All-Rounder 1/2023

News and Updates from SWARCO Advanced Industry Systems
Issue 1 | 2023
UNIVERSAL
EFFICIENCY
2022: Looking Back
on a Challenging
and Eventful Year
PRODUCTS
PREVIEW
‟Linking In” in 2023
TREND
Playful Business
Small Beads – High
Refractive Index

UNIVERSAL EFFICIENCY
Dear readers,
2022: LOOKING BACK
ON A CHALLENGING
AND EVENTFUL YEAR
When looking back on the past year,
big new developments in particular
come to mind, such as the start of
operations at the SWARCO Global
Glass Beads Technology Center in
Neufurth, Austria. Looking at 2022 in
more detail, many other successes
stand out as well. It was a highly
productive year!
We established new partnerships
and found new cooperation partners,
such as the Austrian Alpine Club
(ÖAV) as part of the ‟Giving Back”
initiative, and LANIUS, an Austrian
research community supporting
regional environmental protection.
We also concluded heat offtake
agreements with our immediate
neighbours Voestalpine Precision
Strip and the dairy Berglandmilch,
and accomplished much more.
All of these positive experiences
in 2022 clearly demonstrate that
optimism, creativity and partnership
networking are absolutely crucial
for success. We are on a great path
that we will be continuing in 2023 –
full of energy and passion for new
developments.
SWARCO Advanced Industry Systems tackled all
of the challenges faced by the global economy in
2022 and met them with great success.
In addition to a new home for the next generation
of glass beads at the Global Glass Beads
Technology Center in Neufurth, Austria, 2022 was
a year of new partners and social initiatives.
The Next Generation of Glass Beads
In January 2022, the new SWARCO Global Glass
Beads Technology Center opened its doors at the
business park in Neufurth, Lower Austria. Since
then, the new state-of-the-art production and
research facilities have made it possible to set new
quality standards for the production of high-grade
glass beads. Optimizing sustainability and efficiency
were essential criteria as early as the planning
of the new site. By starting operations at the new
Center, SWARCO managed to further minimize the
ecological footprint of all premium glass beads.
In addition to all the positive ecological aspects,
the new machinery and equipment opened up
possibilities for setting up transport systems
that make sure the product is handled with the
utmost care. At the same time, the high degree of
automation guarantees production processes that
are both particularly stable and steady, which, in
turn, results in a high and consistent production
quality. Furthermore, the new Global Glass Beads
Technology Center offers much more space to put
the full scope of findings into practice and build on
them further.
Taking Responsibility
As part of the new ‟Giving Back” initiative in cooperation
with the Austrian Alpine Club (ÖAV) and the Lebenshilfe
association in Hiesbach, Lower Austria, SWARCO
Advanced Industry Systems is showing its social and
ecological commitment and will also continue to support
social and nature conservation projects in the future.
Through the new ‟Giving Back” initiative, SWARCO Advanced
Industry Systems will fulfil its social and ecological responsibility to
an even greater extent in the future.
© lovelyday/shutterstock
New things will be happening this
year as well. Robert Buchinger, in
charge of Business Development
at SWARCO Advanced Industry
Systems, is moving on to a new
opportunity and leaving the company
early March. We would like to thank
Robert for his dedication, ideas and
visions for SWARCO Advanced
Industry Systems. Peter Tomazic,
Managing Director of SWARCO Road
Marking Systems, will be taking over
his position on an interim basis. In
future ‟All-Rounder” editorials, you
will hear from the entire SWARCO
Advanced Industry Systems’ team.
We hope you enjoy the first issue
of 2023!
Your SWARCO Advanced Industry
Systems Team

