The Shanghai Coating Service Center is up and running. After training in Sweden and customer qualification procedures of the site, the Shanghai Coating Service Center has entered into operational stage and the team from Impact Coatings China is ready to serve local customers in the region. The formal inauguration of the site will take place after the summer.
Earlier this year, some of our colleagues from China joined us in Sweden for a month of education and training leading up to the opening of our Coating Service Center in Shanghai. The team worked in almost all the operations departments, learning to run and operate the machines. They now have knowledge of handling maintenance and routine service, performing corrosion tests in the lab, blasting and washing in pre-production, and have been introduced to the software for the HMI (Human Machine Interface). In between workdays they also got the opportunity to experience Linköping and try a regular Swedish meal consisting of mashed potatoes and “Falukorv”, while the Swedish team got to try a traditional Chinese meal. Delicious if you ask us. It was a great time for valuable knowledge exchange and international team building.
The Chinese operations team is now back in Shanghai at the Coating Service Center which recently entered into operational stage after undergoing customer qualification procedures. Having a local foothold through our subsidiary and local Coating Service Center and being able to service our customers locally reduces many of the risks and challenges associated with international logistics – such as long freight times, logistic administration, time differences, and difficult-to-predict exchange rates. It also improves our ability to offer fast support and increase customer dialogues where we can now offer our local teams’ expertise to accelerate development and time to market for our customers.
“After dedicated and intensive work, we have now started local production in China. With the facility in place and up and running, we can help customers reduce risks, speed up the knowledge exchange, and respond faster to changing demands. Our presence and production capacity will be critical to meet the demands of the accelerating hydrogen market in China,” said Yaowen Wang, Regional President China at Impact Coatings.
The Shanghai Coating Service Center has an initial capacity to coat 1 million fuel cell plates annually after the arrival of its first INLINEOCOATER™ machine this spring. In addition to the machine, the facility is equipped with a high-capacity cleaning line, quality control lab, logistics areas, and office space forming a complete production line to serve customers in the region.
The formal inauguration of the new Coating Service Center will take place after the summer – bringing together customers, local officials, and representatives from Swedish Consulate in Shanghai as well as representation from the Impact Coating headquarters in Sweden.
For more information contact Yaowen Wang at yaowen.wang@impactcoatings.com
Regional President Robert Mamazza, Ph.D., shares his insights on the evolving hydrogen industry in North America, and the coming steps for Impact Coatings in the region. With more than 20 years of experience working in the field of thin film physics, Rob highlights the opportunities and significance of being part of the green energy shift and being close to the customers.
Coming from a background in thin film physics combined with an interest in green technologies, I could not have picked a better time to join Impact Coatings and the hydrogen industry. My first involvement with clean energy came during my time pursuing my Ph.D. My research focused on optoelectronic materials for thin-film solar cells. Throughout my career, I worked on both materials and hardware to manufacture LED’s, thermoelectric generators, solar cells, and technologies for optimizing power generation, transmission, and consumption. I am an outdoors person, so to have a career that focuses on powering humanity’s future energy needs in a clean and sustainable way fits perfectly into what I want to do with my life.
After government incentives coming into place these last years, the hydrogen-related landscape in North America is now fertile. Major players in the space are forecasting impressive volumes of green hydrogen production. According to the World Economic Forum, the United States alone accounts for 13% of the global demand for green hydrogen. The 2020 McKinsey study titled ‘Road Map to a US Hydrogen Economy’ predicts that by 2030, approximately 700,000 jobs and $140 billion per year in revenue can be expected to result from H2 related activities. To be involved in green hydrogen and have commercially viable solutions is to be well-positioned in this industry. And Impact Coatings is well-positioned.
Since joining Impact Coating approximately two years back, I have seen a gradual shift from fuel cells to water electrolysis in the hydrogen market. This is not to say fuel cells are no longer in the picture. They clearly are. It’s just that the percentage of overall activities going to water electrolysis is growing and of late this trend has become more pronounced. To put this into perspective, when I started with Impact Coatings, 100% of the sampling efforts were for fuel cell coatings. Now it is about 50% of the North American market. Nonetheless, we have many irons in the proverbial fire, and I expect fuel cells will soon make a comeback.
In addition to the market’s appetite for green hydrogen increasing, governmental policies are also fueling the fire. Moving forward, we see a great possibility to capture emerging opportunities within the US green hydrogen market following the strong recent commercial and regulatory development in the region, including the USD 3 per kg green hydrogen tax credit included in the Inflation Reduction Act effective from August 2022.
