery available. Its production employees are regularly trained in the upgraded equipment to ensure that the investment is being maximised on a day-to-day basis.

Strong in the Nordic countries and Europe, voestalpine Rotec’s production facility in Indiana gives it a positive presence in North America too. Although the company’s plans to establish a presence in China have yet to take any formal shape, its experience in listening closely to what customers want is sure to bring results. Mr Hansl added, “We’re currently just looking at what potential there is for us to bring our knowledge of steel tubes and further processing of tubes to the Chinese market, and to see what production and business development opportunities are available.

There is no fixed activity yet, but this will be an interesting progression.”

Spending money on the future With a strong investment in equipment and machinery for tube manufacturing and processing, with a particular direction towards automotive and high technology applications, voestalpine Rotec’s expected

continued growth is likely to be achieved. It’s mainly aiming for organic growth as it works alongside long-established customers and continues to deliver products to meet their exact needs across global territories.

Mr Hansl concluded, “We are open to opportunities in all directions as we appreciate that our know-how in tube development, manufacturing and further processing is well-suited to a range of high performance applications. We are excited to continue our strong involvement with the global automotive industry, especially as the trend for lighter, technically advanced products sits well alongside our skills. By making sure we listen carefully to our customers and deliver a reliable product portfolio, we know that we are well-positioned to continue to enjoy success in 2012 and beyond.” n Industry Europe 95

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THE APPEAL OF STEEL

Finland-based steel producer Ruukki has an impressive list of international project wins and ongoing expansion plans. Business director Esko Vattulainen spoke to Industry Europe’s Emma-Jane Batey.

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eadquartered in Helsinki and present in 27 countries worldwide, Ruukki is in a constant state of growth and development, with new locations, new projects and new employees joining the 11,700-strong workforce on an ongoing basis.

Well-known for its high-quality specialist products, Ruukki provides metal-based components and integrated systems to construction, and the company has a wide selection of metal products and services.

Business director Esko Vattulainen is responsible for the project business, and tells Industry Europe: “The last five years have seen Ruukki’s growth continue strongly, even though there were some difficult times during

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the downturn in 2008 and 2009. Since the end of 2009 the market has been good in some areas such as eastern Europe and Russia. We are more than happy with our current structure and plan to maximise the opportunities that are available in our current markets, as well as being open-minded to new opportunities.”

Concept to completion Within Ruukki there are three complementary divisions working together to offer a complete integrated mining and metals service. Joining the longest standing division of Ruukki Metals, Ruukki Engineering and Ruukki Construction combine to deliver new projects with new opportunities not

previously available to the company. Mr Vattulainen explained, “The three divisions allow us to move beyond being a steel producer and into the complete project sphere. Our strategy was to make sure that the engineering and construction divisions eventually grew bigger than the metals division so that we could continue to produce metals to the same high standard that we’re famous for, but to also specify and use those metals in high-spec projects that would benefit from our expertise and complete metals understanding.”

With this aim being achieved, the engineering and construction divisions at Ruukki now represent a larger proportion of its turnover

than the production of metals. Mr Vattulainen is specifically focused on the construction division, which itself has three separate business units. The materials and services unit offers products such as steel frames, facades and roofs, including all related design, erection and installation. The component business unit provides the necessary steel items such as steel sheets required for the installation process.

The infrastructure business unit is focused on the smaller production projects and is able to call on the extensive project experience across the company.

Local and international The main geographical market areas for the contruction business continue to be in northern Europe, with a very strong performance region-wide. The company’s activities in eastern Europe and Russia have developed apace, with a growing number of projects in western Europe. Mr Vattulainen continued, “Eastern Europe is an important market for us, supported by our network of production facilities with many in Finland, one in Poland, Russia and Romania. We also have a number of smaller local production sites in countries such as Norway and Lithuania, which allows us to deliver both a local and an international 102 Industry Europe

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service. Some production sites just service their own local projects, but the Finnish site for example backs up these secondary sites with whatever they need.”

Ruukki plans to continue to utilise this network of production facilities, in order to ensure that its costs remain competitive and its quality remains high. The company is committed to making sure that each production facility plays to its strengths, with intense training for its workforce and a close understanding of its technical capabilities. With Ruukki continually adding to its workforce

with highly experienced specialists, enthusiastic graduates and technically advanced production workers, the company is clear that all of its sites are at the top of their game.

Building stronger projects Recent project wins highlight Ruukki’s achievements. The company has recently won a €13 million-plus steel structure contract for the Kaunisvaara mine in Sweden and in July it made the first of many deliveries of steel structures to the offshore wind farm project in the North Sea for Kvaerner Verdal AS.

In the construction business Ruukki’s plans for the coming years see it dedicated to continuing its geographical focus on its existing northern Europe market whilst building up its activities in eastern and western Europe and Russia. Rather than aiming to work in a large number of countries, Mr Vattulainen explained how the company prefers to focus on “the best countries for our construction project business, where we can add value for our customers and utilise the cost and technical advantages n of our production facilities”.

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STEEL APPEAL 108 Industry Europe

Integrated global steel group SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH AG has perfected its unique approach to delivering steel solutions over more than 100 years. Emma-Jane Batey spoke to the chief operating officer Dr Marcel Imhof, to find out more.

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eadquartered in Emmenbrücke (Switzerland) and Düsseldorf (Germany) and with activities on five continents, integrated global steel group was founded when Arthur Schmolz and Oswald Bickenbach started a distribution company for special steel products. Starting with bright steel production in 1929, the company has steadily grown to include complementary products and services, incorporating strategic acquisitions of metal distributors, other steel producers and distribution companies. Subsequently,

SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH has firmly established its position as an international steel group with an extensive portfolio.

Chief operating officer Dr Marcel Imhof, based at the company’s Swiss office, explained to Industry Europe how this growth has helped to define its continued success. He said, “Our strategic acquisitions over the years have always been companies that have already achieved an excellent reputation of their own, so added to the SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH family we gained even more strength. We

have been able to build up a formidable offer that exceeds the expectations of our customers worldwide.”

Global leader Today, SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH is a global leader in the provision of special high grade steels and its unique company structure is a key element in its market-leading position. With the powerful combination of being a steel manufacturer that is also an experienced steel processor and distributor,

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the company maintains its place by delivering a 360-degree service.

Dr Imhof continued, “We are an integrated steel group with the core activities of production, processing and distribution, with production and distribution companies on five continents and more than 10,000 employees worldwide. A major advantage of our organisation over the competition is that we have a complete synergy between these core areas, with close ties between the three segments that allow our business to keep evolving in a positive way. When we know about a certain trend in an industry in which we are active, for example, we can ensure that the other segments are geared up to meet any changing demands.”

The close synergy between the steel production, processing and distribution activities

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at SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH means that customers are able to work with a single steel partner worldwide, with the company providing everything from ordering to just-intime delivery of steel products. Supported by a global sales network that utilises its own distribution companies and carefully selected partners that meet its stringent standards, the company prides itself on being able to guarantee a high quality of service wherever the customer is based.

As the number-one player in the global market for both stainless long steel and tool steels, Schmolz+Bickenbach produces and sells a wide range of quality-focused steel products.

Its portfolio includes tool steel, stainless steel (corrosion, acid, and heat-resistant properties), bright steel, high grade/engineering steel,

tubes and non-ferrous metals. The customised products are created in accordance with the needs of the customers, who are primarily based in the automotive, machine, aerospace and energy industries.

Customer understanding Dr Imhof continued, “We are highly experienced in working with large-scale international conglomerates as well as small and mediumsized corporations. Our teams are dedicated to delivering the right product at the right time, with our long-term knowledge of the whole supply chain making that a guaranteed offer to customers around the world.”

Dr Imhof acknowledges that, particularly during difficult economic times, steel production partners that are capable and reliable are

imperative to many companies’ success. As such, SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH’s ability to process and supply special steels in defined grades and with defined properties, all at the best price possible, has helped it to flourish during the economic downturn.

The total service provision at SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH is clearly a unique selling point as it offers customers a guaranteed global special steel service and keeps the company at the top of its game across the areas which impact on its operation. Dr Imhof added, “Having a clear

overview of the three key areas – production, processing and distribution – is a corporate concept that allows us to stay strong in times of market fluctuation as we have complete control over our entire supply chain. We can promise our products and services to customers worldwide, allowing them to rely on us and build their business accordingly. It’s no surprise that we have earned our reputation as a solid, professional steel partner. We’re a solutions provider that’s driven by premium technology and customer satisfaction.”

With its main markets in Europe and North America, SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH’s aim for the coming years is to continue to perform in these areas whilst building its market position in emerging markets. The company’s customers use SCHMOLZ+BICKENBACH steels to achieve success in their own markets and territories, so a key part of its development strategy is to follow customers as they expand globally and continue to support them by producing, processing and distributing high quality steel products on time and at the n right price.

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SCALING NEW HEIGHTS Eisengiesserei-Torgelow is Europe’s largest and most modern iron foundry. Philip Yorke talked to Peter Krumhoff, the company’s chief executive officer, about the growing demand for its large castings in the renewable energy sector and its strategy for future growth.

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he Torgelow iron foundry in Germany is possibly the oldest in Europe and was established in the town that bears its name over 250 years ago. Through many generations of smelting experience, manufacturing know-how has been handed down to make it a global leader in terms of the expertise and technology it can offer. The company’s high professional competence in the development, production and testing of hand-moulded grey and nodular, graphite iron is unrivalled. This is especially the case when castings of up to 150 tons and complex geometries are taken into consideration. Recently more than €50

million has been invested to establish the largest hand moulding and steel blasting shop in Europe, as well as creating its most modern smelting facility.

Quality is the key to the company’s longrunning success, which is summed up in its belief that ‘Quality cannot be inspected at the end of the value chain, quality has to be produced’. This simple principle ensures that both incoming and outgoing manufactured parts at Torgelow are subject to rigorous quality controls at every stage of production. In addition, the company is fully quality assured to DIN ISO 9001: 2008 and all cast-

ings are certified to DIN EN 10204, together with comprehensive testing documentation that guarantees its customers the highest standards of precision and quality. Today its products are in use in industrial installations worldwide, engineered to exacting standards by its 550 highly qualified employees.

Winds of change The Torgelow foundry specialises in the series production of exceptionally large iron castings which traditionally have been used for items such as ships’ engine blocks, nuclear waste containers, large diesel generators and other Industry Europe 115

exceptional industrial applications. However, the growth in the renewable energy sector has created new demand for the company’s expertise and its specialised production facilities.

Mr Krumhoff said, “We work in close partnership with our customers to achieve the best outcomes and help them to develop and construct products. We have our own construction department, prototyping, scaling and designing complex structures as well as providing non-destructive and destructive testing facilities and chemical analysis.

“We have the technology that enables us to produce very large castings in series of three, four, five or six at a time, thus differentiating us from the very few companies that com-

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pete with us in terms of size and tonnage.