PRODUCTS
TREND
SMALL BEADS – HIGH
REFRACTIVE INDEX
SWARCOFORCE REFLEX glass filler beads with
a high refractive index are increasingly used in
applications involving interaction with light.
© noprati somchit/shutterstock
QUESTIONS?
ais@swarco.com
Thanks to their increased
retroreflection, SWARCOFORCE
REFLEX glass filler beads with a
high refractive index excel in a wide
variety of applications.
In addition to the benefits of using
glass filler beads as filling agents in
plastics and building materials as well
as in paints, varnishes and coatings to
improve physical properties, it is their
high refractive index in particular which
makes SWARCOFORCE REFLEX glass
filler beads a continuously sought-after
industrial product.
SWARCOFORCE REFLEX glass filler
beads are increasingly being used in
greenhouse applications due to their ability
to absorb long-wave infrared radiation
and re-emit the energy gained back to
the environment and due to their high
reflection in the near-infrared NIR band,
which allows them to reflect a large part
of the sun’s purely thermal radiation.
The glass filler beads are added in the
processing of plastic films and multi-wall
sheets for greenhouses, as this prevents
overheating during the day and reduces
heat loss at night. Moreover, glass filler
beads allow for diffuse light conditions
while hardly lowering the material’s
transparency.
As SWARCOFORCE REFLEX glass
filler beads contribute to enhancing
retroreflection of materials, they are also
becoming increasingly interesting for the
paint, varnish and coating industry.
PLAYFUL BUSINESS
A new study by Zukunftsinstitut, a
German trend and future think tank,
called ‟Playful Business” highlights
the new playful approach used in
different areas of business.
Six key aspects of business are
essentially being rethought based on
the premise that the world no longer
‟functions”; it plays. The idea is for
leadership, collaboration, innovation,
learning, recruiting and marketing to
be aligned to a greater extent with the
fundamentally playful nature of people
and thus of society as a whole. Playful
business offers tangible benefits,
especially in our ever-growing network
society where clear structures are
continuing to disappear.
In line with German poet and philosopher
Friedrich Schiller’s idea that people are
only fully human when they play, the
study quashes the concept of Homo
oeconomicus in favour of Homo ludens.
The more our reality is defined by
automation and algorithmization, the
more dramatically the rules of the game
change and new spaces for play and
spaces of resonance open up.
Playful business aims to rekindle in
today’s economy what came naturally to
all of us as children: curiosity, courage,
an appetite for adventure, and vision.
After all, all industries increasingly view
mental agility as a crucial skill for the
future. The old adage that you have to
enjoy doing something to be really good
at it has never been more true.
Source (in German):
www.zukunftsinstitut.de
PREVIEW
‟LINKING IN” IN 2023
In January, the SWARCO industry
channel went live on LinkedIn.
Starting now, interesting facts from
the world of SWARCO Advanced
Industry Systems are posted on a
weekly basis.
In the future, the SWARCOFORCE and
SWARCOBLAST products will take
center stage on SWARCO Advanced
Industry Systems’ new LinkedIn
channel. Followers of this channel will
receive information on applications for
glass filler beads and glass blasting
beads in different areas of industry and
insights into the world of SWARCO.
The platform will present new findings
from research and development as
well as JOIN&GROW projects and new
partnerships. Posts will also include
topical interviews and relevant surveys.
The SWARCO industry channel will
also be the platform to get to know new
company partners.
Continuous Information
On a regular basis, the new LinkedIn
channel will share information on
different aspects of the benefits,
properties and areas of application of
glass filler beads and glass blasting
beads, giving an edge in knowledge to
anyone who has an active interest in
plastics, surface treatment or paints,
varnishes and coatings. The channel
will also focus on solutions for the
building materials industry and additive
manufacturing.
Linked
© Suradech Prapairat/shutterstock

OUR MISSION
INSIDE
We leverage the
universal benefits
of glass beads
for your special
industry
applications, in
energy-efficient
ways.
HI, MY NAME IS
MANUEL RAMOS
We spoke with Manuel Ramos, who
we recently welcomed to the SWARCO
Advanced Industry Systems family.
OUR VISION
Industrial
glass beads
by SWARCO
Advanced
Industry Systems –
the world’s
preferred choice
in all niches
OUR VALUES
Efficiency,
Diversity,
Intelligence
OUR MOTTO
Universal Efficiency
Follow. Like. Share.
SWARCO Advanced
Industry Systems
ais@swarco.com
www.swarco.com/ais
Manuel, what did your career look like
before SWARCO Advanced Industry
Systems?
My previous experience comes from
several different industries. First, I
worked in the field of fast-moving
consumer goods, then in 3D printing,
followed by packaging optimization, and
most recently, in packaging recycling.
The common thread of all these
professional activities is that all of my
projects were related to research and
development. All in all, I’ve had very
dynamic experiences full of opportunities
to expand my skills and build my
technical expertise in a broad range
of fields.
What do you like to do when you’re
not at work?
I like to use my free time to go mountain
biking, rowing or running. On long
weekends or when I’m on holiday, I like
to spend time relaxing and recharging at
the beach, or I seek out adventure and
like to challenge myself with mountain
hiking in remote places all over the world.
Manuel Ramos
is a new member of
our R & D team.
What motivates you at work and in
your daily life?
I’m an efficiency fanatic – in a good way!
I hate to waste resources, whether at
work or at home. Therefore, I would say
that seeking ways and means to prevent
waste is a major driving force for me, as
is striving to use technologies in ways
that help streamline processes efficiently.
I’m an optimizer in the truest sense of
the word.
What kind of challenges do you see
in your new job?
Keeping the right balance between
innovation and staying down-to-earth.
For that, you have to think outside the
box or see the bigger picture no matter
where you are, without losing sight of
what’s feasible.
What steps are you planning to
take next?
I would like to try using new tools and
methods to expand our range of glass
filler beads, especially when it comes
to coatings. I’m convinced that there
is great potential waiting to be tapped,
especially when it comes to finding an
alternative approach to the chemical
bond between filling agent and material.
Further research on this topic will enable
our company to offer solutions, products
and services in the future that no one
else in the industry can bring.
Thank you, Manuel!
Imprint:
Responsible for content: SWARCO Advanced Industry Systems,
Wipark, 14. Straße 11, 3363 Neufurth, Austria, www.swarco.com/ais
Idea, design and artwork: Kommhaus, www.kommhaus.com
Photos: SWARCO Advanced Industry Systems, unless stated
otherwise | English translation: Irina Pálffy-Daun-Seiler
Printed by druck.at | Subject to change without notice. No liability for
errors or misprints | For the sake of brevity, only one gender may be
used on occasion. However, this does not imply any discrimination
against the other gender.
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