collaboration leading to success...collaboration leading to success hauzer for you . no. 33 ....

F O R Y O U

Collaboration leading to success

HAUZER FOR YOU . NO. 33 . SEPTEMBER 2019

4Introduction Dave Doerwald

6Distinguishing Yourself Through Expertise

8New CVD R&D Machine From Bernex

10Strong Antibacterial Eff ect in Enhanced Coatings

13Excellent BPP Coating Results

16The Keys to the Next 50 Years of Success

20Supporting Growth and Development

24Meet Us

Publisher IHI Hauzer Techno Coating B.V. PO Box 3057 . 5902 RB Venlo . The NetherlandsT +31 77 355 97 77 . [email protected]

hauzer.nl

Editor Jacqueline DoldersWriter Maartje Gorte

Design Creation Station, Roermond

CONTENT

2 HAUZER FOR YOU . NO. 33

13

No responsibility can be accepted for the correctness or completeness of the statements made, especially in the case of external contributions. The opinions expressed in this magazine do not necessarily refl ect those of IHI Hauzer Techno Coating B.V. We reserve the right to make technical changes. Reprinting or

reproduction of any kind is prohibited. Exceptions to this rule are possible only with the prior written permission of the publisher.

© IHI Hauzer Techno Coating B.V., all rights reserved.

4

16

10

6

8


Supporting Research

“Hauzer’s daughter company Bernex is launching new

equipment to make chemical vapour deposition (CVD) coating

research easier, more eff ective and more cost effi cient for its

customers. A small, fl exible reactor that is specifi cally developed

for R&D, to create stable coating recipes without having to

take a full-size reactor out of production. Bernex is world-

class in collaborative coating development, and now they have

developed a machine that they themselves would like to use –

and probably will – to help their customers do coating R&D.”

Taking the Fuel Cell Coating on the Road

“Previously, we had presented good laboratory test results

for the durability of the Hauzer coatings for bipolar plates.

In this edition, we show the performance of our coatings in

more realistic application testing conditions. These data were

provided by customers and research institutes, showing the

“In my fi rst Hauzer For You, I am pleased to introduce stories that match the Hauzer mission of

realising innovative solutions in partnerships. Good collaborations on all levels. Even in a market that

is currently infl uenced by a worldwide decline of the general business climate, we are continuing

to invest in technology and our customers and are looking positively to the future.”

INNOVATING TOGETHER

INTRODUCTION

4

performance of the coatings within small fuel cell stacks and

the expected lifetimes of the fuel cells under various kinds of

loads. Our coatings are meeting the market demands and we

are positive about how the market will develop further.”

Working Closely With Our Customers

“The highlights of this magazine are the customer stories.

German tool company HORN recently purchased a next-

generation Hauzer HiPIMS machine as future-proof technology.

Together, we set up the machine to be Industry 4.0-ready. SAM

Coating, also from Germany, used the fl exibility of Hauzer

coating machines to fi nd their competitive advantage and

build a reputation for ta-C expertise. Last but not least, we are

looking to start new partnerships. Our antibacterial coatings

are at a great stage to start developing specifi c applications with

customers in the deco markets. Do get in touch!”

Dave Doerwald

CEO

HAUZER FOR YOU . NO. 334

SAM Coating is a growing coating service provider in Germany that specialises in

ta-C coatings for the tool market. Its founder and managing director, Andreas Schneider,

has a long and satisfi ed history with Hauzer. In this Hauzer For You, he shares the journey

SAM Coating made from two-person start-up to well-established authority.

DISTINGUISHING YOURSELFTHROUGH EXPERTISE

CUSTOMER SUPPORT RELIABILITY & QUALITY OPERATING EXCELLENCE

From a Flexible Start to a Solid Reputation for Ta-C

Andreas: “When I founded SAM Coating in 2011, I was not

sure at all with which coatings we could enter the job coating

market. From my previous experience, I knew that ta-C

would off er a signifi cant benefi t in the tool market. But would

customers accept an unknown product from an unknown

provider?” For that reason, the fi rst coating machine SAM

Coating purchased was a Hauzer Flexicoat® 850. This machine

can deposit carbon-based coatings such as ta-C, W-DLC and

DLC, as well as diff erent nitride coatings.

