Plasma-Green for a clean future

WEIHE I PROFILE

PLASMA-GREEN

for a clean future

Weihe GmbH is a specialist German engineering company for plant construction and engine peripherals. Gorden Flucke, Head of Technical Sales, spoke with Phil Nicholls.

Klaus Weihe founded the Weihe GmbH engineering company in 1987 selling exhaust silencers and related products. The company steadily expanded as customers demanded clamps and pipes with the exhausts, even asking Weihe for custom welding procedures. Klaus Weihe therefore opened a manufacturing operation alongside the sales division.

In 2000, Weihe moved to its current site in Altenholz, near Kiel in northern Germany. The facility expanded by 1,000 sqm in 2006, then Axel Weihe took over the family business in 2011. Over the years, Weihe steadily expanded its penetration further into the maritime, industry, power, rail and oil & gas.

Gorden Flucke, Head of Technical Sales, explained how Weihe is more than just a sales office. The team’s engineering expertise mean Weihe “delivers complete system solutions to our customers.”

Expansion at Weihe continued with a new 500sqm hall built at Altenholz as an assembling workspace in 2021. Mr Flucke explained: “We started having more and more projects where it’s necessary to not just produce the parts, but also to assemble the product and put it into frames or containers. So, we added our new hall.”

Weihe also works closely with select partners. One such partner is Orcan Energy AG, the Munich based developer of production-ready efficiency PACKs. Orcan’s patented efficiency PACKs generate zerocarbon electricity from heat – from engines, industrial- or cooling processes.

Another successful Weihe partnership is with the American engineering company RW Fernstrum. Weihe stocks the Gridcooler keel coolers from Fernstrum, offering clients easy installation and cost savings against alternate cooling methods. Through close cooperation with the shipyards and the engine manufacturers, Weihe supplies this optimally designed cooling system.

Weihe also stocks box coolers, flat coolers and heat exchangers. These compact coolers are particularly suitable for commercial shipping as they allow spacesaving installation. The Weihe range is supplemented by tube bundle heat exchangers for oil and water.

Weihe currently employs about 50 employees consolidated at the single site in Altenholz with a 2021 turnover between €5-6milion, with approximately 25% of the business in the maritime sector.

“The remaining 75% is split between the remaining sectors ,” Mr Flucke said. “Around 60% of our turnover is from the manufacturing side of the business, while the other 40% is from our trading products.

“I’d estimate around 80% of this turnover comes from loyal Weihe customers that we have had almost since the beginning.” Mr Flucke is certain that this incredible level of repeat customer loyalty is due to Weihe’s reputation for a product portfolio characterised by high-quality, tailormade system solutions.

Complete solutions

Weihe supplies components and solutions for a range of areas, but the company’s core competency is for engine peripherals including exhaust aftertreatments such as particulate filters and catalytic converters, as well as exhaust silencers for all engine sizes. Weihe products are built to high quality and reliability standards, a vital feature for the maritime sector. The company is certified to the highest standard in many areas such as Pressure

WEIHE I PROFILE

Equipment Directive, DNV, military, rail and many more.

“When a client comes to us,” Mr Flucke said, “they know we will supply the complete solution, not just a part from a catalogue which the client needs to change every two years.”

Weihe works with a broad range of maritime customers, beyond virtually every shipyard in Germany. Weihe fitted exhaust aftertreatments to police vessels and project research vessels. Other samples include exhaust systems for luxury yachts, engine room heat insulation for the cruise liner Quantum Of The Seas and U-type box coolers on river cruise liners.

Turnover at Weihe has remained broadly stable for the past few years. Mr Flucke was only appointed to the role of Head of Technical Sales in October 2021. Trained as a mechanical engineer with a focus on renewable energy, he also has extensive sales experience across northern Europe and Scandinavia. He therefore enjoys the perfect combination of skills to drive Weihe forward towards growth.

Despite current market obstacles such as the Covid pandemic and the disruptions to supply chains, Weihe has exciting plans to upgrade its factory with an investment to increase the company’s manufacturing capacities. Following challenges finding qualified welding personnel, Weihe is going to install automated welding robots.. In addition, Weihe plans to add another 1,000sqm assembling space in 2023.

Gorden Flucke Head of Technical Sales

Plasma Green and people

Mr Flucke also highlighted a new product Weihe will unveil at SMM 2022: “We are working on a new category of diesel particulate filter called Plasma Green. It’s like a standard particle filter, just without the filter. The system uses cold plasma in an electric field, so the molecules are broken down into harmless elements.” Plasma Green filters are compact and suitable for retrofitting.

The Plasma Green project has taken many years to develop, with Weihe working in collaboration with the Technical University of Clausthal in Lower Saxony. Mr Flucke continued: “The goal of Plasma Green is to clean the exhaust from engines with a much smaller, more cost-effective product – one with almost no maintenance.”

The launch of Plasma Green will be the centrepiece of Weihe’s program at SMM 2022 this September. Mr Flucke said he is looking forward to the return of the Hamburg event: “It’s the world’s leading trade fair in the maritime sector. So, I think anyone who’s working in this sector can’t afford to miss it.

“The main benefit is to meet all our customers, partners, and suppliers in person again, after all these years. It will be wonderful just to meet people again and talk in person about our projects from the last few years, rather than on Zoom or Teams.”

The Weihe booth at SMM is shared with Fernstrum and profiles this partnership for keel coolers. Weihe also plans to use the fair to promote the new ORC system, designed to increase energy efficiency. The core line of the technically mature ORC system is mobile modules from Orcan Energy AG, supplied by Weihe in different sizes.

Technical expertise

With regards to the broader maritime market, Mr Flucke conceded that the market is highly competitive. Yet, he was confident in Weihe’s future: “What really makes us competitive is our technical sales department; we can go deep into the technical side of the client’s needs. We can help the client and give them detailed advice: we provide solutions, not just products.”

Mr Flucke acknowledged a global trend away from fossil fuels and combustion engines: “We are selling fewer exhaust silencers and pipes, but on the other hand, the market for renewable energy is increasing.”

The future is green, so Weihe is positioned to grow as the market reacts to the global increase in energy prices thanks to its partnership with Orcan Energy, who is ramping up production of lines such as the efficiency PACKs that generate zerocarbon electricity from the surplus heat produced by combustion engines. Mr Flucke also predicted an up-tick in sales of Weihe particle filters with tightening regulations about maritime emissions.

Weihe has a dedicated Defect Removal and Sustainability Team at its facility to improve its environmental impact. Alongside solar panels on the roof meeting around half of its electricity requirements, the manufacturing operation has transferred completely to LED lighting. The Weihe office operates entirely paper-free and the company relies upon recycled paper for packaging materials.

In concluding, Mr Flucke has a clear vision for Weihe: “Our plan for the future is to continue to delight our customers, find new customers, be successful with our products, and contribute our share to cutting emissions whether they are audible, particulate or heat.” n