The renewable energy industry is becoming increasingly important to us but it is a cyclical business that relies heavily on investments by the major banks, and can take anything from 18 to 24 months from the signing of contracts to the moment we become involved in the manufacturing process.”

Mr Krumhoff added, “From a logistics perspective, we are very well placed when it comes to the transportation of exceptionally heavy loads. Our castings can measure 8 metres high by 5 metres in diameter and our strategic location, close to the major port of Rostok, offers direct road links that are not hampered by bridges or other impediments.

“For these high-tech windmills we produce the blade housing (known as the hub or the rotor hub), the shafts, the bearing houses and the main frames. Our clients in this field include major players such as Acciona, BARD, GE, Enercon, Nordex, REpower, SWP (Siemens Wind Power) and Winergy.”

Quantum leap in competence and technology The business of renewable energy is a high-end industry that places corresponding technical demands and challenges on manufacturers. A quantum leap in meeting the new complex and challenging demands has been accomplished at Torgelow with

the production of the first 80-tonne cast part, which is now in series production. This represents an intensive commitment to R&D at the foundry and reflects the advances in product development that is increasingly in demand. Today, with its advanced technical equipment and flexible structure, the Torgelow foundry can now produce largescale cast parts in high volumes in series production. These are orientated towards achieving superior quality and a flexibility

that guarantees the reliable, on-time delivery of its products.

The company also believes that strategic partnerships help foster technical leadership and that a functional value-added chain plays an important role in achieving innovation across the board. A classic example of this is the recent close cooperation with a leading manufacturer of foundry additives, ASK (Ashland Sudchemie Kemfest) of Hilden, Germany, whose ‘new-core-concepts’ were

developed for production processes in the core-moulding plant. This cooperation resulted in a breakthrough that exceeded the specifications required in the area of large-scale casting technology. In the process concerned, the competence and experience provided by ASK was primarily focused on the adaptation of applications with sulphur boundary layers and special resins that exhibit a high degree of slippage, or finishes that can withstand high n thermal loading.

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VALUING QUALITY, THE ENVIRONMENT AND HUMAN RESOURCES

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The Beltrame group, headed by AFV Beltrame SpA, with its over 50 per cent of market share, is the European leader in commercial rolled section manufacture. Industry Europe speaks to its sales director, Mr Fornelli as Barbara Rossi reports.

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FV Acciaierie Beltrame is the oldest Italian company operating in the iron and steel industry and can boast of a tradition over a century old. Nowadays, thanks to the acquisitions of its main competitors, the company has undergone a very rapid growth and evolved into the family led Beltrame group, at the forefront of technology and innovation in the industry. AFV Acciaierie Beltrame was founded at the end of the 19th century by Antonio Beltrame, forefather of the fifth generation of the Beltrame family who wholly own and lead the group today.

AFV Acciaierie Beltrame SpA, as well as in its core business of commercial rolled section manufacture, is also engaged in the production of steel for the construction industry, including reinforcing bars, and in the production of special bars for shipbuilding and earth moving machines.

The headquarters of the group are in the north-eastern Italian town of Vicenza, but the group comprises several companies, including Stahl Gerlafingen, based in the Swiss town of the same name, Laminés Marchands Européens (LME) headquartered in the north of France, but with production sites also in Belgium and Luxembourg, and Donalam Srl based in Calarasi, south-eastern Romania. Merchand bars manufacture is mainly based in Vicenza, Turin and at the LME sites, while steel manufacturing for the construction industry is a specialism of the Swiss plant and the production of round special steel SBQ for various sectors is carried out at the Romanian site. The industries supplied with the Beltrame group products are extremely varied, ranging from construction, agriculture, shipbuilding and earth-moving equipment to some automotive sub-sec-

tors and niche market fields.Nowadays the Beltrame group has just under 3000 employees, a productive capacity of 4 million tonnes a year and, with its 50 per cent of market share, is the Italian and European leader in its field. In fact, the group sees Europe as being its domestic market and it also distributes its products in North Africa and the Middle East.

Overall the group, headed by AFV Acciaierie Beltrame SpA, can count on four steel plants, respectively based in Vicenza and Turin (Italy), Gerlafingen (Switzerland) and Trith-Saint Léger (France), as well as on fifteen rolling mills, located in different countries ( two in France, one in Belgium, one in Luxembourg, one in Romania, two in Switzerland and the rest in Italy). Presently the merchand bars manufacture accounts for about 60 per cent of its output, with the remaining 40 per cent coming from its other lines of production.

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Diversification is key As well as being a leader in Europe and an important supplier in North Africa and the Middle East the group also distributes its products in other areas, but only on a spot business basis, as logistical and transport costs, as well as exchange rates, play a fundamental role in the final cost of the kind of products manufactured by Beltrame. For this reason the company is planning to start production in

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other continents, so as to be able to be supply potential users of its products in other parts of the world. An area in which the company has already started investing for this purpose is South America, specifically Argentina, and it is also considering commencing production in the Far East. This decision has also been taken because of the limited scope for volume growth obtainable in mature markets, such as Europe. In order to pursue this future growth

and expansion in lower-cost geographical areas Beltrame is open to joint venture, acquisition and partnership possibilities.

Mr Fornelli says “We are paying maximum attention to industrial development, such as new technology leading to increased quality, but at the same time we are also valuing environmental friendliness and human resources, because trying to compete at the lower and cheaper level of the market

SanGregorio, a Private Shareholder Company located 40km north-west of Milan, was established in 1963 on the site of an old foundry which had been producing mainly devices for the textile industry as crane wheels. It subsequently set up a new line for the production of cast iron rolls for hot rolling mills, serving only the domestic market.

In the 1970s a new and larger workshop was built and new machine tools were set up to speed up roll machining. During the latter part of this decade the old casting line for textile tools and crane wheels was dismantled and all production became focused on cast iron rolls with the intention of conquering foreign markets, beginning with Spain.

Today more than 75% of SanGregorio’s products are exported, reaching most of the European countries, the Americas, some African countries such as Egypt, Morocco, Cameroon and the Ivory Coast; Middle Eastern countries such as Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine; Far Eastern countries such as Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia and India. A wide network of customer service agents was also built to address customers’ needs.

SanGregorio’s production is certified according to the highest standards. It achieved the ISO 9001:2008 Quality System Certification, and the ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management System Certification.

SanGregorio’s production covers an area of 18,000m2 over three buildings: Foundry, Workshop and Administration. The Foundry is equipped with a 35t medium frequency induction melting furnace and ladles able to cast a 27t one-piece roll. The Workshop is equipped with CNC horizontal & vertical turning lathes, CNC milling and grinding machines, capable of producing roll diameters up to 1500mm and rolls barrels up to 5000mm. Finally, the Administration facilities are entirely computerised and a website supports customers’ needs.

SanGregorio specialises particularly in the production of nodular/ductile cast iron rolls for the rolling of long products such as rails, beams and merchant bars. Also, following the development of Universal Stands for the rolling of rails and heavy beams, SanGregorio also specialises in the shrinking and disassembly of large sleeves onto and from steel shafts.

SanGregorio’s organisation is based upon maintaining close contacts between Customers and Company management to satisfy technical or other questions they may have. A fast-response philosophy is essential to maintain a high level of customer care!

Fonderia Officina Meccanica CILINDRI PER LAMINAZIONE I - 21010 S. Macario di Samarate (VA) Italy Viala Europa, 62 Tel: +39.0331.235353 | Fax: +39.0331.235328 Email: infocentre@sangregorio.com | www.sangregorio.com

ISO 9001:200 8 ISO 14001

is not feasible in Europe. Although we are a heavy industry company, we recycle metal and scrap in our industrial processes and we try to be as environmentally friendly as possible.” Beltrame is very concerned with pollution prevention and waste minimization , constantly controlling emissions and effluents into air, water or soil. This is probably one of the reasons why Beltrame, which is ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 18001

certified, is one of the few merchand bars manufacturers to be a successful supplier in northen Europe countries, where the environment is high on the agenda.

With regard to improved product quality, Beltrame has technical laboratories, which will shortly be completely renovated and thanks to which it can develop and manage customer tailored solutions. In terms of human resources, Beltrame is about

to launch a pilot project in partnership with some Italian universities to train iron and steel industry specialised engineers.

Alongside this Beltrame, which has its own published ethical code, regularly carries out internal staff development courses in various subjects, both to improve the skills of its workforce and to foster a group spirit and a sense of belonging within this n multicultural group.

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STRENGTHENING PRESENCE Erasteel is a subsidiary of the ERAMET Group of France and a global leader in the production of ultraclean, high-performance high speed and tool steels. Philip Yorke talked to Pierre Blanchard, Erasteel Kloster AB’s managing director, about its advanced, high-speed steels and recent investments designed to strengthen its presence in key markets.

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rasteel is part of the ERAMET Group, which is a rapidly growing French mining and metallurgical conglomerate that employs over 14,000 people in 20 countries worldwide, and holds front-ranking positions in each of its activities. The group is listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange and in 2010 recorded sales of around €3.6 billion. Erasteel together with Aubert & Duval makes up the Alloys division of the company.

Erasteel is the world’s leading producer of high-speed steels, while Aubert & Duval is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of high-performance speciality alloys and

closed-die forgings for the aerospace and energy industries.

Erasteel is also the world number one in the manufacture of gas atomised powder metallurgy (PM) steels and high-speed steels.

The company employs over 1000 people and has an international sales presence, with eight manufacturing sites located in Europe, America and Asia.

Pioneering powder metallurgy Erasteel pioneered and developed a specific gas atomisation process and continues to refine its production and expand its number of

industrial applications. The company has more than 40 years’ experience in the production of ultra-clean PM (powder metal) steels by gas atomisation at its key production site in Sweden. The DvalinTM and DurinTM units are both located in Söderfors and together form the world’s largest gas atomisers. The key benefits of Erasteel’s PM high performance steels and alloys are their isotropic properties and fine microstructure that achieves an unparalleled, even distribution of carbide particles in the matrix phase.

This is in sharp contrast to ingot-cast steels and alloys where carbide stringers are formed

during the manufacturing process. Other key product benefits include greater hardness and wear resistance, due to the higher carbideforming elements, as well as increased toughness due to the material being free from carbide segregation. It is thanks to these special properties that Erasteel ASP® grades are widely used and are the materials of choice for many high-performance applications, such as tooling for metal, plastics, wood and paper processing, in addition to their use in heavyduty mechanical components.

Pierre Blanchard said. “Our high-speed steels offer optimum performance and are used extensively for the manufacture of cutting tools, for tooling for gears and other demanding automotive components. In addition they are also used extensively for the household market, for example for sanitary fittings and taps, for knives, band saws as well as for tooling for plastic injection moulding. Our gas atomised powder process results in ultra-clean steels and demand is continuing to grow for these advanced, high-performance steels.

“In fact, demand is growing in all our key geographical markets. Over 40 per cent of our sales are generated in Europe with a further 40 per cent going to Asia. The remaining 20 per cent are destined for the American market. However, China is now our fastest-growing market where we have established new manufacturing and storage facilities in Tianjin.”