Since those early days, manufacturers and users of mills,

inserts and drills have realised the benefi ts of ta-C-coated

tools for qualities such as tool lifetime and friction reduction.

“Business for SAM is increasing very fast,” says Andreas,

“especially for tools used to treat aluminium, copper and glass-

fi bre-reinforced plastic (GFRP) or carbon-fi bre-reinforced

plastic (CFRP). Increasingly, ta-C is becoming synonymous with

SAM, a fact I am very proud of. That convinces me the hard work

over the years was worth it.”

SAM and Hauzer – an Excellent Match

Before founding his own company, Andreas worked for a large

automotive group as an R&D engineer in coating technology.

That is where he fi rst came across Hauzer. Andreas: “In the 11

years since then, I have always had an excellent collaboration

with Hauzer, regardless of which department I dealt with.

The robust technology of Hauzer machines makes it an easy

decision to go with Hauzer, now and in the future. By the way, it

was Dave Doerwald, CEO of Hauzer, and Jeroen Landsbergen,

the former Hauzer CEO, who sold me my fi rst machines when

they worked in the Sales department.”

“Our recent investment is a new Hauzer machine with CARC+

technology,” continues Andreas. “Customers are increasingly

asking if we can provide nitride coatings. I am convinced that


Andreas Schneider

Managing Director of SAM Coating

this technology will be the basis for us to deliver better quality

to the market than our competitors.”

Expanding in the Community

When SAM Coating fi rst started, the local municipality helped

arrange a suitable location. Since then, business has been

good for SAM Coating. They moved into a larger building in

June 2019. “We have grown from two people in 2011 to 15 in

2019,” says Andreas. “And we will likely grow to 20 within the

next year. Our new building, again realised with support from

the local municipality, has the capacity to meet that growth.”

The new building was set up with sustainability and energy-

independence in mind. Andreas: “We lease a solar panel park

in the new neighbourhood, and we will have additional solar

panels on the roof. Any oversupply of generated energy will

be stored in a battery storage system. The exhaust heat from

our coating machines is stored in house to support the heating

system in winter and to generate cold water in summer. Our

fi rst estimations are that these energy production, storage

and recycling features can deliver 75% of the energy we need.”

Focusing on Quality and Service

In a customer-driven business such as coating services, the

requested products and coatings are highly infl uenced by

market trends. For that reason, SAM Coating is always keeping

an eye on future developments. Andreas: “Understanding the

latest trends on the worldwide market is very helpful. As usual,

some trends make me happy, while others worry me slightly.

Still, which products we off er is not the most important thing

to me. What matters much more is maintaining the excellent

quality of our products and our support service. That is how we

can stand out from our competitors.”


NEW, SMALL-SCALE CVD R&D MACHINE

FROM BERNEX

MARKET DEVELOPMENT LEADING EDGE TECHNOLOGY

IHI Bernex AG, world leaders in chemical vapour deposition (CVD) coating machines and

a fellow IHI Group company, is introducing a new small-scale R&D system at the 2019

EMO trade show in Hannover: the CVD LabTube. This highly fl exible machine has a small

reaction chamber, making it ideal for focused, effi cient coating research.


Meeting the Needs of Innovative

Companies and Research Institutes

Most companies that buy a full-size

CVD coating machine intend to use it

for production, whether for their own

tools or components or as a coating

service provider. Since the markets

for cutting tools, aerospace, extrusion

dies, precision components and

medical implants are very application-

driven, Bernex customers usually buy a

machine that is set up to the specifi -

cations of the exact coating types they

need. “We know, however, that some

customers use our full-scale CVD

machines to do their own coating

research,” says Hristo Strakov, Head

of Technology at Bernex. “For these

customers, we have developed our small

R&D machine.”

R&D Is Easier With the Right Tools

Conducting coating research on an

industrial-scale CVD machine has a

number of disadvantages. It is rather

expensive in terms of energy and

materials and takes an entire machine

out of production. The critical downside,

from an R&D perspective, is that the

conditions in a big reactor may vary

considerably during initial test cycles.

