Creating new jobs with collaborations and innovations
CEMTOP celebrates première at the HANNOVER MESSE
Along its journey to the Industry 4.0, the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt is strengthening its industrial expertise through cooperation networks between SMEs, universities and research institutes. CEMTOP is the name of a new network which will be presenting itself at the HANNOVER MESSE.
CEMTOP has the goal of increasing the economic competitiveness of businesses in the area of mechanical and plant engineering in the fields of the manufacturing, maintenance, repair and modernisation of industry and cement-production systems. Through collaborations and the incorporation of innovative ideas as well as patents from universities and non-university research institutes, one of its goals is to develop new processes and industrial products that can prevail on world markets.
It’s often tougher for those who battle alone
These days, innovation, engineering, manufacturing and retail are networking together to an ever increasing degree. More than ever before, achieving business success depends on digitalisation and joining networks with other companies. This is a challenge to which small and medium-sized companies must also rise. “An area in which the small and medium-sized industrial companies of Saxony-Anhalt are frequently lacking is industrial research,” explains Eckhard Netzmann, a management consultant and co-initiator of the CEMTOP network, with regret. This is an area in which the company ESA Patentverwertungsagentur Sachsen-Anhalt GmbH (PVA) provides SMEs with targeted support. It sounds out and assesses innovative ideas from the universities sector in terms of their potential economic value before forwarding them to companies on a targeted basis. Examples of such patents from the universities and non-university research institutes in Saxony-Anhalt include an automatic system for the crushing and emulsifying of raw materials, as well as an innovative laser measuring system that enables the measurement of work-pieces during their actual processing. This enables the error rates to be reduced during the manufacturing.
A network that is strengthening the plant engineering and construction materials industry
The CEMTOP network, whose partners will be attending the HANNOVER MESSE this year for the first time where they will present their products and services on the joint stand for the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, consists of eight companies from in and around the industrial location of Dessau-Roßlau. The partners include the engineering firms ZADCON GmbH and ZEMDES GmbH which specialise in industrial and cement systems, as well as the manufacturing and assembly firms Thyrolf und Uhle GmbH, Schöneich & Co. GmbH which operate in the field of component and plant engineering for the cement industry as well as other fields, along with MAS Maschinen- Anlagenbau und Service GmbH from Bitterfeld, the conveyor systems specialist ABP Maschinenbau GmbH from Magdeburg, the electrical engineering firm TACK GmbH Automation und IT-Systeme in Köthen, as well as PROMECON Prozess- und Messtechnik Conrads GmbH in Barleben – a specialist business in the area of cutting-edge measuring processes which can measure NOx and other emissions in rotary kilns, cooling drums and pipeline systems. “In the scope of the CEMTOP network, ESA Patentverwertungsagentur Sachsen-Anhalt GmbH supports the transfer of patents and know-how from the universities and research institutes to the partners in the industrial network,” explains Managing Director of PVA Eric Bourgett
One example of the joint projects in the scope of CEMTOP is a system for the thermal reprocessing of chemically-contaminated soil in the district of Deutzen, central Germany, in which ZEMDES was responsible for the project management and Thyrolf & Uhle and Schöneich & Co. supplied and installed the equipment. In addition to this, CEMTOP participants from Saxony-Anhalt have also been able to demonstrate their expertise in international projects, including ones in Austria, Switzerland, Brazil, Russia and Saudi Arabia. The range of offerings stretches from the planning of systems, the construction, extension, and modernisation to servicing and maintenance of existing facilities in the construction materials industry. The companies in the CEMTOP association also offer energy-saving and environmentally-friendly solutions for the preparation of other bulk materials, such as sugar beet pulp or cereals, as well as solutions for the processing of waste products in pyrolysis furnaces.
Author: Uwe Seidenfaden