Since April 2008 Hauzer is part of the Japanese IHI Group. “We fit well within the IHI Group,” Thomas Krug, CEO of Hauzer says. “IHI is an engineering company just like us, which makes us understand each other. Furthermore our new parent company opens doors in Asia which would otherwise remain closed to us.”

Hauzer Techno Coating, the Dutch specialist on hard coatings technology, has been taken over by the Japanese IHI Group in April 2008. Thomas Krug, Hauzer’s CEO, is enthusiastic about the take-over. “We fit well within the IHI Group,” he says. “IHI is an engineering company just like us, which makes us understand each other. Furthermore our new parent company opens doors in Asia which would otherwise remain closed to us.”

The Venlo company Hauzer Techno Coating is already 25 years a leading supplier of technological knowledge and equipment building in PVD coatings. There are multiple applications of PVD (Physical Vapour Deposition). The technology is for example being used to give mobile phones a beautiful, scratchproof exterior. Moreover the lifetime of tools like drills and end mills will be lengthened. Fuel savings can be achieved by coating the moving parts in auto engines. The market for PVD is growing, first of all because of its environmental friendly character and secondly because companies start to recognise the advantage of a hard, wear resistant and low friction coating layer on their products.

The IHI Group has already started its company in 1853. Nowadays it consists of approximately 180 different companies and provides jobs for more than 23.000 employees. The company develops and builds a whole range of constructions and machines, such as energy plants, jet engines, tankers, cranes, bridges and even rocket engines. Furthermore IHI has a department that builds equipment for the production of thin films, used in LCD and photovoltaic applications. With the take-over of Hauzer Techno Coating IHI Group strengthens its position in thin film technology for high tech applications. “Our employees can learn a lot from each other,” says Thomas Krug. “It is our intention to utilize in full the advantages of synergy. The IHI Group is willing to invest in our future. This means that we will open competence centres in Japan and China in order to assist our Asian customers with trial coatings and technology transfer. These preparatory activities should lead to more sales in Asia and building more machines in Venlo. The heart of our company stays in Venlo, the take-over does not change that.”

Asia becomes an ever more important market for PVD coatings. “Mobile phones are produced there, as well as many tools,” Thomas Krug explains. “Countries like Taiwan, Korea, China and India have an increasingly strong production position. Furthermore in the market of engine parts Japan plays - next to Germany and America - a major part. Thanks to the take-over by the IHI Group we will have a better hold on these markets and we will be taken more seriously as a technology partner by some potential clients. Therefore we expect a positive spin-off.”