Hristo: “If you get the perfect coating on

some samples and an imperfect coating

on others, it is hard to know what you

did right. If you use a small-scale R&D

machine, you don’t have any of these

drawbacks. First, each CVD reaction

trial is aff ordable. Second, there is no

loss of production capacity. And fi nally,

the conditions in the reactor are evenly

controlled.”

This meets the stated needs of existing

customers, whose R&D departments

are mostly concerned about proof of

concept in the initial stages. The sooner a

working proof of concept is established,

the quicker they can establish their

intellectual property.

Of course, a positive aspect of doing

R&D on an industrial-scale Bernex CVD

production unit is that the coating recipe

is adjusted and optimised at the scale

intended for use. With a small R&D

machine, a scaling step is necessary.

Nevertheless, that is easily compensated

by the extra time and cost savings.

The Flexibility to Experiment

Bernex designed the R&D machine to be

highly fl exible and capable of working

with many diff erent elements. “This

includes chemicals that aren’t available

on regular CVD machines,” says Hristo.

“You can start your coatings from scratch

and really play with materials and

structures. That is what we do, at Bernex

R&D.”

Bernex is known worldwide for their skill

in developing customer-specifi c CVD

coatings for a very wide range of chal-

lenging applications. Hristo: “Developing

Available After EMO

Bernex expects most of the

interest for the new CVD LabTube

equipment to come from the

R&D departments of industry

players. Additionally, it is ideal for

universities and research institutes.

Both will benefi t from working at

this smaller scale to generate a

higher return on investment for

coating enhancements. The new

machine is available from EMO 2019

onwards. If you would like to know

more, visit Bernex in hall 3, stand

E12 at EMO, visit www.ihi-bernex.

com or contact Hristo Strakov

([email protected]).

VISIT US AT EMO

HANNOVERHALL 3

BOOTH E12

ready-for-production coating technology

has been a main pillar of our R&D

strategy. Not only in collaboration with our

esteemed customers, but also for inter-

nal IHI Group applications. Developing

coatings is a very demanding and

precise process, that takes a lot of know-

ledge of material properties and

technology. This CVD LabTube equipment

was conceived and built to our own

demanding specifi cations as R&D

department, and we are excited to

share this advancement in CVD process

development with our customers.”


Anywhere crowds of people gather, touch-based contamination contributes to the spread of bacterial

infections. Coatings with antibacterial eff ect could have an important public health benefi t: think of door

handles, bathroom taps and other high-touch elements in schools, hospitals, airports and even homes. “The

new test results for Hauzer’s antibacterial coatings are excellent,” says Huub Vercoulen, Deco Sales Manager.

“Some eliminated all applied bacteria even after a single hour. We are now looking for customers

interested in jointly developing an antibacterial coating for their specifi c application.”

STRONG ANTIBACTERIAL EFFECT IN ENHANCED

COATINGS

MARKET DEVELOPMENT


Antibacterial in Rose Gold, Nickel and Black

Silver (Ag) and copper (Cu) ions have long been known

to have an antibacterial eff ect. Hauzer R&D developed a

coating architecture able to release these ions. The fi rst three

enhanced coatings are rose gold, nickel-like and black. These

coatings are deposited either by Hauzer Advanced Controlled

Arc evaporation (ACA) or unbalanced magnetron sputtering

(UBM) and contain Ag or Cu in diff erent concentrations.

Gram+ and Gram- Bacteria

Bacteria can be classifi ed into Gram positive and Gram

negative, based on important diff erences in their cell walls.

Huub: “We previously tested whether Gram- bacteria

Escherichia coli could survive for 24 hours on enhanced

Hauzer coatings. Now, our testing partners Manchester

Metropolitan University (MMU) assessed the antibacterial

eff ect after 1, 3, 8 and 24 hours. They also tested

Staphylococcus aureus, which are Gram+ and can exist in

antibiotic-resistant form known as MRSA. Together, these

bacteria are a good model for unwashed hands, since they

live on skin and in faecal matter.”

The testing methodology is based on BS ISO 22196:2011 (Measurement

of antibacterial activity on plastics and other non-porous surfaces).