Both Canada and the United States have been putting substantial amounts of money behind clean hydrogen initiatives for a while now. In 2021, the US federal government approved $8 billion in funding to DOE in support of clean hydrogen. Canada has pledged a similar amount in support of its Net Zero Accelerator Initiative to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. Green hydrogen will be a big part of this. Also, a variety of local governments and municipalities are supporting hydrogen initiatives through direct funding and or tax incentives.
For players in the market wanting to build on this accelerating momentum, growth pains are to be expected. This means, there is a direct need for reliable, pre-qualified suppliers to support upcoming projects. As Impact Coatings already have traction in the hydrogen market, both globally and on US soil, we are in a very good place to become a go-to partner. From our experience around the globe, we also know that our solutions and services are built to handle the customer pain points of a quick growth spurt as hydrogen initiatives continue to drive change toward a more sustainable society.
As our opportunities begin to materialize in North America, and the volume of commercial activities in the region rises, our need to have a brick-and-mortar presence becomes more important. The decision to start up a local coating center has been taken. The specific location has not yet been fully decided upon, but it will be positioned to best serve our customers. With a local foothold, we will be able to better deliver our services and meet our customers’ needs by eliminating many of the challenges associated with international logistics – such as longer ship times, difficult-to-predict exchange rates, and time differences.
I look forward to these next steps. If you are active in the hydrogen market in North America and have questions or want to discuss coming opportunities, feel free to reach out to robert.mamazza@impactcoatings.com
Coming back from the H2FC Hannover trade show last month, our CTO Torbjörn Joelsson Ph.D, shares his top insights and views of the trends in the hydrogen industry. Torbjörn has been part of Impact Coatings for 18 years, primarily working with development of the company’s coating machines and PVD coating processes within different areas of applications.
Starting off, after coming back from Hannover and the H2FC show, it’s worth stating the obvious – the industry is growing, and it has clearly reached a threshold when it comes to Fuel Cells. We have left the time of explorative talks and 3D renderings and now see actual, commercialized FC stacks presented in many booths. Within the Fuel Cell community, the conversations have shifted from “what to do” more towards “how”. In other words, focus is now on industrialization, automation and how to reach full productivity.
For Impact Coatings, this is interesting from many perspectives, not least as we have recently presented our latest and largest coating machine, the INLINECOATER™ IC2000.
An increased interest in Water Electrolysis is also part of this latest movement. 8 out of 10 discussions in our booth had to do with Water Electrolysis and WE stacks, which is a shift that has come from one year to the next. We’ve seen the same trend around the globe in reports from our regional sales teams.
Of course, the reason for the rapidly increased interest in Water Electrolysis is related to several market drivers where electrolysis becomes the natural next step. With FC stacks reaching commercial levels, more hydrogen production is needed to support the FC vehicles. There is also an urgent need for more localized, green energy production and energy storage.
This means that the need for speed to market is extreme in the WE segment. To ensure that speed to market, companies are looking at proven coating solutions such as noble metals. They also need support from experienced teams to quickly move through qualification stages in preparation for volume production. From Impact Coatings’ perspective, we are perfectly positioned to support these customers – both with optimized coating processes and moving through all production stages.
Part of our ability to move fast with market demands stems from our strategic journey towards becoming a go-to-partner in the hydrogen society. We have in-depth knowledge from optimizing for conductivity and corrosion resistance in electrical contacts, process insights from precise decorative coatings, and production skills from plastic metallization to handle scaling volumes. These experiences make it possible to accelerate time to market for the next generation hydrogen applications.
This brings us to the next trend. Modularity has become a well-used word in the hydrogen industry. How big the WE separator plates need to be is a key topic for anyone working with Water Electrolysis. What are the advantages and the disadvantages of very large formats versus a more modular buildup of the WE production units?
One drawback for larger WE plates is that predictability for very big WE stacks is a lot more complex than those of lesser size. Just as for Fuel Cells, it’s important to plan for productivity and automation, and large format plates are not ideal to handle in large scale automated production. This could be an indication that we will be moving in a direction of more moderate sized plates and modular stacks over time.
