Ever better global positioning

Further strengthening of the HEROSE Group with the takeover of the Australian valve manufacturer Mack Valves.

The most important announcement was made right at the beginning of the event by managing director Dirk Zschalich: “We are proud to be able to inform you that we have just acquired the majority shareholding in the Australian valve manufacturer Mack Valves, to put us in an optimum position for facing the global challenges of the coming years.” There could have been no better kick-off for a successful HEROSE Sales Conference. The whole event at the Lindner Hotel next to the historic “Hamburger Michel” church had a decidedly sporting character for the 35 participants. Dextrose, a power bar and a starter kit for all the participants: the content of the bag that everyone received right at the beginning already indicated what was to be expected: “Win the Future together” with a good portion of sporty enthusiasm and intensive team work. With the names of leading European football clubs, six teams competed with the results of their workshops during the fi rst few days. “Manchester United” won and as a reward, was driven to the evening event in a stretch limousine. HEROSE managing director Dirk Zschalich: “Competition is always a contest – and we wanted to emphasise this particularly this year.” The year coming to an end is one of the best in the history of HEROSE. Zschalich: “We have registered strong growth throughout all market segments.”

To be able to manage the order volumes and avoid long-term delivery times, at the end of the year three new CNC lathes are starting their operation at the location Bad Oldesloe; two of these are a replacement for outdated machines. The Chief Technical Officer Eike Dölschner explains the investment: “With these, we are expanding our capacity in the prefabrication significantly. The investments are important in order to maintain our delivery performance. Unfortunately, there are currently bottlenecks that we have already identified and will remedy as quickly as possible.” And HEROSE has not only invested in new machines: more employees have been recruited in the course of the year so that in the mean time, the number of colleagues has increased to a total of 280 in Bad Oldesloe.

Win the Future together: being one of the most urgent tasks for the next years, the HEROSE Managing Director Mr. Zschalich sees the creation of an improved exchange of information with the partners, a more intensive team work: “Those who want to play on the whole playground like our representatives – to keep with the jargon of our sales event – need more and better information about the products, developments and plans of HEROSE. That is our job. In return, we also hope for intensive information from our partners about projects in their region concerning our target markets and target applications”. On the question where HEROSE considers the greatest challenges for the next years, Eike Dölschner says: “I can still see that we will also not be able to get around digitisation in all areas. That does not have to do with an end in itself, but should also provide an added value for the customer. And because we are speaking about the customer: we do not only want to inspire our customers with our products, but also with our service.” Thematically, next to the classic industrial gases, HEROSE wants to deal more with mobility solutions. Eike Dölschner: “Here we particularly see our contribution to the topic LNG as fuel for ships, overland transport or for power generation. However, that could also be tanking systems for fuel cells with hydrogen/oxygen, possibly also tanking systems for rockets one day. However: with our know-how, we have many paths open to us, we only have to take them.” In work groups, under the moderation of the respective product manager discussions were carried out about the goals in the three market segments in which HEROSE is active.

CRYOGENIC market segment

Here, the valves of HEROSE shall continue to contribute to mastering the challenges of a clean environment. This applies to shipping in which HEROSE has already developed to a world-wide leading valve provider for LNG fuelled vessels. Coming up: decentralised energy supply concepts onshore where power is generated by using LNG. The gas required is stored cryogenically liquefied in the process.

There are also increasing demands for customized vacuum-insulated valves that guarantee a minimum heat input on the medium and thus the efficient transport over long distances through a pipeline.

INDUSTRY market segment

In this area, the product range for safety valves has been expanded. The series 06810/15 and 06850/55 are now awaiting a comprehensive sealing concept. These include metal sealings, soft-sealing plates and soft-sealing O-rings. With these options, the valves can be used for pressure protection in the various applications – in the soft-sealing version, even for applications highest requirements in tightness. Moreover, HEROSE has developed a loose flange concept for its safety valves. The flanges are now available in the sizes DN15 to DN50 and in pressure ratings up to PN250. They are now available with immediate effect. Flanges are always required where a higher leak tightness is necessary between the individual components in process plants. The loose flange concept also gives the customer the possibility of determining the adjustment of the valve individually.

ENERGY market segment

In this area, HEROSE is concentrating on the market penetration. The goal is to position the range of products for oilimmersed transformers at the respective manufacturers worldwide. The HEROSE range of products basically comprises all fittings that are required for the oil circulation in transformers. Moreover, customized special solutions can be represented at any time.

Service optimised

The service department has been reorganised under the management of Matthias Reinhardt. According to the principle “one face to the customer” future complaints will be managed in the central service for the entire processing and troubleshooting. Furthermore, with more main areas, HEROSE customer services shall be set up and offer: technical training, commissioning and maintenance.

To allow HEROSE to present themselves even better at trade fairs and customer visits, the HEROSE representatives shall be provided with new information and advertising material in the course of the convention. A motivation lecture and a visit to the factory in Bad Oldesloe rounds off the event.

The sporty conclusion of the event from Dirk Zschalich: “The training camp was a very successful – and from now on, success is all that counts on the field.”