MMU researchers inoculated E. coli or S. aureus bacteria onto the

coating and sandwiched it with a piece of polyethylene to ensure the

cells are evenly spread across the surface. After 0, 1, 3, 8 and 24 hours

of incubation, any E. coli or S. aureus that were still alive were recovered

from the surface and spread onto agar to grow into bacterial colonies,

allowing for the calculation of colony-forming units per ml (CFU/ml).

MMU METHODOLOGY TO TEST ANTIBACTERIAL EFFICACY


cfu

/mL

102

101

104

103

105

107

106

E. coli test results

Black (

UBM) +

Ag

Black (

UBM) +

Cu

Nickel (A

CA) - unm

odified

Nickel (A

CA) + A

g 1Nick

el (ACA) +

Ag 2

Uncoat

ed stain

less st

eel

**** **** ** * *

Rose go

ld (ACA) +

Ag

0 1 3 8 24

Time points (hours)cf

u/m

L

102

101

104

103

105

107

106

S. aureus test results

Black (

UBM) +

Ag

Black (

UBM) +

Cu

Rose go

ld (ACA) +

Ag

Nickel (A

CA) - unm

odified

Nickel (A

CA) + A

g 1Nick

el (ACA) +

Ag 2

Uncoat

ed stain

less st

eel

**** **** *

0 1 3 8 24

*

Time points (hours)

Excellent Antibacterial Properties

Compared to an uncoated stainless-steel sample or an

unmodifi ed nickel coating, all enhanced coatings showed

an antibacterial eff ect. Ivan Kolev, Hauzer Process Manager:

“Both black coatings were extremely eff ective: 100% kill rate

in only an hour. The rose gold coating eradicated E. coli within

4 to 8 hours and S. aureus within 9 to 24 hours. The Ni-like

coatings showed least effi cacy, although still better than the

uncoated or unmodifi ed samples. Nickel coating 1 achieved

full eradication of both bacteria within 9 to 24 hours, whilst

nickel coating 2 managed to decrease the population of

S. aureus by 3 orders of magnitude after 24 hours.” The

performance diff erence between the two enhanced nickel

coatings is a result of the diff erent level of doping. This

indicates that there is an optimum dopant level.

Depending on the coating type and dopant added, there

can be a marginal colour shift as measured with the L*a*b

colour scale. This can be compensated by readjusting process

parameters.

Seeking Development Partners

With these excellent test results, it is now time to start developing

applications for these antibacterial coatings. Please contact

Huub Vercoulen ([email protected] or +31 6 462 01 462) to

discuss your specifi cations. Huub: “Are you interested in off ering

an antibacterial eff ect as a selling point for decorative coatings?

Producing door handles or bathroom fi xtures that help control

infection? Or coatings for antibacterial jewellery, keyboards

or other innovative products? This market is only just getting

started.”


MARKET DEVELOPMENT LEADING EDGE TECHNOLOGY

The automotive market is rapidly moving towards full electrifi cation. Hydrogen technology, with its zero

emissions, fully electric drive trains and excellent scaling possibilities, off ers great potential for the transport

sector. The annual production level in 2030 is already expected to be at 1 million passenger vehicles per

year, so this is an important time to consider investing in this industry. Recent test results show the excellent

performance of Hauzer coatings in test fuel cell stacks, supporting our technology in this market.

EXCELLENT BPP COATING RESULTS


Bipolar Plate Coating

A 100 kW automotive fuel cell stack, the type that will power a

passenger vehicle, has about 400 bipolar plates (BPPs). A good,

low-cost solution is for these BPPs to be made out of stainless

steel and covered with a protective carbon coating. With the

expected annual production in 2030, that adds up to 50 million

m2 of coated steel per year.

Fuel cell stacks with a minimum acceptable lifetime last >5000

operating hours before losing 20% of their power or cell voltage.

