Development strategy
Investment and R&D projects
For the Kęty Capital Group, investment projects have been drivers of engineering development and, thus, have become an asset in the form of competitive advantage. Within the 2021–2025 Strategy, the Capital Group declared spending approximately PLN 1.3 billion on capital investments.
PLN 1.3
billion
Capital expenditure of the Grupa Kęty S.A. Capital Group on the purchase of property, plant and equipment, and intangible assets in 2021 and 2020 was as follows:
| (PLN ‘000) | 2021 | 2020 |
| Total expenditure: | 218,521 | 145,555 |
| including Grupa Kęty S.A. | 56,807 | 46,541 |
The largest investment projects in 2021 included:
The main investment tasks consisted in the development of production capacity with regard to aluminium profiles and components production. Following the investment plan updated in July 2021, the Segment commenced the project of building a new production hall at the Kęty plant, and installing there two new presses of 20 MN and 40 MN capacity.
In 2021 the largest value investment project of the Segment was the completion of construction of a production and warehouse hall in Opole (manufacturing of external aluminium roller shutters) of the area of about 13,000 m2. The total value of expenditures on the hall construction in 2020 and 2021 amounted to PLN 28 million. The other investment tasks comprise a series of projects of lower value, mainly related to the modernisation of warehouse infrastructure, purchase of machines (including a modern line for fire glass production), equipment and the essential means of transport.
In 2021 the Segment performed solely replacement projects and ones improving production effectiveness.
Finance
In 2022, in compliance with the assumed projection, the Capital Group plans to spend PLN 497 million on investment projects. The projects will be financed, similarly as in the preceding years, from the Company own funds and from bank loans. Considering the present financial standing, safe debt and liquidity ratios, the Management Board does not expect currently any problems in attracting finance for the performance of the investment plan.
Research and development projects
The Capital Group strategy in the area of its products and services consists in offering high quality products, which are often designed for individual orders and tailored to customers needs. Therefore, the priority is to invest in people and state-of-the-art technology, which translates into attracting a growing customer base both in Poland and abroad. The R&D activities, innovation and continuous improvement of machinery are factors that drive the success of the organisation and the development of its core operating segments, based on dialogue with the existing and potential customers.
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Extruded Products Segment
The Research and Development Centre within the Extruded Products Segment carries out R&D projects aimed at introducing new technologies in production, in order to extend the product offer and improve the quality of products in response to the advanced customer requirements. The research projects include, for example:
- optimal time of grade 6060 billets homogenisation, which enabled the process yield improvement and ensured a larger number of in-house billets produced;
- extension of the possibility of extruding grade 7075 round bars supersaturated at the water spray bath of press 2800, and acceleration of the speed of extruding the selected products;
- work on the systems managing the consequences of car crashes (crash management systems). The aim of the project is to provide the established car manufacturers with EPS-produced profiles, which fulfil the requirements for passive safety systems forming part of a car body structure. At the moment, the Centre and its automotive partners engage in several projects aimed at developing a series of solutions for new car models in premium class, which will enter serial production in the coming years.
Aluminium Systems Segment
Responding to the market expectations, the Aluminium Systems Segment developed and prepared for the implementation of new products intended for system sales and dedicated to civil engineering, as well as developed and modernised the selected existing solutions. The main development projects included:
- development and launch of distribution of an innovative system of internal frameless glass walls with single or double glazing and doors. The system is characterised with fast and easy prefabrication. A comprehensive research for such type of system has been completed;
- production launch of frameless glass sliding balcony doors with manual or automatic control;
- modernisation and development work for a series of window-and-door systems, to improve their utility characteristics, which includes significant thermal performance;
- production implementation of new curtain wall systems, dedicated for example to prestigious buildings in the Silesian region and in the UK;
- construction works for the integration of façade and window systems with roller-shutter systems and screens offered by the Segment;
- implementation of a state-of-the-art structural solution which will greatly improve the load capacity of mullion-and-transom curtain walls. The solution is dedicated mainly to buildings where the selected façade elements require application of very large and heavy glazing;
- construction and design work related to new garden pergola solutions, fitted with lamella and light control systems.
Flexible Packaging Segment
The Flexible Packaging Segment counts among the major packaging manufacturers in Europe. Thanks to the long-term process of organic investments, the related engineering progress, and increase of its production capacity, the Segment extends its portfolio for new, innovative products and improves its market position.
The main objective of research and development works in 2021 comprised researching of new laminate structures, which following the packaging market trends fulfil the assumptions and goals of the ‘European strategy for closed-circuit plastics’.
In cooperation with its customers the FPS carries out many projects aimed at the development of thinner, more homogeneous and recyclable laminates. New solutions in flexible packaging are based mainly on the use of polypropylene and polyethylene films in laminates.
The currently implemented new PPBTM films based on polypropylene are produced in the blown-film extrusion process. They may be used as a mono-film or as a component of homogeneous two-layer laminates, where the second layer is made of BOPP film manufactured at Alupol Films in Oświęcim. The BOPP/PPBTM laminates reflect very good mechanical and barrier parameters, much better than the BOPP/BOPP laminates. Thanks to these properties, among other things, they may be used in packing many types of food, e.g. instant foods, seasonings, coffee, fresh meat, cold cuts, bread, etc. At the same time, the laminates are fit for recycling. In that regard the OPP/PPBTM laminate was awarded with the Made for Recycling certificate, confirmed by research carried out at the German Fraunhofer Inistitute, in compliance with the bifa Umweltinstitut GmbH methodology.
There has also been developed packaging based on refined and coated papers with heat-bonding and barrier properties. One of such activities was modernisation of a tandem extrusion machine at Alupol Packaging Kęty, thanks to which production of laminates based on paper coated with barrier plastic is now possible. This eliminates aluminium foil from laminates, with simultaneous maintenance of similar barrier properties as provided by the products to date. The new-technology laminate has been tested with regard to fitness for recycling, and a positive result confirmed with a certificate was achieved.
All the proposed solutions guarantee food safety and may be printed either with the rotogravure or flexographic techniques. Due to the specific properties of the PPBTM and HBF9TM, the 3-, 4- and 5-layer laminates available on the market, containing aluminium, plastic and paper, may be replaced with 2- or 3-layer laminates of lower basis weight and more homogeneous structure. This means that the laminates require less material than the ones applied so far, which contributes greatly to reducing the quantity of plastics introduced to the market and reduces the impact on natural environment.