New Powder Technology Building inaugurated at Neuburg on the Danube (05/10/2005)

Million Investment in innovative technique / Festivities with numerous guests.

On September 29, 2005 HOFFMANN MINERAL had welcomed at the Central Office Building in Neuburg around 180 guests to celebrate the inauguration of its new Powder Technology building - representatives from politics, from the industry, from local authorities and banks, as well as customers, business partners and company employees. After a construction period of 18 months, a production building with a future oriented infrastructure is now available for the business area 'Toll Manufacturing'. Following the official opening by company owner Manfred Hoffmann jr., Landrat Dr. Richard Kessler, the administrator of the Neuburg district and the Deputy Mayor of the town of Neuburg, Heinz Enghuber, addressed those present. In the following, Product Manager Dr. Alexander Risch was to review in particular the development of the service of tailor-made custom filler production.

HOFFMANN MINERAL, founded in 1903 as a mining company for exploiting the near-by Neuburg Siliceous Earth deposits, oriented mainly towards the own product range, i.e. for producing the Aktisil grades, but the early production facilities were also able to respond to a growing number of outside inquiries, which in part have grown into requirements still existing today. The surface treatment of aluminum oxides from Nabaltec with different silanes is just one such example reaching into the future.

The chemical upgrading during recent years of fillers such as zinc oxide, calcium carbonate, mica, talc, wollastonite, clays and calcined clays has further expanded the trend towards «multimineral» usefulness. Basically, the production unit makes use of two mixing concepts for powder raw materials. One is simply the homogenous mixing of such powders even in markedly different proportions. Along the other line, the properties of different powder raw materials are modified by the addition of various additives or treatment agents. Quite often these are added in liquid form, but at the end of the process

there will still result a powder material. If necessary, the process may require to be carried out at elevated temperature, and such highly specialized production units are not viable or profitable for many customers. In addition, a tremendous amount of know-how is constantly offered by HOFFMANN MINERAL's Research and Development efforts, in order to find or develop exactly the optimum treatment material that leads to properties as defined by the customer.

But the Toll Manufacturing service of HOFFMANN MINERAL is by far not limited to the mixing and homogenizing or the treatment and upgrading of powder materials. It is a complete package, focussing on performance with special emphasis on customer requirements. Raw material intake, product development, sample preparation, quality assurance, production, packaging, logistics and shipping are all integrated with the respective departments and their employees into the objective of achieving optimum results. These can only be assured with the appropriate personnel, i.e. people who throw in their own ideas and suggestions, or who in the production plant have developed an unmistakable sense for situations and act and react fast on the base of solid experience. HOFFMANN MINERAL calls itself happy to have such employees.

All such considerations have lead to attribute very good chances of future growth to the area of Toll Manufacturing. The so far successful development was rightly confirmed by figures. While in 1997 the production amounted to 900 tons, today the output approaches 3000 tons for this year. It was this positive development that called for increased production capacity,

and in the end for a new building. The new production units offer highly modern technology with an efficient material flow from raw material intake down to finished product warehousing. In total, HOFFMANN MINERAL has invested about 4 million Euro into the new unit. This investment will help, along with motivated personnel and the existing innovation power, to develop new markets and this way create a base in the long term to build Toll Manufacturing into a second «standing leg» of the HOFFMANN MINERAL company.