To achieve this, the coating cannot be a limiting factor. Previously,

Hauzer BPP coatings showed excellent performance in initial

short-term corrosion current tests. In this edition of Hauzer

ICR

/ m

Ω c

m2

2

1

0

4

3

5

7

8

9

10

6

Interfacial contact resistance (ICR) before and after AST

Hauzer coating An

Hauzer coating Ca

Gold An Gold Ca

ICR before AST ICR after AST

5.98 5.915.60

6.376.626.51

5.61

7.45

For You, three diff erent parties share the results of industrial

tests of the Hauzer BPP coatings in functional fuel cell stacks:

a renowned test institute, a fuel cell stack developer and a

tier-1 automotive company. These tests have a longer duration,

from 300 to 1000 hours, and more reliably predict the coating’s

performance across the full lifetime of a fuel cell.

Steady-state and Dynamic Load Tests

Two test conditions are important to determine BPP coating

quality: steady-state load and dynamic load. Steady-state

conditions represent driving behaviour in heavy-duty fuel cell

vehicles such as trucks. These vehicles tend to have constant

Accelerated Corrosion Test

A corrosion current test, as was previously done on Hauzer

BPP coatings under short-term laboratory conditions, provides

important information. The US Department of Energy (DoE) set

the benchmark for contact resistance of BPPs throughout the

lifetime of a fuel cell to 10mΩ*cm2 or less. Increased contact

resistance and deteriorated conductivity of the coating might

occur as an eff ect of corrosion. For this reason, corrosion tests

can be done by monitoring this value over time.

ZBT, a well-known German institute for fuel cell development,

created the Accelerated Stress in-situ corrosion Test (AST). The

acceleration comes from using a dynamic load and high-humidity

conditions, which are more corrosion-promoting. That means

that with only 500 hours of testing, they can already predict fuel

cell performance for automotive applications. The ZBT AST is

currently the benchmark for the industry.

The Hauzer coating passed the AST by staying well below the

DoE cut-off value during the test. That is evidence that fuel cell

lifetime will be determined by other factors than the coating.

driving speeds, which delivers a constant load on the fuel cell.

Dynamic load conditions better refl ect the driving behaviour in

passenger cars – they constantly speed up, slow down, stop and

go, resulting in continuous modulation of the voltage and current

in the fuel cell stack.


Ce

ll v

olt

ag

e (

V)

0.0

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0 100 200 300 400 500 600

Test duration (hours)

Testing static and dynamic load levels

Constant load: 1.2 A/cm2 Dynamic load: 0.9 A/cm2 (average)

0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900Ave

rag

e c

ell v

olt

ag

e (

V)

0.4

0.2

0

0.8

0.6

Testing dierent load levels

Current density: 0.9 A/cm2



Test duration (hours)

Testing Various Load Levels

The automotive industry is interested in testing a range of load

profi les to simulate diff erences in driving styles. It is easy to

imagine that a sportier driver, a more economical driver and

someone who regularly takes trips with his caravan will have

diff erent load profi les. A large automotive company, who started

developing fuel cell stacks in 2002 and are among the largest

companies in Europe investing in fuel cells, tested just this. The

test was 900 hours under three load levels: 0.36 A/cm2, 0.63 A/

cm2 and 0.9 A/cm2. As can be expected, higher loads led to slightly

faster cell voltage degradation. As in the ZBT test, the contact

resistance of the coating stayed well below the DOE target of

10mΩ*cm2 during the test. The fuel cell lifetime for each tested

load level is therefore expected to meet the 5000h standard.

Scaling Up for the Market

With these latest results, scaling up to worldwide

production capacity at low cost and high coating quality

is one step closer. Are you interested in joining this

automotive revolution as coating provider or fuel cell

stack developer? Hauzer is already doing long-term

collaborations for coating development, small-scale

samples and projects. At low volumes of BPPs, Hauzer

can help you get started through our coating partners.

As the developer and builder of high-quality coating

machines, Hauzer can also help you scale up with our batch

production machines (200,000-500,000 BPPs per year) or

even build extensive production capacity of up to 10 million

BPPs per year with our inline coating systems. For more

information, please contact Joris Ummels, Sales Manager

New Business ([email protected] or +31 77 850 78 30).

