Hírek

200 international guests celebrated at a colourful, relaxed, family festival

The aroma of freshly baked cakes and barbecued specialities such as sausages and "DIY-hamburgers" invited the employees of the Doneck Network and their families to eat right from the start on Saturday, 11 August 2018. The "Family Day 2018" was organised by an employee team at the company's site on the Potaschberg. 

The wide variety of attractions from Spielmobil Konz for the numerous employees' children formed the heart of the event. The kids romped around and tried out various things such as the Bobby Car course, the climbing wall, football darts, table football or the bouncy castle. The most popular attraction, as everyone could see, was the face painting. 

"Daddy, where do you work?" and "What does the world of printing ink manufacturing look like?" The families were able to get answers to these and other questions in three guided tours through the works. Arndt Breitbach, Managing Director and Edgar Becker, Managing Director Sales led the guests through Doneck Euroflex's impressive raw materials warehouse, the extensive water-based inks production area, the modern water-based inks laboratory and the logistics, providing exciting details along the way.

To the music of Nena's "99 Red Balloons", the guests launched lots of colourful balloons into the sky at around 6.00 pm with the hope that they would fly furthest and win the balloon competition. After that, everyone enjoyed the delicious summer barbecue buffet put on by Landgasthaus Böß from Schwollen in the festival tent. Arndt Breitbach was taken by surprise with the many congratulations and gifts to mark the anniversary. "With this celebration we would like to thank in particular all our employees for their many years of dedication. Without them the success story of the Doneck Network would not have been possible", said Arndt Breitbach, Managing Director, commenting on the "Doneck Family Day". 

There was a colourful mix of guests. The majority of the employees live in the Trier region and in nearby Saarland. The European employees from the locations in England, Poland and Hungary also joined the party. The guests were unanimous in declaring it to be a successful and lovely celebration in wonderful summer weather.

Photo: Arndt Breitbach (Managing Director Doneck Network) and Edgar Becker (Managing Director Sales) 

In 2017, the second year of cooperation between CARE Luxembourg and Doneck Euroflex,  "nutrition schools" were set up in 79 project villages in which malnourished children were cared for and pepped up.

A diagnostic study was conducted at the start of the project, in the course of which CARE determined the state of health of children aged 6 to 23 months in 59 villages. Malnutrition is determined on the basis of the circumference of the upper arm. A child is suffering from moderate malnutrition with a circumference of 115 to 125 mm and acute malnutrition with a circumference of less than 115 mm. The results of the examination of 3,138 children showed 2,755 healthy children, 318 moderately malnourished and 65 acutely malnourished children. The acutely malnourished children were treated immediately in a health centre or hospital.

"Nutrition schools" were set up in 16 villages in the village centre under the baobab tree for 156 children with moderate malnutrition. Here the mothers learned every day how to prepare nutritious, high-calorie meals for their children with few ingredients and the right dosage. While the dishes were cooking, seminars were held on the subjects of hygiene and foodstuffs. In order to judge progress after the two-week "nutrition school", the children's upper arms were measured again.

A total of 139 children had already managed to reach a "normal" nutritional state after two weeks. "A fantastic result, especially considering the collection of the data took place in a month in which the foodstuffs were rather scarce", says Robert Schadeck, president of CARE Luxembourg, commenting on this success.

In order to see whether the knowledge gained was also being used at home, house visits were made to the families concerned following the "nutrition schools" by CARE. During a visit to a hospital, medical personal gave their assurance that children whose mothers had visited the "nutrition school" by CARE had not returned to the hospital due to malnutrition.

Thanks to the generous donation by Doneck it was possible to cover not only the costs of the procurement and distribution of the materials such as ladle sets, tape measures, children's scales, books and pens for the nutrition schools, but also in part the personnel and logistic costs for this project. Most important: a great contribution has been made to the avoidance of malnutrition in infants in these villages in future.

Editors: Care Luxemburg and Doneck Euroflex

Photo: Wies / Care Luxemburg

“We think green!” – Doneck Network presents its image under this motto at this year's Proflex.

The printing ink manufacturer from Luxembourg has actually done everything possible to prove that it takes the topic of sustainability very seriously.

Since January 2018, Doneck Euroflex has modified its manufacturing facility in Luxembourg to a climate-neutral process. For years, the company has already relied on electricity from hydropower and now also uses natural green gas. As the company activity has been recorded in a CO2 emissions record for years, it was now able to be compensated by the participation in a forest protection project in Brazil and an emission reduction program in Peru in a climate-neutral manner. This has been confirmed by the climate protection specialist ClimatePartner.