Mr Blanchard added, “We are at the forefront of technology concerning metallurgy, forging, rolling, drawing and heat treatment

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Eurolink is a modern, dependable and efficient haulage company that supplies expertise in logistics and specially-adapted vehicles for the transport of bulk goods.

Our special trailers make us the perfect partner if you need to transport bulk goods. This includes fragmented metal, scrap, rubbish, wood chips and forestry waste products, grain, fertilizer and industrial chemicals. We handle all kinds of bulk goods, down to powder size. Our vehicles are also excellent for the transport of air cargo pallets.

Every day, Eurolink operates transports to a great many points all over Europe. This opens excellent opportunities to transport purchasers with freight needs not only to and from Scandinavia, but also between points in Germany, France, Spain, Austria and Italy.

We would be pleased to tell you more about all of the advantages that cooperation with Eurolink can provide. If you have an actual project for us, we will soon send you back a complete quote.

SERVICES We supply expertise in logistics and specially-adapted vehicles for the transport of bulk goods.

Our vehicles are either tipping trailers or trailers equipped with a walking floor. This means that we are prepared for transports and special transports under a very wide range of conditions.

Examples of our transports include fragmented metal, scrap, rubbish, wood chips and forestry waste products, grain, fertilizer and industrial chemicals. We handle all kinds of bulk goods, down to powder size.

Eurolink’s vehicles are also excellent for the transport of air cargo pallets.

www.eurolink.nu

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processes. Furthermore, our unique skills and competence in the production of gas atomised powder steels has opened up new markets for us, in particular for our stainless steel products and special nickel alloys. We are now targeting a new range of applications in the aerospace and nuclear energy sectors and have recently invested in an entirely new atomisation plant in Sweden that will more than double our manufacturing capacity in high-performance PM steels. The opening ceremony for this stateof-the-art plant was held at the beginning of October 2011. The new facility represents an investment of around €20 million and the new ‘atomisation tower’ will be by far the biggest single capacity unit for high-speed steels in the world. We are proud of the fact that all the research and development for the manufacture of our advanced, atomised gas process products has been initiated and conducted here in Sweden at Söderfors.”

cold drawn coil and bars and ground, highspeed steel bars, whereas in China, conversion services are provided in the main hot and cold transformation and shaping activities for special grades. Furthermore, the company has invested in new storage and manufacturing facilities in Mumbai, India, as well as in Tianjin in China.

While the company continues to invest in its industry’s future, it has not lost site of the importance of sustainable development.

As a key member of the ERAMET Group,

Erasteel strongly values environmental, societal and economical matters. In 2002 the ERAMET Group established an environmental charter as part of its global pursuit of sustainable development. This has enabled the company to build on its successful relationships with investors and employees as well as its clients. Erasteel is clearly committed to preserving the environment and encouraging safety as well as innovation. n To learn more about Erasteel, visit: www.erasteel.com

Expanding global presence Erasteel continues to invest in its manufacturing facilities across the world with special focus on China and North America. Recently the company strengthened its presence in North America with the acquisition of a steel service centre in Illinois. This facility complements the company’s sales and its drawing facility located in New Jersey. In the USA, Erasteel distributes Industry Europe 127

IMPROVING EFFICIENCY Following its takeover by Rail Cargo Austria (RCA), Hungary’s leading rail cargo company Rail Cargo Hungaria has been exploiting the new opportunities to extend its markets whilst beginning a new development phase to optimise operations and to improve customer service. Edina Beale reports.

AS

the leading rail cargo and rail logistics provider in Hungary, Rail Cargo Hungaria Zrt is a vital member of one of Europe’s largest players in the industry, the Rail Cargo Austria Group. Prior to becoming an independent operator in 2006, Rail Cargo Hungaria operated as an integral part of the Hungarian State Railways (MAV) for many years. In 2008 the company was privatised and soon began to exploit the opportunities brought by its new parent company, the Rail Cargo Austria Group. Rail Cargo Hungaria today leads the rail cargo industry in Hungary having acquired 80 per cent of the market share. The company is present in all regions of Hungary and offers both single wagon and block train system consignments making millions of tonnes of shipments every year. In addition to

the Budapest centre, customers are served from regional operating centres located in Szeged, Szombathely, Miskolc and Zahony.

Close cooperation The takeover in 2008 brought mutual benefits for both Rail Cargo Hungaria and the Rail Cargo Austria Group. Due to the strong and harmonised collaboration between the parent company and its subsidiaries including BILK Kombiterminal and Rail Service Hungaria, Rail Cargo Hungaria is able to offer a complete spectrum of services in the rail cargo market segment in Hungary and the rest of Europe.

BILK Kombiterminal carries out the management of accompanied and unaccompanied combined freight transport units for Rail Cargo Hungaria, whilst Rail Service Hungaria offers

railway logistics services, the operation of internal railway works and cargo alignment.

Rail Cargo Hungaria supplements the portfolio of the Rail Cargo Austria Group with its valuable industry knowledge, know-how and commitment. The group is the market leader in Austria and Hungary and is present in 24 countries in Europe with a focus on CEE and SEE. In order to achieve sustainable growth the Rail Cargo Austria Group joined forces with other railway companies as well as establishing subsidiaries of its own in south-east Europe.

The group now has rail carrier operations in Italy, Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovenia. Its ultimate goal is to become, together with its freight-forwarding companies, a leading logistics service provider in central and south-east Europe.

New development phase Rail Cargo Hungaria began a new phase of development in 2010. The company changed its name, created a brand and has made significant steps to improve the standards of its services. A major milestone in the company’s development was the start of its first fully owned traction service as previously it had to hire all traction services from MAV. For this purpose the company recruited over 100 experienced loco drivers and began to build up its fleet assets with new electric locomotives.

Rail Cargo Hungaria has also begun the modernisation and integration of its information system with the IT network system used

by RCA for many years. The newly installed IT applications will optimise all logistic processes and result in a faster and more accurate customer service. In addition, the company is continuously focusing on and strengthening its quality assurance system that meets the requirements of the ISO 9001:2008 standard in all areas of activities in order to improve operational efficiency.

It is Rail Cargo Hungaria’s prime objective to provide excellent quality services for its

customers and in recent times the company has put great emphasis on achieving this goal. Instead of developing only parts of its services, it has made a strategic decision to go ahead with an overall development plan to create an efficient customer service that

can be easily maintained for the long term.

The gradually introduced IT applications that support the customer ordering and freight handling operations are vital elements of the development plan. Rail Cargo Hungaria’s competitive price policy and cost-effective

strategy approach will also help it to succeed.

Due to the integration in the RCA Group, Rail Cargo Hungaria is able to exploit the synergies and therefore provide a wide range of innovative and customised freight logistics services for its partners.

Promising prospects The company’s performance so far in 2011 shows improvement in productivity, and this tendency is projected by the management to

continue in the following months. Predications of industry players indicate that the demand for rail freight will increase in Hungary in line with the country’s economic stabilisation. The planned introduction of the electronic toll road system for trucks in 2013 will also boost the rail cargo segment in the freight forwarding sector.

Due to its efficient, reliable and environmentally friendly operations, rail freight is viewed in Hungary as a valuable booster of the country’s national economy. In accordance with this,

Rail Cargo Hungaria Zrt has been developing its activities so the company is able to offer innovative and ecological rail freight solutions for its partners and complete their assignments to the highest standards. The company is now integrated in RCA’s Group operations which will also enable Rail Cargo Hungaria to optimise rail cargo transportation taking place in different rail systems in the region, offering its customer an interated rail logistic solution n out of one hand.

SHAPING THE

FUTURE

The Hubner Group is a world leader in the design and manufacture of key components for the transport industry.

Philip Yorke talked to Christoph Heuser, sales director of the company’s rubber products division, about its innovative R&D and move into new market sectors.

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he Hubner Group is a privately owned company and was founded 65 years ago in Kassel, Germany. It has since grown to become a market leader in the manufacture of key components for rail vehicles, buses, automobiles, trucks and airport technology, as well as for the medical technology sector. The Group’s diverse

range of products and services includes the design and production of vehicle articulation systems, flexible gangway systems, ramp and lift systems, window systems and folding bellows. In addition, the company produces PUR moulded foam components and products made of rubber and injection moulded plastic.

The Hubner Group’s rubber products division makes a significant contribution to the company’s success. In close cooperation with its customers it turns innovative ideas into tangible, practical industrial products. Based on regular and competent consultation, the division designs and manufactures tailor-made solutions out of rubber. This can be from initial

concept to prototypes and through to series manufacture. The company’s core products are moulded rubber parts, rubber-metal components and rubber profiles and frames.

Delivering innovation and precision Universally deployable rubber and silicone products are used worldwide in a broad range of industries, including the automotive sector, in medical technology and for industrial goods of all kinds. The experience that Hubner has gained over many decades is a guarantee of the quality of its products and dedicated technical services.

Mr Heuser said, “All our products are individual and tailor-made to meet the high specifications and performance that our customers have come to expect from us. Our production facilities are located close to our key European customers in Germany, France, Austria and Italy and we are also looking to invest further in our production facilities in the UK and Russia. In addition, we have manufacturing facilities in Hungary, where we produce everything except rubber extrusion, moulded and vulcanised products. Over 60 per cent of our production is dedicated to the rail sector with the balance

being spread between the medical, construction and special vehicles sectors. Our competition is strongest in the rail sector, but our rubber door systems have been leading the field for over 65 years and our competence in this area is unrivalled.

“We expect to continue to grow organically but will continue to look for companies that can offer us synergies in the world’s emerging markets. As a privately owned company we can make decisions quickly and respond to changing market forces efficiently. Overall, the Hubner Group employs more than 1600 people, of whom 350 are located in Hungary, whilst Hubner’s rubber products division employs just under 200 people worldwide.”

For many years Hubner has been at the forefront of design technology for the manufacture of vehicle bellows and is now turning its attention to vehicle interiors. The company’s newly developed bellows interior trim for buses, optimises the appearance of the vehicle’s connecting gangway. In turn, this creates a harmonious environment in connection to the interior design of the bus so that articulation can be better accentuated.

In addition, heat and noise insulation has been significantly improved in comparison to

standard bellows products. Part of Hubner’s secret is that it uses only the highest quality raw materials to achieve optimal results.

These materials include natural rubber (NR), styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR), silicone rubber (SI) polychloroprene rubber (CR) and ethylene propylene diene monomer (EPDM), among many others. Furthermore, Hubner’s rubber products meet all the stringent requirements for flame resistance in mixed materials and the company is fully certified to ISO9001 2008 and TS 16949.

Focus on performance and innovation Hubner’s in-house R&D department remains at the cutting edge of rubber products technology for the transportation industry and keeps it one step ahead of its competitors.

As a result, the company’s rubber moulded products, which can weigh anything between 10g and 5kg, can be designed for any type of industrial application. These products also satisfy any special customer specifications including, for example, resistance to oil, heat, and UV rays.

