It has been a year since glass refractories group HWI and Calderys were united and became the Calderys Group.

The new group immediately began a programme to share technologies, transferring a selection of Calderys solutions in the Americas to HWI - a member of Calderys, and bringing a selection of HWI products to EMEA and APAC, available through Calderys.

The first stages of this technology sharing programme are already bearing fruit, as customers in EMEA and APAC have access to a number of HWI refractory products, and customers in the Americas can benefit from Calderys’ products, including steel casting fluxes.

“The past 12 months have been exciting, demanding, and very productive for our newly-formed Group,” says President and CEO, Michel Cornelissen.

“The combination brought together two dynamic businesses with complimentary product ranges, and created the opportunity for technology sharing and cooperation for the benefit of the world’s high temperature manufacturing sectors."

HWI products in EMEA

By manufacturing a range of HWI’s products in Europe, Calderys is able to provide EMEA customers with short lead times, small stock holdings at customer sites, and high levels of local, technical support.

Product evolution will also be undertaken locally, meaning products can be developed and fine-tuned to meet the specific needs of EMEA customers’ process developments, including, for example, ‘green steel’ applications.

Calderys will thus bring to the EMEA market a combined portfolio of refractory bricks and monolithics for various high temperature segments. These products will complement those the company already produces in the EMEA region, providing customers with an expanded and improved array of solutions for a wide range of applications, including steel, direct reduced iron (DRI), glass, copper, and petrochemical.

HWI products in APAC

Over the last few months, Calderys has already transferred dozens of HWI products for production to the Calderys Bekasi, Indonesia site, with many more to be transferred during the first months of 2024.

The products to be manufactured locally are those in highest demand, as well as products complementary to the full Calderys portfolio, including dense castables and, due later in 2024, a combination of lightweight castables, additional dense castable, wet mortars, and patching materials, for power generation, petrochemical, nickel production, cement, and glass.

Demand for HWI products in Indonesia is particularly high, but work is also ongoing to make available key HWI products around the APAC region, particularly products for the petrochemical sector.

Calderys solutions in the Americas

In the Americas, HWI customers now benefit from an overall broadened portfolio including Calderys’ monolithics and pre-shaped technologies, and the company’s proven steel casting fluxes, insulating fire bricks, tundish monolithics, and purging plugs.

Some more work is expected in the coming months to transfer the production of additional Calderys items to HWI facilities.