Group Management Report Products Safety and Health Environment Human Resources Social Commitment Consolidated Financial Statements 49
ECKART
ALTANA
concentrates the development, production, and sale
of effect pigments in the ECKART division. Customers use
these products to achieve visual and functional effects, primarily
in coatings, plastics, printing inks, cosmetics, and
construction materials. The principal raw materials are aluminum,
copper, and zinc. Aside from metallic effect pigments,
other pigments are offered based on artificial substrates. The
division’s portfolio is supplemented by effect printing inks
and services.
Aluminum-based effect pigments comprise the largest
part of ECKART’s business. Customers use them particularly
to achieve silver metallic effects, for example, for car paints
or on graphic arts products. Aluminum pigments are also
used for functional purposes, for example, in the manufacture
of aerated concrete. Bronze effect pigments generate
golden effects in paints, printing inks, and plastic products.
Customers use zinc pigments in special paints to achieve
functional properties, particularly for corrosion protection.
ECKART GmbH is the division’s operating manage-
ment company. It produces a large part of the effect pigments
it sells worldwide in southern Germany (Hartenstein
and Wackersdorf). Other manufacturing sites are located in
Switzerland and Finland, as well as in China and the U.S.
The manufacturing process is characterized by a very
high degree of value creation. In a number of successive
steps, all kinds of pigments are made, refined chemically, and
in some cases processed into press-ready printing inks.
The effect pigments are marketed predominantly
via the division’s own sales structures, but also by sales
partners. ECKART’s most important customers include
international
manufacturers of coatings, printing inks, and
plastics.
Other important customers are manufacturers in the
construction industry and the cosmetics sector. ECKART
achieves nearly half of its sales in Europe. Its next largest
sales regions are Asia and the Americas.
As an important manufacturer of metal effect pigments,
ECKART continually pushes forward the development of new
product qualities and opens up new fields of application on
the basis of sophisticated technological expertise and many
years of knowhow.
ELANTAS
The companies in the ELANTAS division offer their customers
a high level of expertise in the field of electrical insulation
materials. As one of the world’s leading suppliers of such
products, the division’s portfolio concentrates on coatings
for insulating magnet wires as well as special resins and coatings
for impregnating and protecting electrical and electronic
components.
ELANTAS has its own holding structure under the management
of ELANTAS GmbH, based in Wesel. The latter
controls the division’s activities and supports its operating
subsidiaries, which develop and produce insulating materials
in Germany, Italy, China, India, Malaysia, the U.S., and
Brazil.
The division’s products are marketed worldwide. Among
its most important customer groups are magnet wire manufacturers,
which need materials to insulate wires made of
copper or aluminum. The division also supplies insulating
resins and coatings directly to manufacturers of electrical and
electronic components.
ELANTAS’ most important sales region by far is Asia,
and particularly China. A high proportion of global manufacture
of electrical and electronic components and consumer
goods is concentrated in this region. The division has had its
own production sites in China, India, and Malaysia for
years. After China, its most important sales markets are the
U.S., India, and Italy.
On the basis of comprehensive expertise in the manufacture
and application of liquid insulating systems, the
division is steadily expanding its activities. It seeks to tap new
application fields and thus growth potential by developing