The company’s rubber-metal components also benefit from the experience and expertise of its in-house R&D department’s achieve-

ments and expertise. Today Hubner is able to combine rubber with metal, whatever the material, whether it’s steel, aluminium, brass or any other high performance material.

Furthermore, its pre-treatment of metal parts guarantees perfect bonding for clamp elements, stoppers, rails, buffers and disks. The company also guarantees that all its products offer high chemical and thermal resistance properties, combined with mechanical stability and durability.

We mix it - at the top WAGU Gummitechnik GmbH is a rubber compounder. We develop and sell rubber compounds based on all types of polymers including silicone and fluoroelastomers.

When it comes to rubber profiles and frames, the company manufactures profiles with punched and cut-out sections, integrated electrical controls, moulded-on parts or pre-heated radii. These high-quality profiles can be used for applications in window pane sealing solutions and as sectional frames for the bedding of panes or as hatchway seals.

In addition, they can be utilised for door flaps and seals and as an acoustic, elastic bedding to absorb damaging or unwanted vibrations.

WAGU Gummitechnik GmbH Friedrich-Harkort-Straße 17 59581 Warstein GERMANY T: (+49)2902-9739-0 F: (+49)2902-9739-79 E: info@wagu-rubber.com

www.wagu-rubber.com

In a special area of the company’s injection moulding plant, it manufactures rubber frames with a high resistance to shearing stress. In this manner the company achieves a fault-free bond between the extruded profile and the heat moulded section, irrespective of whether it is for radial, rectangular or endless connections. This special ‘corner technology’ also allows Hubner to achieve a perfect connection between hollow-body profiles as well as solid body profiles with differing cross sections. n

• industrial tubes • road sweeper tubes • flexible tubes • elbow tubes • pump tubing • sleeve tubes • high pressure tubes • soft moulded rubber parts • rubber-metal combinations

• special protect-gloves • drybox gloves • isolator gloves • glovebox gloves • RABS system gloves • cleanroom gloves • glove and sleeve systems

Robert-Bosch-Straße 12, D - 64683 Einhausen, Germany Tel: +49 (0) 6251 / 96340 - Fax: +49 (0) 6251 / 54938 - E-Mail: info@jung-gt.de

www.jung-gt.de

BEATING THE RECESSION Hungarian transport logistics group Waberer’s Holding Zrt is forecasting 20 per cent growth in sales revenues due to the capacity shortage on the EU freight forwarding market. The company has recently changed its structure to improve efficiency and is currently preparing to acquire medium-sized transportation companies in the central and eastern European region. Edina Beale reports.

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oad transportation is the simplest and most secure form of logistics; however, without flexibility and efficiency a company cannot succeed in this industry. In order to provide more flexible customer service and to improve operational efficiency, in 2010 Waberer’s changed its company structure and shared out the majority of its fleet of 2300 vehicles to smaller individual enterprises holding 60–100 trucks each.

As the company reacts quickly to changing market needs, the most advanced information technology systems and tools have also been implemented to run the new type of operations efficiently. Whilst the medium-sized companies operate as individual enterprises, they are still backed up by the holding’s incredible financial power and provided with the support of its international business network system. As a result of the restructuring, although the recession set back the freighting capacities by 20–25 per cent across

Industry Europe 135

Europe and drove prestigious transportation companies out of business, Waberer’s sales revenues amounted to €331 million in 2010, which was a 15 per cent growth compared to the previous year.

Company history Established in 1948, Waberer’s predecessor Volan was previously a state-owned road cargo transportation company which was privatised in 1994 by entrepreneur György Wáberer and his associates. As a result of the turnaround strategy implemented by the new management in 1994, the company established new foundations and began a series of acquisitions to extend its product and service portfolio. In 2001 the company partnered with MAV (Hungarian State Railways) and began to develop the BILK (Budapest Intermodal Logistics Centre), central Europe’s largest forwarding and logistics centre. As a result of the acquisition of Hungarocamion Co. in 2002, the company became a market leader in Hungary and gained a significant presence in eastern and central Europe. In 2003 the com-

138 Industry Europe

pany was once again restructured, changing its name to Waberer’s and introducing its unique customer service system, Waberer’s Optimum Solution.

In 2005 the company began its regional expansion by establishing subsidiaries in Slovakia, Poland, Romania and Spain. Today Waberer’s Holding is the sixth largest road haulage company in Europe, offering a wide portfolio which includes national and international transportation, international forwarding, logistics, customs services, property development and vehicle repair.

Sustaining growth In 2011 the company continued its growth in the markets of the European Union.

Based on the results of the first eight months of 2011, Waberer’s is expected to achieve 20 per cent growth compared to last year’s figure. Part of this achievement is down to the fact that Waberer’s increased its charges by 6 per cent to counteract the increase of fuel prices to some extent. The price increase was

accepted by the company’s partners, including Electrolux, Samsung, Philips, Velux and Delphi, because of its proven reliability and flexibility.

Waberer’s mid-term plan is to double its sales revenues by organic growth and through acquisitions. The company aims to achieve organic growth by continuously improving efficiency and by enhancing the exploitation of all markets. The preparation of the acquisitions is already in process, as a team of professionals have begun to work on identifying the possible targets. Management is seeking to take over medium-sized transportation companies in countries including the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Poland.

The recent change in the ownership structure has strengthened the company’s financial position and improved conditions for the planned acquisitions. In 2011, the 50 per cent share purchase of the private equity funds Mid Europa Partners (MEP) provided new capital to Waberer’s Holding Zrt to the value of €17.37 million, which was

OMV EuroTruck OMV EuroTruck is the reliable partner on Europe’s roads. Haulier’s freight needs to reach its destination as quickly, economically and reliably as possible.

OMV EuroTruck supports them in that aim with high-grade fuels, lubricants and AdBlue® on a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week basis.

In addition, OMV EuroTruck offers a wide range of first-class services associated with its OMV EuroTruck Card like cashless payment throughout Europe; VAT refund; Service 24 International, a trans-European breakdown service; OMV Fleet Online Service, a tool for managing and monitoring all card activities; OMV Fuel Navigator, a tool for optimizing trans-European routes, fuel stops, breaks, tolls and individual fuel costs.

For customers three networks are available: • 25 OMV EuroTruck stations with very attractive price conditions.

• 230 OMV Golden Route stations with high-speed pumps, shops, cafes, parking spaces and sanitation.

• 1000 ROUTEX-4-TRUCKS partner stations in 35 countries.

In-house product development and production ensures a consistently high standard and reliability of supply: on the road and straight home – everything from a single source.

mostly spent on reducing the amount of its outstanding loans by 30 per cent.

As in previous years, the holding will be further expanding its fleet capacities before the end of 2011 with 150–200 tractors and related trailers. The company’s fleet currently consists of 2500 vehicles and had been operating with an average load of 90 per cent in the first five months of 2011. Waberer’s main supplier is Volvo, but many vehicles are

provided by the two other leading vehicle manufacturers, DAF and MAN. More than 90 per cent of the multifunctional trailers are supplied by Schmitz, whilst the rest are manufactured by Krone and Schwarzmüller. In order to ensure the sustainability of its high-quality vehicle fleet, this year the company purchased 620 vehicles including 250 Volvo, 300 MAN and 70 DAF vehicles, and also bought 500 Schmitz and 100 Krone trailers.

Reviewing its business on a regular basis and being prepared to make tough decisions has ensured that Waberer’s has not only survived the recession but has actually increased its profits and provided new jobs. Excellent service and an effective communication plan have allowed it to increase prices, whilst other companies have ceased trading or struggled n to meet their costs. www.waberers.com

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FAST TRACK

TO SUCCESS TZV Gredelj is a leading south-east European locomotive and rolling stock manufacturer whose new factory in Zagreb is the most modern in Europe. Philip Yorke looks at the company’s ambitious plans and its multi-million-euro investment in new plant as well as the resulting advanced locomotives that are setting new standards in the rail industry.

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ZV Gredelj’s rolling stock factory was founded in Hungary in 1894 as the main workshop of the Hungarian State Railway for the repair and general servicing of its steam locomotives. By building on over 100 years of experience in the design and production of locomotives, Gredelj has become a south-east European leader in their manufacture and reconstruction – in particular the design and production of

modern, advanced diesel traction. In 2010 the company moved to a new location in Zagreb, Croatia, which was the culmination of a €100 million investment in a state-ofthe-art production facility covering over 80,000m2 of production space, with further integrated facilities.

The all-new plant was officially opened in 2010 by the Croatian prime minister, Jadranka Kosor, and the mayor of Zagreb,

Milan Bandic. The hi-tech plant has been built according to the highest international standards, with special attention to achieving optimal levels of environmental protection and safe working practices.

TZV Gredelj’s CEO Ivan Tolic said: “This relocation project is of great importance for the future of TZV Gredelj, because it will be integrating and modernising production facilities that will reduce costs, increase

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quality and raise competitiveness in both our domestic and international markets.”

Currently the TZV Gredelj plant employs a specialist workforce of more than 1400 people and is owned by Croatian Railways. The company is certified to the quality assurance standards ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 and in 2008 it recorded sales of over €100 million.

Multifaceted facilities and services TZV Gredelj offers a wide range of production facilities as well as a broad spectrum of maintenance and service options. Its locomotives, wagons and trains are all designed in the Gredelj factory in accordance with the UIC and

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AAR standards and are built to accommodate all track gauges: narrow, wide or standard. The company is equipped to design and produce all types of new railway vehicles, including electric and diesel multiple units for regional and suburban transport, as well as passenger coaches and freight cars. In addition, TZV Gredelj manufactures low-floor trams, locomotives, bogies and spare parts for rolling stock and self-propelled grinding vehicles.

When it comes to overhaul and maintenance, the company also offers a broad range of services for diesel and electric locomotives, passenger coaches, mail vans, freight cars and even heavy track motor cars and

brake equipment. Its diverse range of services also extends to the design and development of tailor-made products, metal forming and welding, surface protection and preparation as well as the processing of polymer and composite materials.

Delivering reliability and efficiency On 25 May 2011 TZV Gredelj delivered the first of its GT26 series of locomotives to the American National Railway Equipment Company (NREC) for the transportation of heavy cargo trains on non-electrified tracks. These will be utilised on the narrow gauge railroads of Africa. The total value of the delivery of

these energy-efficient locomotives destined for Mozambique is approximately €20 million.

Mr Tolic said “The delivery of these locomotives is proof of our expertise and our success. This project is a continuation of a long-standing collaboration with NREC for which TZV Gredelj has already delivered a large number of restored and modernised locomotives. These are currently in service in Africa, Asia and America, as well as in many other countries. Initially, six new locomotives will be delivered for the Mozambique market with another five planned for delivery in September 2011. In July 2011 TZV Gtredelj and NREC delivered four of the same locomotive

types to Sierra Leone, thus building on our outstanding reputation and competitiveness in constructing new and maintaining existing railway capacities in a demanding international market.”

