PERMASCAND
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PROFILE
THE CATALYST
FOR GREEN Having recently celebrated its 50th birthday, Permascand continues to innovate and grow, with new developments in its production capabilities and exciting inroads into hydrogen production. CEO Peter Lundström, CTO Fredrik Herlitz and Viktoria Lindstrand, Permascand’s CCO, sat down with Richard Hagan.
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ermascand, based in Sweden, is a global independent provider of electrochemical solutions. It’s one of the top producers of catalytic coatings in the world, and it also produces a variety of electrodes and electrochemical cells and solutions utilised in a variety of industries across the planet. Its manufacturing infrastructure has always been an important priority and it continues to be so, according to company CEO Peter Lundström. “In the last few years, we’ve invested a lot in the company, both in terms of our soft and hard values,” he said. “But now we’ve really focused on increasing the automation and robotisation of our production line. It’s taken lots of time and money, but it’s all now up and running.” The company’s recent public listing has given it the headroom to forge ahead with investments into a technology centre that is expected to significantly improve its research and development capabilities. 158
Inside Marine
“The phase we’re in now is building up the R&D of our products and our manufacturing solutions,” confirmed CTO Fredrik Herlitz. “We’re investing heavily into the concept. Inside, we’re installing the next generation of equipment for catalytic coating materials of the future. We believe that the innovations there will reduce both raw material consumption and the overall environmental impact.” The equipment Fredrik Herlitz referred to is a testbed measuring 15m x 3m in size: small in comparison to the final, industrial-scale equipment that it emulates, but perfect for its mission. The company envisions that mission as being not only an R&D facility but also as a marketing vehicle of sorts. “While it’s a demonstration of something that will be beneficial to us as a company, it’s also beneficial for our customers and for the environment,” said CCO Viktoria Lindstrand. “We want to use the work we’ll be doing here to ensure that our customers