When it comes to Fuel Cells, consensus seems to be that modular production flows are of great benefit, not least as redundancy naturally becomes part of a more modular production setup. Modular production also means better control of total cost of ownership for the production line. With a modular setup with smaller, versatile production units, maintenance, energy consumption and different types of coatings can be planned into the production flow with greater flexibility and more control of cost driving parameters.
For more information about our coating solutions for Fuel Cells and Water Electrolysis, reach out to torbjorn.joelsson@impactcoatings.com
Our President Korea, Kristian Hillgren Ph.D., is back in HQ in Sweden after hectic days in Tokyo and the yearly FC Expo show. Here are his 5 key take aways, starting with the fact that the show is back, and it’s back big time.
Coming back to Japan and FC Expo was a great experience. Not only is the show back – it’s bigger and better than before.
Apart from this first positive impression, the most obvious take away from the show is that electrolyzers have transitioned from backseat to front row in the industry.
FC Expo, as the name implies, used to be mostly about fuel cells, but nowadays there is a huge interest in solutions for electrolyzers and green hydrogen. Actually, the hydrogen exhibition appeared to be bigger and draw more attention from visitors than the battery show in the hall across, which just goes to show that hydrogen has matured beyond the lengthy discussion of whether mobility should be powered by batteries or fuel cells.
Another conclusion from the show, is that we now see a clear trend that fuel cell customers are showing interest in electrolysis and looking for a starting point for development. This shift has come suddenly. When we introduced our coating solutions for water electrolysis, the interest was there, but it has grown substantially these past months. Today, we see well-known fuel cell players moving rapidly in this new direction. This of course gives us a good head start after being part of the fuel cell industry for more than a decade.
Apart from having the experience from years of developing coating solutions for fuel cells, being able to offer Coating Services and samples of our electrolysis coatings means we have a good shot at being part of the future electrolysis solutions.
Customers are now on the lookout for possibilities to test, verify and scale up a fitting coating technology for their electrolyzer manufacturing. To do so, they need immediate availability of samples and guidance. Most importantly, they understand that apart from finding a suitable coating for their electrolyzer plates, they also need to future proof the solution and make sure it is ready for industrialized production when volumes take off.
In this context, it is great to be able to tell them that our coating machines for coating of electrolyzer plates are used for continuous production in our Coating Service Center in Sweden as we speak. Not many suppliers have production up and running at this early stage.
Another important take away, that we have been aware of for some time but which is in fact becoming more and more evident, is that electrolyzers means going big, and size brings about some special challenges.
One such challenge revolves around how to handle coating of smaller volumes of these large format plates and large format porous transport layers. For coating purposes, you obviously need a big machine to handle the large formats, but going too big too early comes with its own set of risks and challenges. A big coating system is a big investment. You might not need the full capacity of a big coating system for years to come and it’s costly to run. You also have less control and less flexibility to handle different volume scenarios.
From our perspective, modular scaling seems more reasonable from a customer point of view. With our latest, large-format-ready, flexible coating system – the INLINECOTER™ IC2000 – volumes can scale with maximum control. Since the system is integration ready, volume capacity can be built over time with several systems. This also adds the benefit of redundancy to the production capacity.
Last but not least, close collaboration is key to success for several reasons. To be back at FC Expo was a good reminder of why we have our own personnel stationed in Asia. To accelerate time to market, these next years will mean all-hands-on-deck for the hydrogen industry. For electrolyzers, the need for local support is even greater, not only expertise to accelerate development, but to minimize risks with logistics, to save time and unwanted administration, and to reduce shipping of large format parts for the electrolyzer stacks. It goes without saying that much of the sustainability benefits will be lost in transit if we ship parts back and forth.
All in all, FC Expo offered us solid confirmation that we have a strong offer matching our customers’ needs, and that the hydrogen industry now collectively is ramping up. We look forward to continuing the conversations. If you are interested and want more information, reach out to kristian.hillgren@impactcoatings.com
VP Coating Services, Carina Höglund Ph.D., shares her insights on the role of Coating Services in the evolving hydrogen industry. With more than 15 years of experience working in the field of thin film physics, Carina highlights the significance of flexibility when facing the sustainability transition.
These past years, we at Impact Coatings have seen an increased interest in PVD (Physical Vapor Deposition) coating solutions from the hydrogen industry. This is an industry that is expected to grow exponentially over the next decades, posing some interesting challenges for our customers and us. Regions like the USA, Europe, South Korea, Japan, and China have already started scaling their production and many players are now looking at PVD coatings as part of the next generation solutions for green energy and clean mobility applications.
