HALCOR SA

Development of new innovative solutions and value-added products for ELVAL’s customers, through research and new technology development.

Customers and partners of ELVAL

The focus that the company shows in research and development of new technologies and solutions, as well as in customized solutions, has been increased during the last 5 years.

Focusing on developing new innovative solutions and value-added products for its customers, ELVAL places particular emphasis on Research and New Technology Development. That’s why it has established its own Research, Development & Technology Department, manned by skilled experts. Every year ELVAL implements major investments in equipment and know-how, so as to upgrade its production capabilities.

Ready Solutions: On a continuous effort to support automotive business with advanced material in terms of strength, long life and light weighting; ELVAL’s Technology team and the Research and Development Department, are collaborating closely with engineers of UACJ (United Aluminium Company of Japan), a strategic partner of ELVAL, to develop ready solutions to fulfil customers’ needs. As a result of this technical collaboration and knowhow exchange, in 2013, ELVAL developed a new brazing alloy that is suitable for high strength - long life tubes used for heat exchangers in the automotive business. The superior mechanical properties of this new alloy offer to the market a solution that meets the most demanding specifications and supports environmental sustainability. The mechanical properties of the new alloy reduce the heat exchanger’s weight and the overall weight of the vehicle respectively, therefore significantly improve the life-cycle of the engine and reduce air pollution.

New Production Methods: Once it examines a customer’s exact requirements, ELVAL’s Research and Development Department can then propose and develop new innovative products as high-tech solutions for the specific applications being requested, a process which involves close collaboration with the customer. The Department also registers any patents that might emerge. The Research and Development Department frequently makes well-documented proposals about how to improve ELVAL’s production procedures, to ensure the quality of end products and to increase the Company’s productivity. One of the Company’s most widely-known patents is the special aluminium tread plate, marketed as ELVAL Grain. Thanks to its special design, this product offers excellent non-slip properties and significantly reduces noise when cargoes are being moved across its surface.

Customised Solutions: One of the most important services ELVAL offers to its customers is complete support and advice about the development of customised solutions, tailored to the technical specifications and needs of each customer. ELVAL maintains close contact with customers and working with them, identifies their needs and suggests solutions to ensure excellent service and customer satisfaction. ELVAL doesn’t limit itself to existing, already developed products in its range but also examines innovative solutions. To develop new products, experiments are conducted, using prototypes and tailor-made products developed with alloys and combinations of materials designed to meet customers’ needs. It is also possible to develop products with specific features such as products with high tensile strength (e.g. against impact) or non-slip properties or even low noise products like ELVAL Grain, products which are deep drawn and extruded to a considerable degree, flat rolled with top quality lacquer coatings, and products made 100% from recycled aluminium. Customers are also given the chance to benefit from product improvement services for existing products by modifying their properties, checking product compatibility with other products from the same manufacturer, examining different technical characteristics, by checking tolerances, and so on. This enables products to be optimised to perfectly suit customer needs. Using product improvement capabilities, the environmental characteristics of a product can be improved such as a reduction in CO2 emissions per ton of product or a reduction in energy consumption, and so on.

To promote research and new technology development in the aluminium sector, to improve its products and to meet contemporary requirements, ELVAL has developed partnerships at national and international level with various universities and acclaimed research centers abroad such as the University of Manchester, and also collaborates with expert advisors in Europe and America. One indicative example of this is ELVAL’s partnership with the Hellenic Research Centre for Metals (ELKEME).

Within the same scope, ELVAL implements significant investments in constantly training its people by maintaining a long-term partnership with the UACJ Corporation (United Aluminium Company of Japan), which has two major research centres for aluminium rolled products, that has allowed it to develop breakthroughs in the field.

Partnership with aluminium production plants: To ensure compliance with European regulations on the properties of aluminium and its alloys, partnerships have been developed with other aluminium production plants worldwide, to carry out reliability checks on alloy measuring devices.

Employees and managers that compose Research, Development and Technology Department.

ELVAL’s facilities, Oinofyta Viotias

Customised solutions: Due to the company’s fully integrated production, ELVAL can deliver customized solutions for special needs in the industry. The company’s technology team is closely working with the customers to develop new products that efficiently meet their needs and fully exploit the company’s production capabilities. Starting from the beginning of the production process, most of aluminium products are cast in the company’s in-house cast house, therefore, ELVAL has the capability to define the exact chemical composition of the material in order to achieve final material performance that fulfills customers’ expectations. Moving to the next production steps, ELVAL offers a wide range of dimensions that results in a final product that can ensure optimum workability and minimum material waste.

As an example of this customized approach, in 2013, ELVAL concluded the supply of aluminium sheets that covered the state-of the-art Lusail stadium in Qatar; a very wide material with superior flatness and formability properties was developed by the company’s engineers to meet the customer’s requirements. The fabrication of the sheets was done in custom widths, starting from standard sizes up to very wide dimensions, always abiding to the strictest dimensional tolerances and thus achieving minimal material loss during construction.

The benefits that occur for ELVAL due to implementation of the above mentioned techniques, are highly important:

• Develop New product.
• Offer customized solutions to clients.
• Innovation.
• Strong market presence.
• New market entry.
• Sales increase.
• Retain and fortify business relations with customers.
• Fulfil customers’ specialized needs and achieve high customer satisfaction.