Apart from the climate neutrality of the in-house processes, Doneck Euroflex is also working on the increased use of more ecological resources. It was therefore possible to develop more-resource-efficient, water-based flexographic inks for corrugated cardboard post-print application. The Euroboard WKE series is based on the philosophy of a basic colour system, in which the traditional pigment concentrates are mixed with newly developed varnishes. In doing so, significant parts of the traditional acrylate resins and additives are replaced by alternatives based on renewable resources or hybrid systems. This reduces the use of crude oil-based chemicals and lowers the resource-related CO2 footprint of the printing ink used.

With the self-marketed automatic dosing system EUROMIX, the Doneck Network offers the manufacturers of corrugated cardboard the possibility of applying not only the conventional but also the newly introduced printing ink chemicals according to customer requirements in order-related applications by using different varnishes.

“Of course, our sustainability strategy determines our daily actions in many aspects. Numerous projects to avoid unnecessary waste, to increase energy efficiency through to a more environmentally friendly vehicle fleet help us to constantly reduce our environmental impact,“ Managing Partner Arndt Breitbach explains.

Photo: Certificate climate-neutral company (Doneck Network)

Within the framework of its sustainability strategy, the Doneck Network has once again invested in the climate-friendly vehicle fleet this year. 75% of the company's own transport fleet now drives with the latest engine technology conforming to the Euro 6 standard. This reduces the use of fuel by 20% and also lowers CO₂ emissions.

In addition, the vehicles are equipped with modern telematics systems that help with the optimisation of route planning and individual driving behaviour, including the saving of resources. Employees are specially trained and sensitised for this. To that extent it is no coincidence that a Doneck Network driver has been crowned "German Champion of the Federal Traveltainer League" twice in a row by telematics operators on account of his outstanding individual driving behaviour, based on comparison data with other drivers.

Doneck Network has also taken the first step towards e-mobility for passenger transport, too. The company has invested in its first fully electrically operated vehicle, with which many short-haul routes and local traffic can be covered electrically. Since Doneck Euroflex purchases exclusively CO₂-neutral electricity, every kilometre driven with the new e-mobile is free from CO₂ emissions.

"Striving for ever greater sustainability is firmly anchored in our corporate policy", says Arndt Breitbach, managing partner of the Doneck Network. "We are currently working on further important projects for the saving of resources, in particular in the areas of energy and waste."

Doneck Euroflex has already had its management system certified to EN ISO 14001 by the TÜV Saarland on a regular basis since 2010 and its sustainability strategy is based on ISO 26000.

Photo:Doneck Network

The co-operation and sponsoring of Doneck Euroflex with Care Luxembourg made it possible in 2016 to connect running water to two maternity clinics in Timia and Krip Krip in northern Niger with the aid of wells.

The preparations began in December 2015. Two technicians, an electro-mechanical engineer and a hydro-geological engineer assessed the scope of the necessary construction and installation work. The two maternity clinics were supplied with solar power in February 2016 so that groundwater can be pumped into the clinics.

The pipe-laying work, the preparation of the pumps and their cabling with the pump systems in the wells began in the summer (August and September) with employees from a local partner, HED Tamat. After that plumbing, masonry and pump work was carried out in the clinics to connect the water supply. Water towers were built to ensure the sustainability of the water supply. The water towers were manufactured in the town of Agadez and then transported carefully to the project region. The water towers were made of stainless steel and sheet metal. Each tower holds a volume of 5 m³. The water tower in Krip Krip fills up within 50 minutes, that in Timia in less than 35 minutes. The water systems went into operation in October 2016. So far both installations have functioned without any trouble and are supplying both maternity clinics with clean drinking water.

A young woman in Krip Krip expressed her joy at the running drinking water as follows: "Unbelievable, but true. Never in my life have I seen a dripping water tap in such a remote place as Krip Krip. We thank God, HED Tamat, their managerial staffs and their partners that they have provided our maternity clinic with the urgently needed running water."

Due to the increasing success of the Doneck Network in Spain, Doneck Ibérica S.L.U. is pleased to have appointed Alexis Mur as its Technical Sales Director.

Alexis Mur is considered to be an absolute expert for the Spanish market when it comes to printing inks. Apart from his high level of competence he also has a highly dynamic personality. He will now use these positive characteristics to support the Doneck Network team: Since April 2017 he now manages the sales activities in Spain and Portugal, and also supports technical sales in France.

Alexis Mur gained his excellent reputation at a medium-sized Spanish printing ink manufacturer. “It has always been extremely important to me to work in an owner-operated company with a flat hierarchy and short communication channels, as this forms the basis for optimal customer service. At Doneck Network, it is not only the enormous flexibility but also the advanced production technology and performance capability of the products that convince me. As well as the exceptional unique selling points such as e.g. printing inks for direct contact with food products or the fully automatic Euromix dosing system”, says Alexis Mur, pleased about his new professional challenge.

