EuroWire November 2014

News Corporate

Fourth successive rise in turnover for GKD

business units as against the competition. The main reason for this was the strong focus on product innovations and new fields of application in the sectors of automotive manufacturing, water filtration, corrugated board production and architectural systems solutions. Gebr Kufferath AG – Germany Website : www.gkd.de

year. Our long-term business strategy of continually rolling out new or improved products faster than the competition and thus reinforcing our strong market position worldwide has proven itself once again,” said GKD director Dr Stephan Kufferath. Especially in Europe, GKD succeeded in enlarging the market shares of all of its

For the fourth successive year, Gebr Kufferath AG, Düren has increased its turnover with 2013 figures showing €69.8m turnover – a rise of 1.3 per cent over 2012. The first quarter 2013 saw the scheduled completion of the substantial investment programme started in 2012. The producer of woven mesh-based media and systems solutions had put another €3.8m into furthering the introduction of the latest fabrication technology and the expansion of production capacity at the parent works in Düren, Germany. In 2013, Gebr Kufferath AG – with seven production facilities, numerous offices and worldwide agents – recorded substantial growth in Europe. However, this was to some extent balanced out by delays in acceptance in the USA and in Asia. All of GKD’s business units – Solid Weave (industrial mesh), Weave In Motion (process belt solutions) and Creative Weave (architectural mesh) – contributed to the overall positive results through individual market successes with new products. At the close of 2013, GKD had a total of 653 employees including 23 trainees worldwide (up from 645 in 2012), of which 402 members of staff and 22 trainees were employed at the company headquarters in Düren. “It was our characteristic agility that enabled us to successfully weather the increased volatility of the market last

Testing in the laboratory

Due to the rising prices for copper and aluminium the measurement of material proportion in cable conductors becomes increasingly important during production and laboratory tests. The added extras in material to safely fulfil the standards of a given cable decrease the more exact the measurement can be realised.

A second important factor, especially in the production process, is the measurement duration. Using Schuetz’s new test equipment this can overcome these bottle necks and increase the gain in time, material and money. Aluminium and copper conductors can be measured with the new test equipment PWD-2040 AL/CO for laboratory quality test and PWD-3040 AL/CO for control measurements during production. PWD-3040 AL/CO fits to all stranding machines and can be easily mounted between compactor and capstan or between capstan and take up. The equipment can be delivered for copper and aluminium, or both. The contacting system (current, potential) differs in aluminium and copper but the more elaborate system for aluminium can easily be adapted for copper. The short test duration is realised by measurement in water. The temperature equalisation between conductor and temperature probe is very fast due to the high thermal conductivity of water compared with air.

▲ ▲ Increase

gains

in

time, and money with Schuetz Messtechnik material

SchuetzMesstechnik GmbH – Germany Website : www.schuetz-messtechnik.com

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November 2014