EH Group, a fuel cell stack developer Hauzer has been working

with since 2017, uses advanced designs for their compact fuel

cell stacks. They put BPPs with Hauzer coatings to the test, in

both a steady-state and accelerated dynamic load test. Fuel

cell voltage decrease in the 500h test is only 0.3%, indicating a

fuel cell lifetime far exceeding 5000h, since end of life is defi ned

at 80% cell voltage. As expected, the 300h dynamic load test

shows a faster decrease in cell voltage over time, but the fuel cell

lifetime is still expected to be suffi cient. In other words, in both

tests, the Hauzer coatings performed very well.


LEADING EDGE TECHNOLOGY

A Hauzer machine with the latest in HiPIMS technology

was recently delivered to German tool manufacturer

HORN. The company was founded by Paul Horn 50 years

ago in Tübingen. Today, HORN is a family-run company

of 1500 employees, serving customers around the

world. Bastian Gaedike, Coating Engineer, discusses

the HORN vision of technology and how that may

shape the next 50 years of the company.

THE KEYS TO THE NEXT

50 YEARS OF SUCCES


Connecting the Industry 4.0 Dots

It is one of HORN’s strategic drivers to

link up all their machines and enable

them to communicate with each other.

“Companies that want to grow need to

be more effi cient with human labour,”

says Bastian. “But the cutting tool

coating process contains so many steps

you can only do by hand. Preparing tools,

clamping them, cleaning them – the

parts we coat are so diff erent in shapes

and sizes that no robot is sophisticated

enough. What we can save human

labour on are things like production

planning, monitoring and entering

recipes. We want our machines to talk

to each other directly, so our valuable

operators can do more important work.”


The OPC UA communication protocol is a worldwide

standard for machine communication, developed by the OPC

Foundation. It is both a programming language and a glossary

of what a machine can do. Companion specifications (CS) are

available for niche markets, such as the Surface Technology

CS that covers coating machines.

Software companies such as the German neogramm work as

connecting partners for machine networks, making sure all

the machines involved speak OPC UA. Christos Lithoxopoulos,

Business Development Manager at neogramm: “In the future,

everything will speak OPC UA. We will get to a point where

you can plug in a production machine and it will send its

definitions automatically. The way your desktop printer does

now: when you plug it into the USB port, your computer

automatically knows that it ’s a colour printer that can print

on both sides, with this particular size range. That’s what’s

missing in the industry right now, and that’s what OPC UA can

change. It provides the interoperability that is key to today’s

smart factories.”

Example of an OPC UA network connection

MACHINES TALKING TO MACHINES

The HORN network uses the OPC UA

communication standard, an important

worldwide standard for Industry 4.0.

The starting goal is upgrading their

coating machines to communicate

using the OPC UA companion

specification for surface technology,

before expanding to include the entire

production process. “First, we are setting

up the infrastructure and OPC UA,” says

Bastian. “Then, we will connect all the

places where people work, through

terminals. This whole process should

be completed next year. After that, we

can automate the production planning.”

HiPIMS for the Future

HORN is known around the world

for their expertise in HiPIMS, with its

smooth, hard coatings and flexible

applications. “HiPIMS is the coating

technology for the future,” says Bastian.

“We work with really sharp cutting edges,

and those are not easy to coat. If you

want to keep them sharp while using

older technology, the coating often

breaks under the stress. HiPIMS gives

better stress profiles inside the material.”

In addition, HiPIMS has very low

stickiness, which prevents smearing

of the substrate on the cutting tool.

Stainless steel, a commonly cut material,

tends to smear easily. “And this is even


more important for new materials,”

says Bastian. “The aerospace and

medical industry use materials such

as nickel-chrome alloys and titanium

alloys – and these all smear worse than

stainless steel. HiPIMS is the technology

of choice for these growing industries.”

Connecting the Hauzer Flexicoat

HORN’s new Hauzer Flexicoat® is also set

up for HiPIMS, with a next-generation

power supply that allows them to

program pulse trains with pulse width

modulation. The sophisticated pulse

train control makes it possible to give the

coatings additional properties and even

better residual stress profiles. “With

other manufacturers,” says Bastian, “you

get a machine that is already set. With

Hauzer, you can order a machine with

all the upgrades and power supplies and

flexibility you want. We really appreciate

that in this machine. Initially, we will use

it for R&D, and later for production

as well.” The Hauzer Flexicoat® is the

first HORN coating machine set up to

communicate with the HORN network.

