The turn of the year was also an opportunity for KTW Technology to pause and look back and forward. As a company from the Ahrweiler district, our thoughts went not least to those suffering from the terrible flood disaster in the region. The damage to people and property is immeasurable. Many of those affected are left with nothing, hopeless and traumatized.
Not infrequently, however, disaster also offers an opportunity for change. We hope that this signal for the necessary rethinking in dealing with our mother planet Earth has been understood by as many people as possible. We at KTW feel encouraged in our efforts to make high technology available for the fight against climate change.
In the past, there was a whole series of successes that showed that we are on a very good path with our developments. There was significant news to report in all areas of the company – from development and sales to financing:
Financing
In the summer, we gained another shareholder. The Neth family is one of the owners of Dockweiler AG and has now also invested 350,000 euros in KTW.
Shortly before the end of the year, we received the news that the Investitions- und Strukturbank Rheinland-Pfalz (ISB) has provided the company with a further 500,000 euros in venture capital. This is also an important announcement for all those who would like to participate in crowdfunding, because the improved financial resources mean a better starting position for exploiting the numerous market opportunities that are available for our developments.
Research & Development
In the area of research & development, we are pleased about the great interest shown by well-known companies who want to work with us to integrate our know-how into their solutions.
With Krones AG, the leading German manufacturer of lines and machines for the production, filling and packaging of beverages and liquid foods in PET and glass bottles as well as beverage cans, we are currently negotiating a supply contract for our high-speed dosing systems and are discussing joint further developments.
A long-standing partnership and support in mutual development connects us with the company Bronkhorst High-Tech from Ruurlo. Bronkhorst is one of the world’s leading companies in flow and pressure measurement technology. With the beginning of 2022, we will intensify our cooperation and jointly address the market for dosing applications.
In August, we won ESA’s Spark Funding project with AirFlowSaver, which recognizes technology transfers from space to another industry. We are using the financial injection of 60,000 euros to make AirFlowSaver even more customer-friendly.
We signed a development agreement and a five-year supply contract with Heek-based 2G Energy AG for the development and marketing of hydrogen injectors for stationary engines.
Within just seven months, we developed a valve technology for the Covestro Group that can work with extremely aggressive media and at extremely high temperatures.
Our success in further developing innovations from space technology has attracted the interest of other companies from the space tech sector to collaborate with us. As the issue of sustainability is now also important in space, we launched a cooperation with Klaus Space Transportation in the field of space debris recycling at the SpaceTechExpo in Bremen. Our lightweight champion Titan Matrix Composite offers significant unique selling points, especially here, where extreme requirements and high temperatures collide.
Sales
But of course a company does not live by developing alone; it scales by successfully marketing its developments. In 2021, we recorded a number of lighthouse successes in this area:
After a successful six-month test phase, the Chinese food company WantWant Group installed 13 AirFlowSavers at its plant in Shangdong. The globally active group of companies has its roots in milk processing and uses our valve technology here to blow off water on Tetra Pak packaging.
One of the largest beverage producers in Baden-Württemberg, Romina Mineralbrunnen from Reutlingen, is installing the first High-Speed Dosing system from KTW.
After a thorough test phase, we are listed as a supplier by the automotive company ContiTech and receive the first order in December.
Outlook – focus on scaling
In the still young year, our focus will be on expanding our sales activities and extending our sales strategy. We are currently investigating the extent to which even more scalable sales models, such as „Equipment as a Service“ and the digitalization of processes to the end customer, can enrich our business model. On the one hand, because we want to grow as a company and generate sales, and on the other hand, because improved efficiency in the use of resources is an important lever in the fight against climate change.
We are convinced that we cannot wait for the global energy supply to switch from fossil fuels to sustainable energy sources. If we want to reduce CO2 emissions quickly and preserve resources for future generations, we must also exploit the potential that lies dormant in optimizing existing processes.
