Innovation, the key to the success of IPEC SA Alba Iulia, awarded again at the Forbes Business Awards

At the end of last week, in Snagov, in an elegant setting and select company, the 2022 Forbes Business Awards gala was held, one of the most prestigious events to recognize and award achievements in the field of economy.

In times of crisis, in fact successive and overlapping crises, to stay in business is already a performance, to excel is talent, work, flair, courage. That’s why the prizes that bodies that monitor the economy give out, are about on the one hand a recognition, on the other hand an incentive and therefore all the more important by being able to become an example for other entrepreneurs.

IPEC SA Alba Iulia is a regular at the Forbes Business Awards, obtaining an important award for innovation at this edition, the 10th. “At IPEC we innovate all the time! That’s why most of the awards we’ve received are for innovation. We have made a name for ourselves because we use a lot of robots, many adapted for our needs, by us or according to our plans. But the focus of innovation at IPEC SA is product innovation. This is how we manage to maintain a high position as a manufacturer of household ceramics. Currently, at the request of large retail and business customers, we focus on developing a range of professional products (HoReCa). They have much improved properties in terms of mechanical strength, resistance to chemical attacks, resistance to thermal shocks. They will complement the already existing product portfolio. In parallel, as you probably already know, we were among the first in the world to develop digital printing on plates and cups. We created our own technology that remains unique to this day. Now we are developing a new printing concept that allows successive layers to be applied to the product and that gives a depth to the decoration that has not been achieved until now. Specifically, it’s about texture and 3D optical illusion in the positive sense of the word. We will create settings that are so close to the natural image that they will be difficult to distinguish”, explained Cristian Covaciu, general director of IPEC SA.

Energy is another area where the innovative spirit has made its presence felt. It was a necessity, IPEC SA being a big consumer of energy. “We have been proactive about this because any large energy consumer needs to be aware of what is happening in this market. We knew that there would be an energy crisis, we sensed that we would face periods of energy deprivation, but we did not think that this period would set in so suddenly. What we are experiencing now is the consequence of wrong policies, of overly ambitious goals, from the closure of conventional energy production capacities, or nuclear power plants in Western states, to Green Deal ambitions and outlandish statements regarding the banning of fossil fuel vehicles to in 2030. Who will then invest in the production of energy from hydrocarbons? How to make such announcements when you don’t know how much, how you will ensure the energy requirements. The war in Ukraine is not the cause of this crisis, it is only its accelerator. But, coming back… We, at IPEC, adapted all the machines to European energy efficiency standards 4 years ago. We changed all the combustion systems from the furnaces so that we reuse the heat recovered from the cooling process. So we took energy efficiency measures. Even so, the price of energy influenced our cost structure as well. Fortunately, innovation helped us again: early measures, unique technologies developed within IPEC reduce energy consumption per unit of product compared to other similar companies. Under these conditions, the entire production capacity is contracted. Moreover, true to the behavior that helped us overcome other crises, we are also now thinking of expanding the production capacity with an automated and fully integrated factory for flat products (plates, platters, etc.) and one for concave products large (cups, mugs, bowls, etc.) In which we will create additional jobs especially in the conditions where it is predicted that the year 2023 will lead to the closure of many companies.” revealed Cristian Covaciu.

Source: Ziarul Unirea