NEWS

Today it’s formally announced that the German industrial supplier KERN-LIEBERS with approx. 7,500 people working at over 50 locations globally will install Expanite’s patented technology for surface hardening of stainless steel. Driven by demand from one of the world’s leading manufacturer of automotive fuel pumps, the installation will be done at KERN-LIEBERS’ facility in Taicang, China, and shall be operational by November 2017. 

Schramberg Germany and Hilleröd Denmark, September 25, 2017– based on a license agreement between the two companies, KERN-LIEBERS will install equipment capable of executing Expanite processes in their Taicang facility. By this move, Expanite will be the first supplier of stainless steel surface hardening who can offer the same unique product in Asia, Europe and the US. Together, KERN-LIEBERS and Expanite will promote this technology to companies in the region.

KERN-LIEBERS is globally recognized as a supplier to the automotive, textile machine and consumer goods industries. The group develops and manufactures precision products of the highest quality made from steel strip and wire around the world, and is furthermore offering heat treatment services from selective locations incl. Taicang, China.

Expanite is a pioneer within the field of surface hardening of stainless steel and titanium, and has in the recent years grown to become a proven supplier of surface hardening and heat treatment to industries such as food & beverage processing, consumer goods, medical device, pumps, valves and various industrial applications. With Expanite's processes it is possible to increase wear and corrosion resistance of stainless steel beyond what was thought possible in the past.

 “We are very excited about adding Expanite hardening to our portfolio of solutions to companies with presence in Asia and in the need of improving performance on stainless steel parts. This business opportunity, based on a well-proven yet innovative technology, will ensure that KERN-LIEBERS Taicang can continue its growth path of the last decade” says Richard Zhang, CEO of KERN-LIEBERS in Taicang.

“For Expanite, the cooperation with KERN-LIEBERS is a unique opportunity to increase our market presence beyond our treatment centres in Germany, Denmark and the US. We can address on one side European and American companies with manufacturing in Asia but also Asian companies who until now had to ship parts to Europe or North America for hardening or even companies who couldn’t localize manufacturing to Asia because of the limitation in geographical availability, which has existed until now” adds Thomas Abel Sandholdt, CEO of Expanite.

 

About KERN-LIEBERS – www.kern-liebers.com
KERN-LIEBERS, a medium-sized family-owned company based in southwest Germany, is a global technology leader for the production of highly complex strip and wire parts, and assemblies. The KERN-LIEBERS group of companies develops and manufactures precision products of the highest quality at over 40 locations around the world.

About Expanite – www.expanite.com
Expanite offers the state of the art solutions for surface hardening of stainless steel, titanium and other high-performance metals. With Expanite's processes, it is possible to increase the material’s surface hardness tenfold while at the same time maintaining and even increasing its corrosion resistance. Expanite has a combined development and production facility near Copenhagen, Denmark, and operates service centers in the USA and Germany. Expanite's solutions are flexible and can be tailored to be introduced into a customer’s own production line as part of a licensing agreement.
   

If you would like more information about this topic, please contact

 For KERN-LIEBERS: Richard Zhang, CEO of KERN-LIEBERS in Taicang - richard.zhang@kern-liebers.com.cn, +86 512 5328 3533

 For Expanite: Thomas Abel Sandholdt, CEO of Expanite – tsa@expanite.com, +45 20407207