E_mg_GB_03_vorne-29_3_04

MANAGEMENT SHARE STRATEGY SPECIAL SECTION MANAGEMENT REPORT FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FURTHER INFORMATION
Production
Economic Environment • Situation of the Company • Organization and Structure • Risk Report • Employees • Performance of the Subgroups • Outlook
The mg Group operates in each of its markets through decentrally managed operating business units,
as this structure provides it with a high degree of flexibility and customer focus.
The various production strategies are strictly geared to customer requirements and the respective
market structure. The spectrum ranges from products individually produced to order via line and batch
production to flexible manufacturing cells. mg is constantly reviewing its production parameters to
ensure it meets the highest standards of performance and efficiency. Key benchmarks include throughput
times, productivity by area, zero-error production, and the ability to meet customers’ just-in-time
and just-in-sequence requirements.
In Sarstedt, in the Netherlands, GEA Ecoflex GmbH, which specializes in the manufacture and development
of plate heat exchangers, built a new workshop and a new pressing line for the production of
heat exchangers. This will enable the company to expand its production capacities substantially and to
set new standards in the industrial production of plate heat exchangers: the new pressing line, which
has 15,000 tonnes of stamping power, is generally regarded as one of the most modern of its kind in
the world. By committing this level of investment, the GEA subsidiary plans to grow its share of the
global market and further improve the quality of its products.
GEA’s air-treatment business successfully completed the restructuring of its production activities.
It concentrated a large proportion of its production facilities for industrial air-treatment equipment
at Liberec in the Czech Republic, where GEA already manufactures air-treatment equipment. The
concentration of its production capacities in Liberec will enable it to reap synergies and enhance
its competitiveness. By expanding its production facilities in eastern Europe, GEA’s air-treatment
business is also responding to the growing demand in this region.
Under the umbrella of Dynamic Synthesis, Dynamit Nobel is making significant advances in the
production of active ingredients for pharmaceuticals. For the pharmaceutical industry, it develops
intermediates and active ingredients that are produced in complex chemical reactions.
During the period under review, the special-chemistry business in Leverkusen, Germany, increased
its capacities for the production of pharmaceutical active ingredients based on azide chemistry.
In order to significantly increase its production capacities for the extraction of active-ingredient
molecules, Dynamit Nobel invested over a11 million in the refurbishment of a multi-column chromatography
(MCC) plant at Finorga’s site in Mourenx, France. This is one of Finorga’s proprietary
technologies, which is used to separate identically structured molecules with varying effects according
to type. These molecules – so-called ‘enantiomers’ – are found in roughly 75 percent of all newly
developed drugs. They are used, for example, in medicines for the treatment of depression. By continuing
to expand its technological and production capabilities, Dynamit Nobel remains an important
value-adding partner to the pharmaceutical industry.
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