HORN had previously developed the

requirements for their Industry 4.0

network in collaboration with system

integrator and OPC UA specialists

neogramm. Now, neogramm and Hauzer

did a deep-dive into the Hauzer Flexicoat

machine database interface, to equip

Hauzer machines with OPC UA as well.

That made it easy to set up HORN’s

new Flexicoat machine to communicate

seamlessly in the network.

The Next 50 Years

When asked for HORN’s vision for the

future, Bastian quotes HORN CEO Lothar

Horn: “If you’re having visions, you need

to go see a doctor.” HORN, it turns out,

has more of a philosophy than a vision.

Bastian: “We think the future will be

almost the same as the past. What was

important in the last 50 years will also

be important in the next. Customer

satisfaction. The best quality. The

fastest delivery time. That’s what made

us strong, and that’s what will keep us

successful in the future. As long as you

keep looking at your customers and

what they are doing, you are looking

in the right place. Of course, there are

some interesting developments going

on, such as e-mobility. How will we

handle the new materials that come

with that? Our industry never gets

boring. People are always thinking of

new materials to cut.”

HORN Technology Days

To keep the HORN customers informed

of all the developments in the cutting tool

manufacturing and coating business,

HORN organises their Technology Days

event every other year. “The most recent

one was just held in June,” says Bastian.

“Although this one was special because

of our 50th anniversary, the Technology

Days are generally well visited anyway.

This year, we had around 4700 visitors.

About half of them were international

customers, the other half from Germany.

People come from far away: for instance,

150 of the participants were from the

US. I was pretty happy, because the R&D

and production departments could really

show our customers what we do.”Bastian Gaedike, Coating Engineer at HORN


SUPPORTING GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Company-wide Educational Plan

“Within Hauzer, we always strive to support people who want to

improve their skills,” says Petra. “That way, they can better serve

our customers and develop our technology. It is also a sign of

our appreciation and support.” During the Hauzer performance

and development cycle, employees and their managers

formulate the training needs and desires they see for the

company, teams and individual employees. After these needs

and desires are checked for synergy and overlap, the board sets

the budget and the approved educational plan is announced.

“That normally happens in July,” says Petra, “so the new plan

has just been announced!” Of course, the need for training may

shift throughout the year, so adjustments are always possible.

Sharing Critical Expertise

Another interesting way Hauzer employees invest in their

development is internal training, where colleagues or teams

train each other. Petra: “All our Technicians are trained in-house,

The Hauzer strategy to create leading-edge coating technology can only become reality

by attracting and retaining a highly skilled workforce. That is why Hauzer invests in letting its

employees learn, take courses and develop themselves personally and professionally.

Petra Vermeeren, HR Advisor, says: “Hauzer operates at the very top in the

coating industry, so our employees are our strongest asset.”

Petra Vermeeren, HR Advisor

HIGHLY SKILLED WORKFORCE


“I am on exchange from Hauzer parent company IHI, where I

have been an R&D research engineer for 20 years and a R&D

manager for two. I will be with Hauzer for at least three years,

contributing my knowledge of plasma and material science

research.

I’m working half in tribo, half in deco. In tribo, fuel cells are

booming right now, because of the interest of automotive

companies in PVD. Hauzer has a promising solution, where

good performance and low mass production cost go together.

Deco is also very busy. The market is growing, and new colours

KENJI FUCHIGAMISENIOR PROCESS ENGINEER

to develop solid all-round skills. There are also technical

exchange meetings, where employees give a presentation

to their colleagues after working hours about a specific

topic. Hauzer employees are often absolutely world

class in their field, so sharing that specialist knowledge

is critical.”

Many Training Opportunities

In the last two years, 65 Hauzer employees have taken

a training course or session, out of the 115 total Hauzer

employees in Venlo. As several employees took multiple

courses, the total number of training participants in the

last two years even exceeds 115. Petra: “These figures only

include training sessions provided by external institutes.