“We are delighted to have Alexis on board, as his vast experience and high level of commitment are a great benefit for our Spanish customers. Even after such a short time it feels as though we have always worked towards the same goals and with a tremendous degree of customer enthusiasm", reports Roger Martínez Tonn, Business Director Doneck Ibérica

With the commitment of Alexis Mur, the Doneck Network has gained a specialist for water- and solvent-based flexographic and gravure inks, who operates on a Europe-wide basis. With automatic mixing systems and an in-house printing ink laboratory in Barcelona, Spanish customers with the appropriate printing ink series for foil and paper applications can be quickly and reliably supplied.

Toyo INK Co., Ltd., a member of the Toyo INK Group, and Doneck Euroflex SA, a manufacturer of flexo and gravure inks for the European region, today announced that they, on April 1, 2017, concluded a licensing agreement that allows Doneck to manufacture and sell Toyo INK’s AQUA LIONA™ and AQUAECOL™ series of water-based lamination inks to markets in Europe. This licensing agreement is expected to strengthen the position of both companies in the competitive global packaging industry, as water-based alternatives to printing inks are projected to fuel the future growth of the industry, especially in the food packaging sector.

“We’re delighted to enter this agreement with Doneck Euroflex, a major company in the supply of liquid ink systems across Europe,” said Katsumi Yamazaki, president of Toyo INK. “We already have an established supply structure and a proven sales track record in Asia and North and South America. The new licensing agreement will allow us to strengthen our existing water-based liquid inks operations on a global basis by extending its supply structure to Europe, a region where its presence had been weak up until now.” 

While tapping into Doneck’s extensive distribution network, Toyo INK will strive to provide full customer support tailored to individual market needs and to achieve shipments of 1,000 tons per year during the company’s next mid-term management plan that runs from fiscal 2018 through fiscal 2020.

“We are happy to introduce this unique water-based technology which could lead to increased environmental sustainability. We are proud that Doneck Network was chosen by Toyo INK as partner for AQUA LIONA™ and AQUAECOL™ for the European market”, said Arndt Breitbach, Managing Director and main shareholder of the Doneck Network.

Tense delivery situation for titanium dioxide entails price increase for white printing inks as well as the use of substitute quality products

We would like to inform you that we are forced to increase our prices for white printing inks as of April 1st 2017 due to the tense situation on the titanium dioxide market.

As you will see from our homepage, the key supplier of titanium dioxide, Huntsman, reported a major fire at its factory in Pori, Finland on January 31st 2017 and declared it as a case of force majeure. The factory has an annual capacity of 130,000 metric tons, which corresponds to about 10 % of the quantity required by the European market. As titanium dioxide pigments for printing ink applications were primarily manufactured in Pori, we estimate that approximately 40- 50 % of the European requirements for flexographic and gravure inks were covered there. The reasons for this high market share are the high gloss quality and the particularly low abrasion properties of the quality products manufactured there.

According to the information we have so far, the Pori plant will be out of operation at least until the end of the year. As these qualities are not produced at any other Huntsman site, printing ink manufacturers are forced to procure an appropriate quantity of substitute quality products. This poses a great challenge, as European titanium dioxide suppliers have recently considerably reduced their on-hand stocks, and Asian manufacturers also have limited supply capacities due to intensified environmental requirements. The consequence has been a drastic increase in titanium dioxide prices by 30 - 40 % over the last few weeks. 

As the pigment qualities from Pori used by the majority of printing ink manufacturers are no longer available, we must rely on using substitute pigments from Huntsman or other manufacturers as of March 2017. Although the Doneck network is working at top speed to also ensure the properties of the former pigment qualities with alternative titanium dioxide qualities, our white printing inks may nevertheless have less gloss quality and higher abrasion behaviour. We are currently carefully testing the alternatives in our laboratory to the best of our knowledge and judgement. If delivery specifications agreed with certain customers should deviate from the former ones, we will inform these customers separately and discuss the further procedure. In any case we recommend that special parameters or product properties not explicitly agreed with our company be carefully checked once again before production printing.

More information: PR VdL 02 2017 (PDF)

Photo: Doneck Network

Right at the start of 2017 the Doneck Network is strengthening its activities on the UK market. With the appointment of Ian Carmichael as Technical Sales Director UK we have succeeded in acquiring the services of someone with many years of printing ink experience in a medium-sized company. Ian knows the world of flexographic and gravure printing like the back of his hand and has decades of management experience. Together with Ian we want to strengthen the position of the Doneck Network on the UK market still further.

Our deliberations always revolve around our customers. In order to continue to develop our local customer service, we will be significantly upgrading the laboratories of our subsidiaries so that we can check local residual solvent contents, measured values for bonding and the coefficient of sliding friction as well as light and weather fastness. In total a six-figure sum has been invested for this.