The production and delivery of a further seven locomotives of the GT26 type and restoration and reconstruction of a further four locomotives of the G26 type for Argentina are planned for late 2011. In total there has been the scheduled production of 21 GT26 locomotives and the reconstruction of four G26 locomotives, and the company is about to include another joint contract with NREC for the delivery of 18 similar locomotives in 2012.

Apart from its collaboration with NREC on the production of GT26 locomotives, TZV Gredelj has also obtained financial backing from foreign investors and partners for the production of its prototype DEL 800 shunting locomotive. The company plans to finish this locomotive in February 2012, while the conclusion of the contract and the beginning of mass production is expected to follow shortly afterwards. The production of these advanced diesel locomotives relies not only on the expertise of TZV Gredelj, but also on other specialists in the domestic industry, such as DD-Specijalna Vozila, Uljanik-TESU n and Brodosplit-BSO. Industry Europe 145

REFRIGERATION INNOVATION Hauser GmbH based in the Austrian city of Linz, produces chiller and freezer cabinets for the retail sector.

Joseph Altham caught up with the company’s deputy sales manager, Peter Breitenfellner, to find out how Hauser is helping supermarkets all over Europe to save energy.

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auser is a family business with more than 60 years of experience in refrigeration. The company manufactures refrigeration cabinets for commercial purposes and employs over 400 people. Hauser sells only to other businesses, and its biggest customers are supermarkets, cash and carry outlets and discount stores.

The company has two main production plants. The factory in Austria, at Sankt Martin im Mühlkreis, has an area of 13,500m2 and was established in 1971. Besides producing refrigeration cabinets, the factory at Sankt Martin has four test rooms that enable Hauser to conduct tests in-house. Hauser set up its factory in the Czech Republic back in 1990. This factory, in Kaplice, has helped it

to build up its strong position in central and eastern European markets. “Our Czech plant is only a 40 minute drive from head office so it is closely integrated with the rest of the company,” said Mr Breitenfellner. “Manufacturing costs in the Czech Republic are lower, so the Czech plant helps us to offer more cost-effective products.”

A splash of colour Aesthetics matter to the retail sector, which expects refrigeration cabinets to be visually impressive as well as reliable. One way to enhance the visual impact of refrigeration is through LED lighting, and Hauser has introduced LED lighting in units such as its Regius display cabinet for meat and dairy

products. “Visually, LED means you can play with different colours and create any colour you want. The industry started moving over to LED around three years ago. We now offer LED lighting as standard on our serve-over cabinets. LED lighting also has important advantages in terms of energy efficiency. It consumes less electricity and at the same time it brings less heat into the cabinet.”

The look of retail spaces has changed a lot since the 1970s, and for supermarkets battling to attract the attention of consumers, a uniform white colour for refrigeration units is sometimes no longer enough. To ensure that it can meet the expectations of its clients, Hauser has recently installed a new, fully automated painting line. “For the Industry Europe 147

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CARLY CARLY is a highly active company, and an expert in line components for refrigeration systems for use in refrigeration and air-conditioning. CARLY offers you: Its experience: founded in 1923, CARLY has built a solid international reputation. CARLY can give you the benefit of its know-how in areas as diverse as metalwork, mechanics, soldering, brazing, assembly, chemistry, etc. Its many product solutions over 1000 references in the catalogue give you a unique selection of components which cover the following functions: filtration, drying, decontamination, noise and vibration reduction, oil regulation, circuit maintenance etc. Its flexibility: CARLY develops customized technical solutions with and for you which represent more than 25% of its turnover.

CARLY – ZI de Braille – F-69380 Lissieu – France T :+33 (0)4 78 47 61 20 – F : +33(0)47 78 47 36 98 info@carly-sa.com - www.carly-sa.com

retail sector, colour has an important role to play. Our customers often want green or orange colours for displaying fruit and vegetables as a way to reiterate the freshness.

The new painting line means that we can do the jobs in-house and react more quickly to our customers’ changing requirements.”

Eco ES system The retail sector, which competes on price, is always on the lookout for ways to lower its costs. According to Mr Breitenfellner, Hauser’s customers are now paying much more atten150 Industry Europe

tion to the running costs of a refrigeration unit as opposed to just the upfront cost. “Energy efficiency is a key driver, particularly for the big retail chains. Energy prices are soaring, so the retailers are looking closely at the figures for energy-saving.” Hauser’s ingenious Eco ES system enables supermarkets to save energy by using the heat that is discharged by their refrigeration cabinets to heat the whole of the building. “Heating the supermarket with the refrigeration system means you can bring down the supermarket’s overall energy consumption. Rather than being wasted, the heat

that comes out of the refrigeration system is fed into a heat exchanger in the store.”

Thanks to Hauser’s Eco ES technology, supermarkets with substantial refrigeration capacity have even been able to do without oil and gas heating altogether. Hauser has the capacity to provide customers with turnkey solutions, including planning, delivery and installation. “Our customers in continental Europe usually prefer us to take care of the whole project, which makes life easier for them.” Taking a centralised approach also allows refrigeration to be centrally con-

trolled, making for greater energy efficiency.

“With the Eco ES system, all sorts of temperatures can be visualised on the screen of a PC. You can see the store’s temperature as well as the refrigeration temperature.

There are even clever modules that pick up the weather forecast and are synchronised with it. This means that the system will start producing hot water if it knows the weather is going to be cold.”

Markets Countries outside Austria account for 76 per cent of Hauser’s sales, making the company a highly successful exporter. Besides supplying refrigeration units to many of the big European supermarket chains, Hauser also sells refrigeration systems for industrial premises such as meat factories and delivery depots. “There are 10 staff who work on this area at our industrial refrigeration centre in

Vienna.” Hauser’s independent sales offices in Austria, Germany and the UK can deal with customers directly. The company also has a wide network of service engineers, and customers throughout Europe can contact Hauser on a special 24-hour hotline. “Aftersales care is part of the Hauser philosophy.

We don’t just want to sell equipment. We want to help our clients to maintain it and n look after it properly.”

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KEEPING UP WITH PRODUCTION GROWTH

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As a result of a successful strategy HUNGERIT Poultry Processing and Food Industrial plc, one of Hungary’s top food manufacturers, produced a 15 per cent growth in cut poultry produce in 2011. Edina Beale reports on how the company is now adjusting to this change while still following the current market trends.

H

eadquartered in Szentes, Hungary, HUNGERIT Poultry Processing and Food Industrial plc. was established in 1997, as a result of three local limited companies merging together to increase organizational efficiency. The company today focuses on three main segments; these include slaughtered and cut poultry, processed poultry products and highly processed bread-crumbed heat-andserve poultry products. Over the years the firm has established many well-known brands and acquired a strong market position in Hungary; products are supplied to most significant supermarket chains as well as being distributed via the company’s specialist shops.

Production flying high In recent years Hungerit has set a goal to exploit all of its capacities and to increase efficiencies, and as a result of this strategy in 2011 the company managed to deliver a 15 per cent growth in cut produce. “We are certain that Hungerit will achieve its highest amount of cut produce this year since its foundation; this means approximately 52–53 thousand tonnes of cut poultry products,” reveals Mr János Korda, financial director.

In order to sell the excess production on the market, HUNGERIT has worked hard to experiment with their award-winning Cryovac Darfresh packaging to ensure prolonged

shelf life for most of their products. “It was an important task, that the machine can handle products with all shapes and with bones, because the thickness of the foil, the size of the tray and the applied temperature strongly affects the quality of the packaging,” explains Mr Korda. “With this technology today we are able to distribute significant volumes of produce including duck and goose pieces as well as oven-ready products in the domestic market.”

In addition to developing its packaging line, the company has also began to extend its freezing, storage and transportation facilities so that it is able to cope in all Industry Europe 153

other area of activities with the increased production of cut produce.

Significant investments have also been made to modernise and extend HUNGERIT’s production sites. The company has developed its own integrated system to breed its own poultry therefore providing the highest quality products. Currently a new site is being built to breed 2.3 million poultry in a year. As Mr Korda reveals, this production facility meets the highest requirements

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for animal hygiene: “This is not a reconstruction of an existing site; the plant is being built completely new on a separate site.”

Emphasis has also been given to modernising the company’s processing facilities. In the beginning of 2011 a new duck plucking production line, manufactured by the Dutch STORK, was implemented and began its operation. As a result of this nearly HUF 400 million investment the processing operation has become faster and therefore

significantly increased productivity. In addition, the state-of-the-art technology enabled the company to automate the most difficult production phase that was previously carried out by personnel and has therefore enhanced operational efficiency.

Meeting customer demands Whilst continuously investing in new technologies and modernising its infrastructure, HUNGERIT is determined to

Barizber Tervező-, Beruházó-, Kivitelező- és Szolgáltató Korlátolt Felelősségű Társaság

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Tel: 00 36 63/318-665 Email: kometal2000@vnet.hu

meet the constantly changing customer demands and aims to launch innovative products that follow the current market trends. At the end of 2011 the company will launch its new family range targeting health-conscious customers. The product range was developed in cooperation with a company specialising in biological research to develop a health-protecting food product range. HUNGERIT’s newly developed products will contain natural herbal compounds that have already proven their protective effectiveness in scientific research against Alzheimer’s and related diseases. This new range will include cold meat, pate and breaded products and will appear in a unique and colourful design.

The recent development of the fresh (not frozen) heat-and-serve breaded products

was an essential and important step in HUNGERIT’s product development. These ready-made products can be heated in the microwave and are therefore convenient for workplaces and canteens and are used more and more in western Europe as a quick fix for family suppers.

The customer demand for additive-free processed products has also increased lately. “In previous years we used additives to provide quality and freshness, but now these have to be replaced with natural methods,” explains Mr Korda. “This year we carried out intensive work on this field with a German partner distributing products to the Swiss market. Most customers in Hungary also wanted us to replace the flavour enhancer in our products, so we had to find solution to this.”

HUNGERIT distributes the increased production of cut produce mainly in the export markets. Sales of fresh chicken parts, predominantly breasts and wings, are greater than before in the surrounding countries of Hungary whilst the company has also managed to establish a presence in the leading European broiler chicken producer, the Netherlands.

The company is now aiming to further increase production efficiency. There are also plans to increase the production proportion of ready-made meals, not only in the category of boneless and cut products, but also the new range of fresh heat-and-serve breaded products. “Meanwhile, it is important to maintain our focus on animal welfare and hygiene issues and constantly review our quality assurance systems for our food products,” n concludes Mr Korda.

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EXPANDING ACROSS THE ATLANTIC Pierrel SpA has provided development and production services for Italian and European pharmaceutical corporations for over 50 years.

Recently they developed a new product of their own for the US market.

Agnese Bresin talks to CEO Mr Mazzaro about the company’s activity as a contract manufacturer.

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isted on the Italian stock market since 2005, Pierrel is an Italian company that has been active in the pharmaceutical industry for more than 50 years. It provides outsourced development and production services for pharmaceutical and life science companies from all over Italy and Europe.

Active in 20 different countries, Pierrel is the second biggest platform in Europe for outsourced pharmaceutical development.