All the internal training, such as exchange sessions or

technician training, is not even included in these data.

All in all, this shows that we take the development

of our employees very seriously at Hauzer.”

and functions are always needed. Decorative coatings are

very technically challenging. The colours are easily affected

by process conditions and machine configurations, so the

process engineer plays an important role. My focus is on

trying to improve the development cycle by shortening it.

That is knowledge I will be able to take back to IHI. I started

three months ago but I already feel at home here. My family

has just come over and started to live with me in Düsseldorf,

where my son and daughter were accepted at an international

school and there is a strong Japanese community.”


“I worked for a northern German toolmaking company for

the last 10 years, as Head of R&D for materials and coatings. I

collaborated with customers to develop the best combination

of substrates, coatings and pre- and post-treatments for

cutting and forming tools. In addition, I was responsible for the

production department for PVD coatings and heat treatment in

Germany and for the processes at coating centers in Germany,

China and USA. That means I know the importance of reliability,

maintenance and uptime in good coating machines.

As an application specialist, I developed a lot of different

coatings on PVD machines. Now, at Hauzer, I get to actually

change and develop the machines themselves! I will be very

customer-focused in my new position, especially in terms of

coating performance, handling of the machine and using new

coating technologies for new applications. I chose Hauzer

because it is famous for the quality of its coating machines and

its knowledge and has a great team with great people.

I moved from Hamburg to the Netherlands border, but still live

in Germany. I studied at Aachen University, close to where I

now live, and I was happy to come back to the Rheinland.”

PHILIPP IMMICHDIRECTOR OF PROCESS ENGINEERING

“I’m not a new Hauzer employee: I joined Hauzer right

out of college. I was an Electrical Engineer at Hauzer for

12 years, and I learned much about machine building in

that time. I also spent a six-month period in Customer

Support in 2016. I recently became the first Hauzer

Senior System Engineer – a unique position that merges

electrical, software and mechanical engineering. I

had already started a traineeship at the Software

Engineering department in early 2018, to expand my

knowledge, so we all thought I would be a good fit for

this newly created position.

I am starting with parallel projects from all disciplines.

First some small projects to find out how we can develop

our technology more efficiently. Then we will move on to

larger projects. My new role is still taking shape, which

is the pragmatic way of working at Hauzer. The idea of

an integrating engineering position like mine is that we

can solve issues more collaboratively, communicate

better and be more effective.

One of the reasons why working at Hauzer is great is

that you have a lot of control over your own development

and career.”

RALPH LEENDERSSENIOR SYSTEM ENGINEER


“I worked at Philips almost my entire career, in service

engineering, project engineering, installation and

support; and both as team member and manager.

My most recent customer support position was Tier 3

support for x-ray systems, solving the really complex

customer problems. Then I took a position more outside

of customer support, as a plant manager making a

plant profi table again. I missed working with customers

directly and am glad I am now back to a customer

support position.

I joined Hauzer because I wanted to make a big career

step, going to a diff erent company, and help take

something to the next level. Hauzer is a great company

from a customer support perspective: since they

do all their development in-house, it is easier to do

improvements than when you use a supplier. I’m going

to lead a team of 10 people and want to see how we can

further improve our customer service to better meet

our customers’ needs. We will now have the capacity to

look into things like that. I am already very impressed

with the Hauzer portfolio and felt a click with the

people from the very fi rst moment.”

RENÉ VAN DER VEGTMANAGER CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Hauzer is often looking for new talent. Please check our website for

our current vacancies or contact our HR Advisor Petra Vermeeren.

[email protected] – +31 77 355 97 05 – Hauzer.nl/careers

CAREERS


EMO

September 16-21

Hannover

Germany

FCVC

September 26-28

Rugao

China

Aachener Colloquium

October 7-9

Aachen

Germany

Automotive Interiors Expo

October 22-24

Novi

USA

Aachener Colloquium China

November 13-19

Beijing

China

FC Expo

February 26-28, 2020

Tokyo

Japan

Meet us...Hauzer is looking forward to seeing you at the following exhibitions and conferences.

collaboration leading to success...collaboration leading to success hauzer for you . no. 33 ....

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