It all comes down to reliable industrial production and performance parameters.
Proton Exchange Membrane Technology, also called PEM, is a leading technology commonly used in the hydrogen industry. It is used in water electrolysis to produce hydrogen, and in fuel cells for mobility and stationary applications. Both PEM electrolyzers and fuel cells contain metal plates that need high-performing and cost-efficient coatings – like PVD coatings – to become successful and commercially viable.
This is where we at Impact Coatings have a head start. Our PVD coating solutions for hydrogen applications have been available for more than 15 years. This involves our coating as a service offer, better known as Coating Services, as well as sales of industry ready PVD coating machines.
What’s important to remember is that this is a big technology shift for the energy and mobility sectors, and exact ramp up scenarios and volumes are continuously difficult to predict. There are also many dependencies in the value chains and the coatings are always somewhere in the middle.
The majority of our hydrogen solutions customers lack knowledge about coatings before getting in touch with us and need support from an experienced team to prepare for industrial production from the first sample. We do this by
When all parameters have been set and verified in our Coating Services Center, the customer can choose to continue to produce the coatings through Coating Services with our experienced team. Volumes can vary from small to high, and production can be stopped or accelerated according to customer needs. This is particularly valuable for ramp up scenarios with complex supply chains where many suppliers ramp up production in parallel.
Customers also have the possibility to switch to In-house production by purchasing coating systems with the qualified process for full control of the production process.
We also offer managed services, where our teams run the systems at the customers’ chosen premises.
The complete offer allows for a problem-free production start-up and onboarding of the customer’s personnel. The customer can always continue to use Coating Services as a cloned second source, for instance, to handle volume peaks.
All of this means full control from a customer perspective. No capital needs to be locked up at an early stage and our complete offering allows accelerated time to market and easy scaling with market demands.
Learn more about the Coating Services process and how we can help you verify and develop the perfect coating solution for your application here!
Join us for a sit down with Stefan Dreger, our newly appointed President EMEA, Hydrogen Solutions. What is his background, what drives him on a personal and professional level, and what is next on his agenda?
I’ve spent the first months learning as much as possible about Impact Coatings and cultivating good relationships with the team I’ll be working with. There is a strong experience and know-how here based on more than 20 years of research and evolutionary development, which originally stems from electrical contacts, today evolved into hydrogen applications. I have a great first impression about the company set up in general, the available expertise, and products, and I am convinced that Impact Coatings has the potential to become a major supplier for coating solutions in the hydrogen market.
Before joining Impact Coatings I worked with Robert Bosch GmbH for more than 10 years in different roles such as sales, strategic marketing, and business development.
My most recent role was as Senior Sales Manager for Hydrogen Solutions. In this role, I was facing new customers with no long-lasting business relationships. It was crucial to develop an agile acquisition and project team which could cope with the dynamic demands from the hydrogen market.
This exciting task am I now continuing at Impact Coatings with a more entrepreneurial mindset to grow our organization and sales to reach our goals.
I am convinced that hydrogen is a key element to reaching future climate goals and achieving a successful transition to a CO2-neutral industry. The global hydrogen market is anticipated to grow at a considerable CAGR within the next years, supported by global and national hydrogen strategies and legislative regulations. The whole industry has finally crossed the tipping point towards the industrialization of this technology.
I expect Impact Coatings with its unique Coatings Services, solutions offering, and strategic global presence in fast-growing markets to be a solid partner to help both newcomers and global players to cope with the challenges of transitioning from fossil-based technologies to emission-free hydrogen solutions.
To fight climate change, hydrogen produced from renewable energy sources has high potential and every opportunity to become a major pillar of any decarbonization strategy. Working in this dynamic market environment whilst ensuring to fulfill our customer needs is part of my DNA as a sales professional. Therefore participating in this journey, while helping to form and grow a company like Impact Coatings, motivates me every day.
To comply with our global growth strategy, it is important for me to increase the recognition of Impact Coatings and grow sales in the EMEA region to become one of the major partners regarding coating solutions for hydrogen applications. To achieve this, a solid understanding of the global hydrogen market and the needs of our customers will be key for successful collaborations and matching customer needs.
For me and for Impact Coatings the focus for the upcoming year will be to extend our coatings solution portfolio for fuel cells and electrolyzer applications, to continue to develop the next generation coating machine, and to increase coating service capacities in the EMEA region.