It performs a number of different activities as a contract research organisation, such as integrated master plan preparation and management, clinical studies – from phase 1 to phase 4 – marketing services and event organisation. Over the decades, the company has gained the reputation of a totally reliable developer and the worldwide

growing practice of outsourcing research activity by multinational companies is bound to provide it with more and more contracts in the future.

In our conversation with CEO Mr Mazzaro, we focused mainly on Pierrel’s activity as a contract manufacturer. This is carried out in a plant in Capua, a historical town located 20km north of Naples, in the south of Italy, not far from Naples international airport and harbour. The site is 40,000m2, of which 11,000m2 are covered. A warehouse with different GMP storage conditions (2-8°C, 15°C and 25°C) occupies 5000m2.

The production area is divided into three different sub-areas: one – about 600 square metres – is occupied by micro and chemical labs; another one – 2200m2 – is dedicated

to oral products (drops and spray) and secondary packaging (oral solid forms); the last one – 1900m2 – is aseptic and is dedicated to the production of injectable liquids.

Production in asepsis Injectable liquids production involves two separate production lines: the first one uses the traditional system of producing injectable liquids (50ml vials and ampoules) with terminal sterilisation. The other line produces injectable liquids (cartridges) in asepsis, which is something innovative that Mr Mazzaro is particularly proud of. Rather than leaving the sterilisation to the last stage, as usually happens, here the whole production process takes place in an aseptic environment. This means that the product comes

out already sterile, virtually leaving no space for impurities. Since the pH level is kept low during the production, products prove to have a longer life span than usual.

Entering the US market The new product for the US market is called Orabloc, which has been developed by Pierrel itself. Orabloc is a dental anesthetic that, thanks to a PH level kept constant during the production in asepsis, can last six months

longer than similar products currently available on the market. It will be launched in the USA in May this year during the California Dental Association conference and it will be distributed by Patterson Dental.

The agreement with Patterson Dental is the result of a major investment carried out by Pierrel over the Past three and a half years.

“It has been a difficult and very demanding project”, admits Mr Mazzaro, mainly because of the strict requirements imposed by the US

authorities. In particular, to enter the American pharmaceutical market, a company has to register the factory as well as the product. Hence a long process of improvement and renovation of the Capua site had to be undertaken to adjust to the high US standards. But the effort has been repaid: the FDA has given Orabloc the longed-for New Drug Approval. “Now we are among the few who are able to produce drugs in asepsis for the US market,” points out Mr Mazzaro. Orabloc

has also been approved in Canada and a multi-state registration in Europe is currently being processed.

European exclusivity Another reason for pride identified by Mr Mazzaro in Proveblue, a product of the French company Provepharm. Pierrel has been registered at EMEA – the European agency for the evaluation of medicinal products – as the only manufacturer of Proveblue, an orphan drug containing methylene blue which can find application in the treatment of several life-threatening diseases such as methemoglobinemia, urinary infections and malaria.

Covering about 30 European countries, this production exclusivity is certainly promising for Pierrel.

There are around 100 people working in the Capua production site. Recent investment, apart from the production line in asepsis specifically designed and built to gain the FDA approval, involved the renovation of the air-conditioning system in the storage units, the control facilities, the quality assurance procedures and the dispensing area. The warehouse, now capable of storing 3000 pallets, has an automated depalletisation system and a controlled access system to authorised personnel only.

With a yearly practical production capacity of 90 million (NCD line) plus 40 million (ECD line) cartridges, 9 million injectable ampoules, 6 million injectable vials, 4 million vials, and a 42 million ampoules packaging capacity, Pierrel SpA as a pharmaceutical manufacturer is surely ready to take on the challenges of a growing n market, both sides of the Atlantic.

The company ERRICHIELLO ANTONIO E LUIGI COSTRUZIONI has gained a forty year experience in the pharmaceutical factory construction sector, also building new laboratories classified as class “A” in pharmaceutical terms.

The main projects have been carried out for DSM S.p.A, a pharmaceutical multinational, and for PIERREL S.p.A. Among these projects we are pleased to list: 1. CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW MICRONISATION AREA AT THE DSM PLANT IN CAPUA, WITH THE BUILDING OF TYPE “A” PHARMACEUTICALLY CLASSIFIED ENVIRONMENTS, CARRIED OUT WITH THE STERIL DESIGN GROUP. 2. CONSTRUCTION OF A NEW ASEPSIS TBF DEPARTMENT AT THE PIERREL FARMACEUTICI S.P.A PLANT IN CAPUA (CE), CARRIED OUT IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE DESIGN TECHNICONSULT FIRENZE S.R.L GROUP. 3. CONSTRUCTION OF NEW LABORATORIES AND INOCULATION STRAIN AND QUALITY CONTROL FACILITIES, AS WELL AS OF NEW (CAP PROJECT) CLASSIFIED ENVIRONMENTS AT THE DSM PLANT IN CAPUA. 4. REVAMPING OF THE CHEMICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL LABORATORIES AT THE CAPUA (CE) PLANT OF PIERREL FARMACEUTICI S.P.A, CARRIED OUT IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE DESIGN TECHNICONSULT FIRENZE S.R.L GROUP. 5. CONSTRUCTION OF THE NEW PLANT LAYOUT AT THE PIERREL FARMACEUTICI S.P.A. SITE IN CAPUA (CE), CARRIED OUT IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE DESIGN TECHNICONSULT FIRENZE S.R.L GROUP.

Sede Legale Via G. Amendola, 133 80021 Afragola (NA) Tel e Fax: 081 8511837 E-mail: luigierrichiello@hotmail.it

NEW WORLD

OF CRYOGENICS SPS Cryogenics B.V. is a global leader in the supply of vacuum-insulated pipeline systems for a wide range of liquid gases. Philip Yorke takes a closer look at a company that continues to achieve its corporate ambitions through innovation, joint ventures and dedicated customer services.

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PS Cryogenics B.V. was founded in the Netherlands over 12 years ago, having had over 40 years of experience in the cryogenics industry and has grown consistently to become a significant force in the cryogenics industry through designing and manufacturing helium recovery systems, flexible hose hydrogen distribution systems and a variety of aerospace systems. This is in addition to its key operations which involve the design and fabrication of vacuum insulated LNG transfer piping systems and the production of special valves for LNG, liquid hydrogen and liquid helium.

SPS Cryogenics B.V. continues to invest in new technology, joint ventures and developing

key partnerships. Most recently the company designed and produced a highly efficient, controllable sub-cooler and installed a new CNC turning machine with automatic feeding system at its 4500 m2 facility in the Netherlands. In addition, SPS Cryogenics B.V. is also establishing a new facility in Charlotte USA for its growing North American business.

Depending upon its clients’ specific needs, the company will incorporate vacuum super-insulated tees, elbows, gas separators, valves or flexible hoses into a customer’s dedicated system. SPS Cryogenic’s wide range of specialist services is complemented by its design, manufacture and supply of

complete vacuum-insulated pipeline systems for worldwide applications. These stateof-the-art systems can be utilised for a wide range of liquid gases, such as, LIN, LOX, LAR, LNG, LHY, LHE, C02 and many more.

SPS Cryogenics B.V. meets all the current international safety codes and offers ongoing services and technical support throughout the world on a 24 hour per day basis. A high level of reliability and quality is guaranteed and the company is fully certified to ISO 9001:2000 and VAC accredited.

SPS Cryogenics B.V. serves a diverse range of industries that include medical facilities, biological storage, aerospace,

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Witzenmann Benelux the specialist in flexible connections for industrial gasses.

www.witzenmann.be

Noxon Stainless B.V. In the Netherlands Noxon Stainless B.V. is the leading stockist and distributor of stainless steel tubes and pipes, fittings, flanges, valves, bars, profiles and sheets. Next to the main warehouse in Helmond, Noxon has also a sales office in Rotterdam with a small warehouse. Especially the fitting range is unique. Noxon stocks both seamless and welded Butt Weld fittings, BSP threaded fittings 150lbs, cutting ring fittings, forged 3000lbs fittings in NPT and Socket Weld execution, dairy fittings and low pressure compression couplings.

Efficient service, prompt delivery from stock within 24 hours, high quality products and a skilled staff are the main features of the company. Besides day to day distribution, Noxon Stainless B.V. is also an excellent partner for the handling of complete projects in all kinds of industries and for tailor made solutions. In combination with her producers Noxon Stainless B.V. can meet all of your requirements.

Burkert Fluid Control Systems At Burkert Fluid Control Systems, we strive to satisfy the most challenging cryogenic customer needs quickly and reliably. We do this globally with innovative high-quality cryogenic products suitable for on-off service, system solutions, and comprehensive services. Burkert products and systems can be used wherever cryogenic fluids or gases need to be measured, controlled, and regulated. Whether the application is filling, level, flow, or pressure we have a solution and a uniquely comprehensive range of products to

The goods are high quality certified and all incoming and outgoing goods are inspected according to the companies quality assurance system based upon NEN-ISO 9000-2000.

handle it, including on/off manual and pneumatic extended stem angle seat and globe valves, positioners and process controllers for the integrated mounting on process valves with Profibus, DeviceNET, and AS-interface communication available, and vacuum jacketed valves and piping. Burkert is present globally in over 35 countries with more than 60 years of experience in the industrial fluid and gaseous control markets.

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industrial plants and laboratories. In addition the company serves other major installations users such as air separation plants, food freezing facilities and research organisations.

The company sees its growth coming from both organic growth and acquisitions, with particular focus on the area where it sees the greatest opportunities for expansion – the global LNG market. It is also committed to investing further to protect the environment and improve its record on sustainability.

New joint venture will be launched In January 2012, SPS Cryogenics B.V. and Keezer Engineering joined forces to launch a new company called ‘Cryoworld B.V.’.

Both companies have been enjoying strong performances in the marketplace and their amalgamation in the new JV company provides a strong business base for extending their individual services and global reach.

This new force in the cryogenics industry offers customers considerable combined practical and theoretical know-how and a strong financial background and Cryoworld B.V. says that they expect to be able to build significantly upon their existing loyal customer base.

Cryoworld B.V. is designed and organised to provide a wide variety of specialist cryogenic services that include the supply of LNG and hydrogen systems and components, helium systems, vacuum insulated specialities and cryogenic and vacuum customised systems. Cryoworld B.V. has a comprehensive range of facilities at its disposal including four CNC production centres, four automatic or semi-automatic cutting machines, manual and orbital TIG machines. This is in addition to certified welders and welding processes with full cleaning and testing facilities and multiple turbo-molecular pumping set-ups capable of pumping large numbers of spools simultaneously. The new company is both VCA certified and ISO 9001 accredited.

Putting partnerships in perspective A fast-growing company is often judged by the company it keeps, and success can be influenced by the working relationship between the companies that rely on each other’s expertise and cooperation. SPS Cryogenics B.V. relies on Burkert Fluid Control Systems of Germany for its cryogenic valves and for the control, measurement and regulation of its liquid gases. Whether the application is filling, level, flow, pressure or temperature, Burkert has the solution and has been a reliable partner to SPS Cryogenics B.V. for many years. In addition, Burkert’s global presence also offers important synergies for SPS Cryogenics B.V. with its growing international n business operations worldwide.

