Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

UK: TechnoNicol International plants to use Stirling-based Superglass to launch an expansion programme in the US and to develop its market in the UK and Ireland. TechnoNicol has created a new division at the company it purchased in July 2016 to achieve this aim and has made senior appointments to support it. The company aims to establish a ‘significant’ market share in North America over the next five years.

Ken Munro, Superglass’s chief executive officer, has become chief executive officer of TechnoNicol (UK, Ireland and USA). In this newly created role, Munro will have responsibility for the management and coordination of TechnoNicol’s presence in these regions and will continue to lead and develop the Superglass business as it is incorporated into this expanded structure.

Munro will also have responsibility for the global development of the Superglass brand as it begins to play a part in TechnoNicol’s overall insulation products strategy. As further businesses are developed, both organically and by acquisition, they will be integrated into this unified regional structure, with new jobs likely to be created in Stirling as the regional headquarters takes shape.

Stuart Rowell, who is currently Group Business Development Director at Superglass, and Girts Dikelsons, currently Regional Director TechnoNicol (UK and USA), will be responsible for sales and marketing activity across all product lines in the new region and are appointed as Regional Sales Director (Insulation Solutions) and Regional Sales Director (Bitumen Membrane Solutions) respectively.

Theresa McLean, Superglass’s Chief Financial Officer, has been appointed as chief financial officer of TechnoNicol (UK, Ireland and USA) and Mark Atherton, Operations Director at Superglass, becomes Chief Production Officer and Head of Operations for the newly expanded regional business. Rowell, Dikelsons, McLean, and Atherton will all report directly to Ken Munro.

Netherlands: Arkema has completed its acquisition of Den Braven, a producer of sealants for insulation and construction. Together with Arkema’s subsidiary Bostik, the purchase adds to the group’s presence in the sealant market around the world. The takeover is expected to add synergies of at least Euro30m.

"We are pleased to welcome the Den Braven teams. Their state-of-the-art technologies, first-class industrial facilities and know-how widely recognized by their customers are all assets that we will continue to develop and build upon within Bostik. We are confident that this new growth platform will support our very strong ambition in adhesives," said Vincent Legros, Executive Vice President of Bostik, a subsidiary of Arkema.

France: Cement sector multinational LafargeHolcim has launched Airium, a mineral insulation foam. The product was developed at the group’s research and development centre near Lyon. Airium will target thermal insulation markets in Austria, France and Morocco. Later it will focus on North America and other European and North African countries.

Airium is being launched for the filling of concrete blocks in France and Austria and for roof terraces in Morocco. LafargeHolcim say that the insulation of concrete blocks with Airium makes it possible to build and insulate at the same time, saving construction time and space.

“With the launch of Airium, LafargeHolcim demonstrates once again its ability to rethink construction practices in order to continue delivering innovation,” said Gérard Kuperfarb, Group Head of Growth & Innovation at LafargeHolcim. The development of Airium is in line with the commitments of LafargeHolcim’s 2030 Plan to generate one third of its revenue from a portfolio of products and services with enhanced sustainability performance.

South Korea: Armacell and JIOS Aerogel (JIOS) have formed a joint venture called Armacell Jios Aerogels (AJA) to develop and manufacture silica aerogel blankets. The new company will be based in Hong Kong and South Korea, operating from Armacell’s existing manufacturing facility in Cheonan, close to Seoul.

JIOS is contributing its process technology and proprietary manufacturing know-how as well as the intellectual property. Armacell will invest an undisclosed amount into aerogel blanket production equipment, accelerate the industrialisation and certification process and provide its world-wide distribution network to market the new technology. AJA will focus on delivering solutions based on aerogel blankets to the oil and gas, marine and general industrial sectors and in particular for high temperature and cryogenic applications.

“The joint venture with JIOS provides us with access to the next generation of aerogel technology and enables us to deliver a complete portfolio of thermal and acoustic insulation solutions to the oil & gas industry,” said Patrick Mathieu, chief executive officer and president of Armacell International.

Russia: TechnoNicol has started operation at a Euro105m mineral wool plant in the south of the Rostov region. The new unit will produce four types of rock wool products. Future plans for the site include the production of pipe and roof insulation and exports to markets in Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan.

Germany: Va-Q-Tec is increasing its equity stake in Sumteq, a technology company that develops innovative polymer nanofoams with insulation properties, to expand its portfolio of high-performance products. Va-Q-Tec initially acquired an equity stake in Sumteq in autumn 2015. As technological and sales milestones have been achieved ahead of time, Va-Q-Tec is now supporting Sumteq with further funds for its further development.

Both companies are also linked by a strategic partnership. Joint objectives include the pilot testing and market launch of Sumteq products as a further high-performance insulation material, as well as knowledge exchange on the development and production of nanoporous and mesoporous foams. The strategic partnership offers both companies the possibility to contribute their respective expertise and consequently create added value for their customers.

"As an innovative start-up, Sumteq with its new type of nanofoam possesses a highly interesting and groundbreaking product for many markets. We'll be happy to contribute our expertise to assist its market launch. The Sumteq technology has the potential to fundamentally revolutionise nanocell foam production. We're convinced Sumteq’s nanofoams provide an excellent supplement to our vacuum insulation panels. They fit excellently into our long-term technology roadmap," said Joachim Kuhn, co-founder and CEO of Va-Q-Tec.

Belgium: Members of the Vacuum Insulation Panel Association, VIPA International, have appointed Gregor Erbenich of Porextherm as the new president of the association. He succeeds Roland Caps from Va-Q-Tec, who decided to step-down following his two-year tenure in the position.

Erbenich is the Head of Sales & Marketing NTI within Morgan Advanced Materials Thermal Ceramics – Porextherm. He has been serving as a Board member of the association since January 2015 and as chair of the Public Affairs Working Group since early 2016.

Denmark: Sales from Rockwool’s insulation business have fallen slightly by 2% year-on-year to Euro1.22bn in the first nine months of 2016 from Euro1.24bn in the same period in 2015. However, the group reported this as a 1.2% rise in local currencies. Earnings before interest and taxation (EBIT) rose by 61% to Euro114m from Euro71m. By region it said that sales performed well in North America, showed signs of improvement in Western Europe but continued to decline in Russia.

Ireland: Kingspan’s sales have risen by 13% year-on-year to Euro2.27bn for the first nine months of 2016 from Euro2bn in the same period in 2015. Sales by its insulated panels division rose by 17% driven by good markets in the UK, France and Benelux, although slowdowns were reported in Germany and the US. Sales by its insulation board division rose by 6% with positive performance noted in the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia and the US. The insulation producer noted in its interim trading report that the weakening Pound Sterling against the Euro was negatively impacting its Sterling denominated earnings.

Russia: Restrictions on imports have stopped Paroc from transporting stone from its Lapinlahti in Finland to its insulation plant in Russia. Joakim Westerlund, Paroc's chief operating officer, said that the import restrictions on crushed rock material were imposed with relatively short notice in summer 2016 according to the Savon Sanomat newspaper. Subsequently the insulation producer has had to source stone locally in Russia. Quarrying at Lapinlahti for Paroc by Fjäder Group has previously totalled 20,000t/yr.