Therefore, I would like to invite everyone in the hydrogen environment to contact me to discuss and evaluate how we can support your organization with the optimal coating solution and service models matched to your needs today and in the future.
Impact Coatings has had its main office and production facility in Linköping, since the company was founded in 1997. For 20 years our premises in the area known as Ebbepark have grown with us and adapted to our needs, and we’re currently in the middle of yet another exciting growth-spurt which places new demands on our production site.
Construction work has already begun and is now well underway to increase in-house production capacity, both for our Coating Services’ department and for our systems assembly line. To accommodate this increased capacity, the area which is designated for office and administration is being streamlined and developed to fit new company needs to allow for more flexible work. The result will be an approximate 30% increase in production floor space, which will allow for further optimization of our current production flows.
A new machine hall will be prepared to contain an automated production line for Coating Services, where the team primarily will provide coating technology for metal bipolar plates for PEM fuel cells.
“We are excited to move into the new facility. The production of the Ceramic MAXPHASE coating for PEM fuel cells has increased throughout 2021. The new automated line will add capacity and allow us to support additional hydrogen and fuel cell customers.”
— Carina Höglund, VP Coating Services.
Additionally, the automated production line and upgraded production flow is also planned to function as a demo center for visiting customers and partners. We already know that our technology is ideal for integration in automated production for a wide variety of applications, and we look forward to being able to showcase this on our own production floor.
Impact Coatings announces changes to the management team and expansion of the sales organization.
The company is entering a period of expansion during which we are advancing our product offerings, how we approach our markets, and our industrial capacity − especially within hydrogen fuel cell and automotive safety applications. Briefly; Carina Höglund and Anette Therén join the management team, while Rob Mamazza and Nils Meesterburrie enter the sales organisation.
“The strengthened management team will help Impact Coatings extend the reach and capabilities of our global sales team and develop new strategic partnerships that will help us meet the most rigorous demands of our industrial customers. We also intend to implement a more structured and customer-centric approach to our marketing communications to further enhance our market position.”
− Torbjörn Sandberg, CEO
Carina Höglund
VP Coating Services
Anette Therén
VP Marketing & Communications
Rob Mamazza
President, North America
Nils Meesterburrie
Sales Director, Korea
We are happy to announce that Impact Coatings has opened an office in Seoul, South Korea. The new office will be a hub for R&D and sales, supporting customers and partners in the whole East Asia region. Following a mandatory two-week Covid-19 quarantine, Will Wright, VP Sales – APAC, and Dr. Kristian Hillgren, Technology Director – Fuel cells, have now inaugurated the office.
Executing on its Korea Hydrogen Economy Roadmap 2040, South Korea is a global leader in the formation of a hydrogen society. Korean automotive giant Hyundai Motor Company is cooperating with Impact Coatings in the development of coating technology for metal bipolar plates for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV). The joint-development agreement (JDA) that was signed in October 2019 includes the opening an Impact Coatings office in Korea, providing R&D and sales resources locally.
Impact Coatings supplies world-class PVD coating technology for fuel cells, decorative coatings, plastic metallization, and reflector coatings. Many of our customers are active in the global automotive industry. The Seoul office moves us closer to our customers in South Korea, as well as in China, Japan, and other countries in the region.
Impact Coatings Korea LLCBusiness Sweden, 11th floor Shinil Building131 Toegye-ro, Jung-gu, 04537 Seoul, South Korea
Impact Coatings Korea LLC비즈니스 스웨덴: 서울 중구 퇴계로 131 신일빌딩 11층
The 24-Hour Hydrogen Challenge is a rally for fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) showing the world that driving with Hydrogen is already a reality. The rally takes place in in Germany on September 28-29, in conjunction with the Stuttgart f-cell conference.
We hereby invite customers and other industry partners and friends to sponsor Impact Coatings’ FCEV participating in the 24-hour rally. Minimum sponsorship is EUR 500. Sponsors will have their logo* on the Impact Coatings car during the rally and all contributions will be donated in full to the World Childhood Foundation. Impact Coatings will match total contributions up to EUR 2,000!
To sponsor, contact us by September 14, 2020 via e-mail to info@impactcoatings.se. Please include your contribution amount in EUR and your invoice address.
*) Neither position or size of logos can be specified by sponsor companies/partners. Maximum possible logo size approx. 30cm wide.
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