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INNOVATIVE ENGINEERING EXCELLENCE

Pelican Rotoflex is a leading global manufacturer of advanced printing and converting machinery for the packaging industry. Philip Yorke talked to Mr Viral Mehta, the company’s SEO, about its latest innovative products and ambitious plans for the future.

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elican Rotoflex was established by the Shah family in Gujarat, India, in 1996 and began by manufacturing high-quality flexographic printing presses. Subsequently the company ventured into the production of gravure lines for flexible packaging and by this time had already established itself as a technology-driven company and dedicated to producing machines that would compete with the best in the world.

In the year 2000 Pelican made its first entry into the international marketplace and launched its own six colour stack-type, bull-geared flexographic press, which it presented at the PlastIndia 2000 trade show to wide acclaim.

This was followed in 2002 by the development of the world’s first multi-drive controlled, flexographic press with in-line reelto-sheet cutting. Other innovative products

followed, and in 2007 the company invested in a new, world-class manufacturing facility with the objective of serving the converting industry with a new generation of advanced converting machines.

Today Pelican Rotoflex has a turnover of USD 10 million and the company employs more than 300 people at its manufacturing and administration facilities in Gujarat, which cover an area of over 25,000m2. Furthermore, it is fully accredited to ISO 9001:2000, which underscores its motto that “only the best in all aspect is good enough”.

Pelican has also been successful in its global aspirations, with more than 350 installations established worldwide in countries as far apart as New Zealand and the UK, including others located in South Africa, Columbia, Kenya, Tanzania, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman.

Fully integrated solutions In order to achieve its goal of becoming a major world player, Pelican designed its new production facilities to be energy efficient and fully integrated. The result is a highly efficient manufacturing plant that has every function under one roof. The company’s integrated facilities include a design department, electronic engineering division and a control panel manufacturing division. This is in addition to modern machinery equipped workshops, an assembly and fabrication shop, a metal treatment shop and a fully equipped powder coating plant.

Today Pelican’s state-of-the-art equipment offers the latest generation machinery combined with energy-efficient, cost-effective solutions designed to meet the challenges of the modern packaging world. Pelican’s new generation machinery is playing an important role in the brand building of companies in

a diverse range of industries, which range from processed food and dairy products to cosmetic, personal care products, beverages and pharmaceuticals.

Mr Mehta said, “We are dedicated to offering the best possible equipment and aftermarket care for our customers and as a result have been successful both at home and abroad. Currently we are concentrating on our expansion in overseas markets where we have already achieved major successes with our energy efficient and costeffective print and converting machines. Our long-term objectives are to lead the industry in creating added value for our customers and to increase the operational excellence of our products. We will continue to build on our success and improve our product range in order to stay one step ahead of our competitors in this highly pressurised market.

“We believe that our growth is linked to the success of our customers and to their, healthy, continued growth. We cherish the strong relationship that we have built up with our clients in helping them to optimise their productivity.

It is as a result of our close working relationships and added-value solutions that over 70 per cent of our sales come from our existing customers. This is also a tribute to the widespread confidence both in our products and our unrivalled after-sales service”.

Solomark and Soloprint setting new standards Pelican offers an extensive range of printing and converting machinery, Pelican believe in design, develop, and manufacture machine with optimal efficiency and reliability in mind. These include the large, impressive Solomark-4000 Rotogravure printing press

with electronic line-shaft technology, Solomark-3000 Rotogravure printing press with Mechanical line-shaft technology, the Soloprint Stake Type and Central Impression Flexographic press, the Soloslit slitter Rewinder, the Sololam solvent-based laminating machines.

The company’s new generation of Rotogravure presses is led by its Electronic Line Shaft technology (ELS) which offers better operator access all round, significant reduction in noise levels, fewer machine parts that require servicing and a faster print register response. By perfectly integrating its new generation of electronics and ergonomically designed mechanical components, this press is designed to deliver optimum performance and maximum productivity.

The precise mechanical construction of each component, which undergoes exhaustive testing procedures, guarantees the

highest engineering standards that result in a more efficient and longer working life.

The company’s Soloprint-Stake Type Flexographic press is its top-of-the-range converting machine and offers the highest standards in flexible packaging solutions. Its heavy duty frame structure maintains accuracy over a long, dependable life-span and ensures less vibration even with optimum line speed. Touch-screen operating interface further facilitates ease of operation.

Pelican Soloslit machine is distinctively designed and integrating with new generation of electronics, closed loop rewind tension control through differential winding technology utilizing ‘Ball lock’ units maintains set tension regardless of different width of the reel being rewound on the same shaft, increases productivity and minimizes ‘downtime.’ The machine is built to produce high quality finished product efficiently and handles almost all substrates range.

Pelican Sololam machine also offers state-ofthe-art lamination and like the other machinery, is designed and manufactured in-house.

These intact next generation machine offers n a wide range of advanced features.

For a full description of Pelican’s advanced range of machines, log on to www.pelican.in

PIONEERING HIGH-PERFORMANCE ADDITIVES Unger Fabrikker AS is a global leader in the development and manufacturing of anionic surfactants and is the only one of its kind in northern Europe. Philip Yorke talked to Thomas Karlsson, Unger’s international marketing director, about its latest, innovative production of dry surfactants, as well as its move into new market sectors.

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nger was founded in Norway in 1922 and has established itself as a leading manufacturer of anionic surfactants with a comprehensive distribution network.

Unger manufactures and exports its additives throughout the world. These include a wide variety of surfactant raw materials for applications in household detergents, personal care and institutional cleaning products, as well as functional additives for industrial applications. Unger’s unique product range comprises workhorse surfactants for high volume applications, customised additives and concentrates, which are pre-blended to meet its individual customers’ specifications.

The company utilises state-of-the-art technology in its large-scale production plant. This in turn is backed up by a consistent and well-proven distribution system and extensive harbour facilities, making Unger a uniquely reliable partner that offers dependable global logistics services.

Innovation built in Unger develops and manufactures a wide range of anionic surfactants in dry, liquid and paste form. Whether it is to improve air entrainment in plaster or to facilitate an emulsion polymerisation process, the company’s expertise in applying functional materials can provide its clients with the optimal solution.

Mr Karlsson said, “We try to be more innovative in everything we do as we need to make products that meet today’s challenging specifications. We also aim to ensure the highest quality standards and produce products that are unique for the customer. Our special added-value products are produced in close cooperation with our customers and result in new blends that offer innovative, functional solutions. Our R&D department employs top technical experts who work on a broad spectrum of industrial applications. We also work closely with our multinational clients. They regularly

Thomas Karlsson International Marketing Director

invite us to develop new additives and we provide them with large-scale testing facilities as well as laboratory testing options.

Our drying technology is very efficient and we can post-treat and shape the product to suit the customer’s specific needs.”

He added, “For example, washing powder and toilet block producers that use our products experience better flow and less hygroscopic characteristics in their manufacturing processes.

We can clearly define the particle size and the solubility of our new agglomerated products, which makes it possible to set much lower laundry temperatures than ever before.

Unger’s agglomerated powders are special because the particles are attached to each other and look rather like a raspberry.

This is a characteristic that offers unique benefits such as improvement of the solubility due to increased surface per unit. These agglomerates are a great alternative to needles and granules.

When it comes to toilet blocks, our broad range of products gives our customers what they are looking for in order to achieve competitive advantages in their markets.

Growing demand for biodegradable emulsifiers The company’s UFAPOL range of anionic emulsifiers is seeing growing demand as a result of its inherent product benefits. These include low levels of electrolyte and nonreacted material, low levels of by-products, good thermal properties and good pH and electrolyte tolerance as well as being readily biodegradable. Among the many applications of Unger’s surfactants, their use in paints, plastics and the elastomer industries accounts for around 10 per cent of the volume of all surfactants consumed.

Unger’s performance additives are also widely used in many different areas of the construction industry. Here the company supplies additives both liquid and dry to be

used in gypsum-board, plasterboards as well as in mortars and various types of concrete. These include foaming, air-entraining, wetting and dispersing agents. In this field, the main function of Unger’s products is to incorporate a predefined amount of homogeneously distributed air. The function of the additive can vary according to the different environments involved and the ways in which they are applied in order to meet individual customer needs.

Karlsson commented: “The construction industry is a growth area for us and currently represents around 10 per cent of our global sales in applications that utilise foaming agents, plasterboards and concrete. With our high-performing additives we make it possible for our customers to improve and optimise their production, increase the quality of their products and improve their performance. This is in addition to the energy saving that our products offer and their eco-friendly, biodegradable character-

istics. Product optimisation and functionality of a formulation often requires a novel approach based on our in-depth knowledge of the applied surfactant system. We invite companies to exploit our know-how and expertise in this area. We are always looking for new markets and applications. An increasingly important growth area for us is the offshore oil business, which is a huge industry and one where we can make a significant contribution.

“It is here that we are intending to provide highly efficient rig-wash products and mudreleasing products to improve crude oil processing and enhance oil recovery.

We are also looking at new geographical markets to promote our dry products in Russia which is close to us, and Latin and North America. We would like to increase our share of the market in Asia although we have to compete with low-price products.

However, we are seeing an increasing interest for Unger products.” n

SHIPBUILDING IN THE FAST LANE The Uljanik Group is a diversified engineering company that comprises shipbuilding and the manufacture of large diesel engines. Philip Yorke looks at how the shipbuilding division, Uljanik Brodogradiliste, has grown to become the leading specialist in the design and manufacture of complex, self-propelled cutter dredgers and its unique, innovative technology specially developed for the construction of very large crude carriers.

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ljanik Brodogradiliste is located at Croatia’s leading shipyard at Pula, whose roots go back to 1856 when it was operated as an Austro-Hungarian naval shipyard. The site is named after the islet town of Pula, where the company’s extensive steel fabrication and ship hull construction activities are located to this day. Other companies in the Uljanik Group include Uljanik Engineering, which manufactures diesel engines under licence

from Burmaeister and Wain. The engineering company specialises in the design and production of slow-speed, two-stroke diesel engines under its MAN Diesel & Turbo licence for marine applications as well as producing large, stationary diesel engines.

Uljanik Strojogradnja Engineering dd also manufactures a range of marine gearboxes, spare parts and welded structures, as well as providing a broad range of specialised engineering services. These include torsional

vibration and axial vibration calculations, noise measurement, structural vibration measurements and shaft alignment calculations and measurements.

In its long period of continuous production the company has built vessels ranging from 10,000 to 80,000 tonnes deadweight.

In 1990 after the establishment of a free and independent Croatia, Uljanik became a joint-stock company and continued in the tradition of building all types of shipping

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from cargo ships and tankers to ‘Ro-Ro’ carriers reefers and dredgers. Since 1951, Uljanic Brodogradiliste has delivered over 200 new vessels totalling more than six million tonnes deadweight to buyers from all over the world. Today the company has a workforce of over 2000 people and the construction capacity to build seven new vessels per year.

