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Greatest potential in pharmaceuticals

100 years experience in crushing technology
Greatest potential in pharmaceuticals

Hosokawa Alpine, the Augsburg-based company founded in 1898, is this year celebrating its centenary. To mark the occasion, we spoke to Achim Vogel, the Chairman of the Board of Management, about the firm’s history, strategy and future prospects.

The present-day firm of Hosokawa Alpine AG can be traced back to Otto Holzhäuer, an iron turner who first arrived in Augsburg in 1886 and twelve years later founded his own company. By 1901 his small factory, which was originally entered in the Commercial Register under the heading of „toolmakers“, was operating as a mechanical engineering shop specialised in crushing. Even then, its product range already included the very first Perplex universal mills. The 30-odd workers at this young company also produced a number of exotic machines. „As well as crushing machines Holzhäuer also used to make whalebone drawing frames for manufacturing corset stays“, says Vogel.

Financial difficulties forced Holzhäuer, the company’s founder, to enter into a form of cooperation with Hugo Sachs, the big Munich industrialist. In 1911 the name was changed to Alpine Maschinenfabrik GmbH. In 1921 the firm was transformed into a public limited company. By the late 1920s Alpine had built around 17,000 Simplex-Perplex mills for reducing the size of soft materials. Parallel to this, the company also devoted its energies to hard-material crushing and succeeded in constructing the first pneumatic separators.
Expansion with Hans Rumpf
After the Second World War, Alpine – like many other firms – was obliged to start again from scratch. Dr. Hans Rumpf, who in 1956 left to become Professor of Mechanical Process Engineering at Karlsruhe Technical University, was the man mainly responsible for the new beginning. „Rumpf was the founder of modern process technology at Alpine. It was thanks to him that our venture into the fine and micro sectors was so successful“, says Vogel when asked about the Karlsruhe professor, under whom he himself also studied. It was under his management, for example, that the Mikroplex spiral pneumatic separators and the Ultraplex cross-flow mills were originally developed. The technical advances in mechanical process engineering continued at a steady rate during the years that followed. The Turboplex micro-separator (ATP, 1980), the fluidised-bed counterflow mill (AFG, 1981) and the standardised impact mill (UPZ, 1985) are just a few examples. In 1992 Alpine managed to significantly reduce the amount of milling energy required for the fluidised-bed counterflow mill by using mega-jets. The Discoplex wet-grinding mill (ADP) and the Hydroplex wet classifier (AHP) paved the way for the company’s breakthrough into wet process technology in 1994. Among the technical innovations of more recent years are the wet agitator ball mill (ANR, 1996), the toner separator (TSP) and the spiral jet mill (AS) in monobloc design for the pharmaceutical industry.
Designer grain for the pharmaceutical industry
„It is due above all to the monobloc construction method that we have achieved such great success in the last few years with the AS spiral jet mill, even though this is not yet fully reflected in our turnover“, is the Board Chairman’s analysis of the present situation in this Division of the company. After all, in 1997 Alpine made a profit of around DM17 million with small and medium-sized installations for the pharmaceutical industry. „Thanks to our special manufacturing technology, which guarantees an optimum surface with few rough edges, we can expect to tap more potentials in the pharmaceutical industry in future.“
Plastics processing as a second pillar
Alongside mechanical process engineering, Alpine has also been involved since 1954 in the manufacture of plastics processing machines. In 1964 the company introduced the first film blowing line with a high-speed, adiabatic, H type extruder. In addition to various extruders, Alpine has also developed internal cooling systems and profile optimisation systems for monitoring and controlling the film gauge. Last year the firm presented the K series of film blowing dies – a combination of a spiral mandrel and a sheet die with an exceptionally small height. „Nowadays, our main field of activities in plastics processing is the production of machines for blown film extrusion. We have succeeded in making a name for ourselves in this area.“
No plans to move elsewhere
Alpine’s economic curve likewise experienced a steady upswing after the Second World War. As early as 1955/56 the company achieved a turnover of around DM 6 million, and in 1959 a staff of 480 managed an impressive DM 11.7 million. The firm’s turnover then increased sharply in the early seventies: whereas in 1970 it was still roughly DM 21 million, the figure was approximately DM 10 million higher in the next financial year. Following a few setbacks at the beginning of the nineties, Hosokawa Alpine AG last year achieved a turnover of around DM 170 million with 530 employees, of which approximately DM 70 million was accounted for by the plastics sector and just under DM 100 million by mechanical process technology. „We would like to improve again in the current financial year of course, though in view of the Asian crisis it is doubtful whether we actually will“, stresses Vogel. „Nevertheless, we will certainly have another good year“.
This answers the question of the future location. „We definitely want to retain our Augsburg site in the future“, says Vogel, whose past experience of production firms abroad has been less than positive.
International sales advantages
The upward economic trend in recent years is also due in part to the takeover by the Hosokawa Group. „One outcome of the takeover was a series of sales advantages for Alpine. Sales of our products, especially on the Asian markets, are handled by our sister companies within the Group. This has led to synergy effects that have improved our competitiveness“, is Vogel’s opinion. Alpine’s structure was not affected by the takeover, however. Following a short Japanese intermezzo, the company is now once again under the leadership of home-grown Alpine managers.
New corporate concept since 1997
„The 1993 economic crisis caused us on the Board to start thinking about a new corporate structure“, says Vogel. Having specified the firm’s strategy for the future, the Board of Management commissioned Prof. Bullinger of the Fraunhofer Institute for Work Management and Organisation with elaborating new concepts. He was given the question „what is the company’s core business?“ as his starting point. „The answer to our ques-tion was not crushing, pneumatic separation or extrusion. Our core business activities today are defined as plant and system solutions in the fields of pharmaceuticals and food, minerals and metals, chemicals with the emphasis on toners, recycling and granulators, film extrusion, technology and customer service“, is how Vogel explains the new structure. He describes the new philosophy behind the Alpine of 1998 as follows: „Our aim is to be totally at our customers‘ disposal. It doesn’t matter whether they purchase a complete new plant or just a single spare part.“ Within these new lines of business, users‘ problems must be dealt with integrally, on the basis of actual market requirements and without any interface losses.
The Board Chairman defines the strategic goals as follows: „We demand and encourage a cooperative and participatory style of management. Employees should feel both free and able to see beyond the end of their own noses. We pursue a policy of open information with this end in mind. And last but not least, we want to make a profit.“
Outlook
„In the dry sector we are presently capable of achieving grain sizes of around 3 to 4µm. There is, however, a definite trend towards sizes in the nano region“, says Vogel. On the other hand, the need is not just for finer and finer powder. According to Vogel, „Future demand will be for designer grain size distributions with narrow zones“. „Product engineering“ is already being practised in the toner sector. The coarse grain should be in the region of 6 to 8 µm, yet at the same time there must be no particles finer than 2 to 3 µm. Vogel intends to achieve the targets set by the grain size designers with the aid of his tried-and-tested technology. „We aim to develop new plant and system concepts, that will enable us to remain competitive in future, on the basis of our existing technology.“ (br)
Hosokawa Alpine AG
Fax: ++49/821/5906-261
Further information cpp-230
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