Stimulate the market with new activities

Last year MAPEI GmbH were able to further improve their market position. As regards the core business, an increase in turnover, above the market average, is also expected for 2010. Further growth is expected to be added from the new activities in the fields of concrete engineering and roofing.

With their core business MAPEI offer a complete range of construction chemistry products in the fields of tiling and natural stone laying, floor engineering and building materials. They include products for laying of ceramics and natural stone as well as products for laying of textile and resilient floorings ranging from PVC and needle mats to high-quality woven goods. Products for laying of conductive floorings, adhesives for parquet floors, but also screed binders, rapid-setting screeds, primers, casting resins, moisture barriers, fillers and levelling compounds as well as uncoupling products are also included in this range.

Since autumn last year, Betontechnik GmbH, a market leader in the field of concrete additives in Austria, has become part of the MAPEI Group. With this takeover MAPEI continue their strategy to further expand the business of concrete additives, which is already an important mainstay of the group. The aim is to become a global player in the field of concrete additives. All products of Betontechnik GmbH are sold under the brand name “Duriment”. They include concrete admixtures and innovative products for concreting operations (plasticizers, retarding admixtures, air-entraining agents, activators, anti-evaporating agents) as well as powdered products for use in building and civil engineering, such as anchor mortar. This is completed by services such as site security, technical certification, laboratory tests and process optimization as well as research into the development of new technologies and innovative products. Due to this takeover, the headquarters in Langenwang/Austria become the “Knowledge and Technology Centre” for concrete additives within the MAPEI Group.

MAPEI is one of the brands with the highest growth. For this reason, in a market which, in terms of volume, is declining and stagnating, MAPEI will create added value for their dealers and craftsmen, not only with their permanent product innovations but also but also with a great variety of market-oriented initiatives. The product innovations inlcude the rapid-hardening joint mortar Keracolor FL-S Flexfugeschnell, the new repair and modelling mortar Planitop FAST 330, the adhesive mortar Ultralite S1 and the universal reaction primer Eco Prim PU 1K and Ultrabond Eco S965 1K, a one-component, silane-modified adhesive for wood and parquet featuring a particularly long open assembly time, which is suitable for external wood gluing.

The MAPEI design tour focussing on the laying of design surfacing material of PVC that was started at the training centre Kleinwallstadt in March 2010 has become an overwhelming success. Not only the R&D department of ­MAPEI opened its know-how treasury for this event. With Siegfried Heuer, manager and founder of the Koblenz-based ISH Academy, a renowned expert could be obtained for this “practice-based vocational training”.

Sustainability is more than a marketing trend. Sustainability is a basic requirement for buildings and building materials and, consequently, will become a key factor for success in the building trade in next few years. For many years MAPEI has focussed their research on the development of safe products for the environment, the processing industry and the end users. With a current total annual research budget of approx. 85 million €, MAPEI spend more than 70 % of their research expenditure for the development of environmentally sound products. The MAPEI symbol “Green Innovation” stands for products that contribute to environmentally sound buildings:

– with an extremely low portion of emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC);

– with an extremely low formation of dust during mixing and storage;

– which, amongst other things, prevent the formation of mould in humid rooms;

– which increase the ecological well-being, e.g. by an improved impact-sound insulation and

– which are manufactured with raw materials obtained from recycled materials.

Already more than 150 products from MAPEI support architects and project designers in the implementation of innovative, LEED certified buildings coincident with the specifications of the U.S. Green Building Council (example: the Opera Tower in Frankfurt, Tower 185). MAPEI also continue to promote the systems certified by the Association for the Control of Emissions for Flooring Installation (GEV). The newly certified products bearing the logo “EMICODE EC1 Plus – very low emissions” and also the emission-minimized products bearing the “Blue Angel” are the best examples of this. Thus, MAPEI persistently pursue their way to sustainability and offer all available environmental markings for flooring installations; both “EMICODE EC 1” and the “Blue Angel” according to RAL-UZ 113 offer a comparable high level of protection for the users as regards fillers, flooring and parquet adhesives. In addition, with their new planning manual MAPEI offer a comprehensive planning support for architects and planners. The manual in the format DIN A 4 contains all interesting facts on more than 370 pages – from base surface preparation and laying up to pointing. The individual chapters are based on the different laying bases as they can be found in new buildings and, in particular, during renovation and refurbishment of old buildings.