New generation dredgers Currently the company is in the midst of completing a major contract for the Jan De Nul group of the Netherlands, which comprises of four, self-propelled cutter suction dredgers. These technically complex ships are used for dredging waterways and coastlines, as well as for building wharfs and artificial islands. These new-build ves-

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sels are the largest and most powerful cutter dredgers in their class and are able to reach a dredging depth of over 36 metres.

Ujjanik’s new super-dredgers incorporate many years of experience and technical innovations developed by both Uljanik Brodogradiliste and the Jan De Nul Group.

Through its advanced cutting and simul-

taneous suction techniques, these ships are able to dredge compacted sand, stiff clay, rock and diverse soils. The excavated material can be unloaded by its PS or SB side spuds into barges or through a swivel to a floating pipeline to shore at a distance of around ten kilometres.

There are only six dredging vessels comparable to these in the world, making Uljanic Brodogradiliste one of the leading shipyards of choice that has the experience to build this advanced type of floating unit. Furthermore, never before have there been four dredgers of this type under construction at the same time in one shipyard, which says a lot about the capabilities and expertise that exist within the company.

A major achievement of Uljanik’s designers in meeting the demanding specifications

Activities: • Shipbuilding industry – making of project and workshop documentation (electrical part – distribution, automation, internal communication, communication, navigation, safety, ...) for newbuilding and conversion projects world wide. We have experience on projects as follows: cutter suction dredgers, suction hopper dredgers, container vessels, general cargo vessels, sea/river vessels, LPG carriers, bulk carriers, chemical tankers, chemical barges, firefighting vessels, passenger/cargo vessels, fishing boats, patrol boats, motor yachts, floating docks, ...

• Production of distribution and automation equipment (main and emergency switchboards, individual and group starters, control boxes, power and lighting distribution boards, control consoles, emergency stop boxes, connection boxes, ...)

• Delivering of complete systems as internal communication system, integrated alarm and monitoring system, power management system, fire alarm and detection system, general alarm system, navigation system, ...

• Electrical works on vessels – cable runs fixing, cables laying, connection of equipment, testing and presentation of equipment to owner and classification society surveyors (all electrical activities on vessels).

www.saric-projekt.hr SARIC PROJEKT d.o.o. - Sarici 20, 52206 Marcana CROATIA Tel.: +385 52 580609 - Fax.: +385 52 580350 - Mob.: +385 98 335701 E-mail: dario.saric@saric-projekt.hr / bojan.saric@saric-projekt.hr / darjan.saric@saric-projekt.hr / info@saric-projekt.hr

of this project has been its contribution of providing electric distribution and automation solutions, with approximately 330 kilometres of cabling installed per dredger. Each vessel has three MAN diesel engines that are capable of producing 7200kW of power at 500rpm. These in turn drive three main alternating generators whose combined power output is 21 megawatts, which is the equivalent to the electrical energy used by a small town of 25,000 inhabitants. This energy is designed to be used to operate

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the dredger’s specialised equipment, including three giant five-megawatt pumps. Each ship weighs approximately 2200 tonnes deadweight at its maximum draught of 5.7m and can develop speeds of up to 13 knots.

On each ship’s open deck there is one hydraulic travelling deck crane as well as three store cranes, two of 350 kilonewtons (kN) and one of 10kN. Three of these super-dredgers have already been delivered – the Lbn Battuata in May 2010, the ‘Zheng He’ in October

2010 and the Fernao de Magalhaes in April 2011. The last in the series will be delivered in September 2011. The company’s collaboration with the Jan De Nul Group has been expanded further recently by a contract for the construction of two new hopper dredger vessels. These major contracts bear testament to the shipyard’s strong technological capabilities and its excellent and consistent build quality. The company’s continuing commitment to developing new technology and staying at the cutting edge

SARIC PROJECT - ELECTRICAL SYSTEM DESIGN AND PRODUCTION Saric Project Ltd is a company founded in 1995, by engineers with extensive experience in shipbuilding, in order to design electrical systems and associated equipment.

Our team of highly trained professionals are able to make your project or complete project and working documentation, depending on the project needs.

of shipbuilding technology, paves the way for attracting more demanding buyers on the world’s shipping market.

Diverse capabilities Uljanik Brodogradiliste’s experts design, construct and build all types of ships from those used for the transportation of oil and oil products, to bulk cargo and container vessels. Every ship that is built by Uljanic is special and built according to each specific buyers own requirements.

With VLCC-s (very large crude carriers) the Uljanik shipyard in Pula has developed the technology for building a ship’s hull in two parts and then joining them together

Our reference list and successful projects of our satisfied customers are the guarantee of our quality and professionalism.

If you need to design and create reliable electrical systems in the shipbuilding industry, we hope that you’ll find interesting information on our website and contact us with confidence.

when afloat. To date, the company has constructed eleven ships using this technology among which was the Tarfala of 275,000 tonnes deadweight for the Stockholm-based company: Trafialtiebolaget Grandgesberg.

Uljanik Brodogradiliste works in close cooperation with its buyers, designing and building sophisticated ships for a variety of purposes. The company has also worked closely with many of the supervision and classification societies such as, Lloyds Register, RINA, Bureau Veritas, Russian Register, DNV and it is also a member the Croation Register and the Croation Shipbuilding Corporation. n Industry Europe 175

GLOBAL STRENGTH Welspun is a global industrial conglomerate which today enjoys a leading position in almost all the various sectors in which it operates. As we shall see, the group has been making large investments in recent years to further improve its global standing.

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eadquartered in Mumbai, India, the Welspun Group today has a global outreach with international operations spanning Europe, the USA, the Middle East and South America. The company is active in many business sectors, including textiles, steel, line pipes, infrastructure and oil and gas. Furthermore, it is also involved with the majority of the global ‘Fortune 100’ companies.

The company was founded in 1985 by entrepreneur and current chairman BK Goenka, who has brought Welspun from a small retail towel business to a global leader 176 Industry Europe

in each of its business segments. The group today comprises several different companies throughout the world. In the textiles sector there is Welspun India Ltd, Welspun Syntex Ltd, Welspun Global Brands Ltd and Welspun UK Ltd. In the areas of line pipes and plates and coils there is Welspun Corp Ltd, Welspun Tubular LLC in the USA and Welspun Middle East Pipe. In the steel sector the group companies include Welspun Steel Ltd, Welspun Maxsteel Ltd and Remi Metals Gujarat Ltd. Other businesses include Welspun Natural Resources Pvt Ltd, which

is involved in oil and gas exploration and production; Welspun Infratech Ltd, an infrastructure company; and Welspun Energy Ltd. Part of Welspun’s global expansion strategy is to acquire companies with expertise in its core business areas – allowing it to truly live up to its motto of ‘Dare to Commit’. For example, in 2009 it acquired the Portuguese bath rug manufacturer Sorema, and in 2010 it acquired Vikram Ispat Ltd, the sponge iron business of Grasim Industries which was later rechristened Welspun Maxsteel Ltd. Another important earlier acquisition was the

company’s 2006 purchase of the UK-based towelling products manufacturer Christy – its first marquee buyout overseas.

Branching out And this strategy of acquisition continues to this day. Having previously expanded into the manufacture of large welded steel pipes (in which area it is now India’s top exporter and in the top two globally), Welspun now wants to break into the engineering and construction sectors. To the end, in 2010 it acquired a majority stake in MSK, a major player in the Indian construction sector with three decades of experience. With this, it now hopes to win tenders for major projects as a contractor as well as a developer. In the same year it also acquired a large stake in Leighton Construction’s Indian business,

whose technical capabilities will be used for offshore oil and gas projects or complex tunnels. With these two acquisitions, Welspun is confident that it can gain an even firmer foothold in this lucrative sector.

Parvez Umrigar, managing director and CEO of Welspun Infratech, the group’s infrastructure arm, recently explained the rationale behind these investments: “Between the two acquisitions, we have covered the middle and high-end infrastructure projects. We are bidding for roads, forming consortium to bid for airports. That’s how we are looking to put ourselves in the larger play of infrastructure.”

Expanding in steel However, whilst construction is interesting it is certainly the above-mentioned steel pipes business that has proven most successful

for Welspun. The company has certainly come a long way from its beginnings in home textiles.

Having supplied its pipes for major companies in the oil and gas sectors, including Chevron, Kinder Morgan and Saudi Aramco, this area of its business has been instrumental in the increase of its revenues from less than $500 million to $1.2 billion in the last five years.

Indeed, such has been the success of this division that in 2010 the private equity company Apollo Global Management agreed to invest $500 million to meet the Welspun Group’s immediate funding needs to implement its ambitious growth plans. Two-thirds of this investment will go into supporting the growth of the pipe company Welspun Corp (WCL). Furthermore, the transaction will consolidate the group’s steel unit Max Steel with WCL. At the same time, Apollo has been in Industry Europe 177

Benninger - Competence in textile machinery The Swiss company Benninger produces machinery and plants which meet the highest standards for textile finishing. The range of Benninger products is rounded off with tire cord systems and the Benninger drive and control units. The name Benninger stands for controlled and consistent quality, process reliability and costeffectiveness. At Benninger, great emphasis is also placed on the environmental impact of the company’s products, which is why all machines and plants are subject to continuous improvement programmes.

The fact that Benninger plants offer a high level of reliability and dependability means that Benninger can help their customers to gain a vital competitive edge in the global marketplace.

As well as the machinery and plants, Benninger can also offer process engineering competence to match.

For the company’s customers, this means that they can use the comprehensive expertise and support of Benninger consultants for their own, individual needs.

negotiations with Mr Goenka to invest up to 675 crore into Welspun Infratech, the group’s infrastructure arm.

Mr Bhandari, managing director of Apollo Global Management, recently explained his company’s faith in Welspun: “This is the largest investment we have made in India.

Welspun has a strong history of growth and profitability in global oil and gas pipeline industry and is at the cusp of becoming a leading global integrated pipe manufacturer.”

For Welspun, this partnership offers an unparalleled opportunity for integrating its pipe manufacturing processes. Its steel mill currently produces a million tonnes of sponge iron annually but it does not currently have its own iron ore or steel slab plant – essential for components for making sponge iron and making steel plates and coils to be converted into pipes.

International outlook Going forward, Welspun intends to continue with its policy of internationalisation in order to increase its local presence – particularly for the steel pipes it supplies to the oil and gas sector.

This makes good business sense when one considers that the company’s competition is decreasing the more specialised the pipes get.

To facilitate this, it is decentralising its management structure to a regional or local level in all the geographical markets in which it operates.

Welspun is also dedicated to providing exclusive projects with 360-degree solutions, including complete supply chain solutions – meaning that the final product is delivered directly to the client’s premises wherever they may be. It is clear, then, that the group already has the capacity in place to be a truly local supplier to its growing number of clients n throughout the world.

Industry Europe 179

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