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CLASH OF THE TITANS - A NEW PLAYER IN THE INTERNATIONAL TIO2 MARKET
New products, growth in exports and still more changes on the way - Titan Crimea is taking on the established TiO2 market and building a solid reputation. Continuous development of product quality is winning the hearts and minds of paint companies around the world, and Titan Crimea is in the position to continue expansion and attract new clients.
Clash of the Titans - a new player in the international TiO2 market | Titan Crimea is one of the most recent additions to the list of global titanium dioxide suppliers, and despite their honest acknowledgement that other TiO 2 suppliers are able to offer higher grade products, their sales performance in 2003/4 was impressive - production of TiO 2 has doubled, with increased sales coming from outside Ukraine and the CIS countries. This boom in orders has dramatically changed the pattern of sales, moving from 33% sales outside the CIS region in 2002, to over 62% exports in 2004. The growth of sales around the world, and particularly in Europe has boosted interest and investment in the company, and in July of this year Titan Crimea secured a $110m investment package from Joint Venture partner RSJ Erste Beteiligungsgeselschaft GmbH. The Coatings Group's Technical Editor, David Vaughan-Lee was invited to the company's plant in Armyansk, Ukraine, to tour the facilities and find out more about this rapidly changing ompany. HISTORICAL BACKGROUNDTitan Crimea has been in existence for over 30 years, and is now the largest TiO 2 producer in the Eastern Europe. In addition to TiO 2, the company also produces iron oxide pigments, ammonium phosphate fertilizer, aluminium sulphate, soda glass and so on.
The company fell on hard times in the perestroika period of the early '90s, and a new management team was put together to lead the company out of cricis and by 2000, the company had increased export sales to over 25% of production. By 2001 an ambitious business plan was put into place, with the aim of long-term systematic reconstruction and modernisation of the business as a whole.
Despite a trade crisis in 2002, (the US imposed a 100% import duty on Ukrainian goods), the company managed to restructure its business to focus on the international markets.
At the time being the company supplies products to 51 countries, with the main consumers in the CIS (28%), Europe (23%), South East Asia (22%) and the Near East (9%). Most of the TiO 2 is marketed through a dealer network, and Titan Crimea plans to open offices arund the world to support the most important regions.  Figure 1: production volume for first 8 months of 2004
 Figure 2: capacity useand growth of European sales markets | GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENTThe company is also developing its programmes for red pigment and aluminium sulphate sales, with a number of opportunities for further development. The growth trend speaks for itself. During the first 8 months of 2003, the company made 32,542 thousand tonnes, compared to 49,681 tonnes in the same period of 2004. Revenues also show steady growth. The January to August period showed total sales of US$70m, a $33m improvement on the 2003 figures - or a growth of 66.8%. While it is too early to speak about the overall perfomance for 2004, the forecast is extremely good.
A quick look at recent trading patterns shows that the company has achieved some remarkable growth, both in volume and market penetration (Figures 1-2). QUALITY IMPROVEMENTSSo what is the key to this change? One of the first factors that becomes immediately apparent on arrival at the production site is the enthusiasm and pride in all the staff.
Both the Chief Technologist, Vyachaslev Redkin and the Vice Techncical Director of the Quality Department, Amin Khakonov, were keen to explain how quality improvement measures and modernisation are the primary goals of the company.
While a huge amount has been done so far, there are still more plans and projects that are taking place. Safety and wellbeing are also vital goals, with 30% of the company budget being spent on safety issues to meet EU standards, and over US$5m per year allocated for environmental protection and to reduce pollution.
In terms of quality issues, whiteness and dispersibility are top priority, and these are being addressed with the introduction of Moore filters to replace the drum-type vacuum filters, installation of filter presses, as well as bead mills to replace the older ball mills and the automatisation of key areas in the production procces. In the last 2 years, the dispersibility has been improved from 15mcm to 11 -13mcm, and whitening power increasing from 1700 to 1950 arbitrary units, as well as the gradual improvement of many other parameters. This change can best be seen by comparing the registered properties of each grade with the current parameters that are being supplied today (Table 1).
It should also be noted that since 2002, the company has introduced a premium grade with improved whiteness (CR-03), and a new grade specifically for white paints (CR-07), both of which are organically treated. | Properties | CR-1 | CR-02 | CR-03 | CR-07 | | (Company Standard / Actual) | | TiO2 mass fraction, % | 98/98 | 93/94 | 90/93 | 93/93 | | Rutile mass fraction, % | 97/97 | 97/98 | 97/98 | 97/98 | | Volatiles mass fraction, % | 0.5/0.2 | 0.5/0.3 | 0.5/0.3 | 0.5 / 0.3 | | Water soluble mass fraction,% | 0.4/0.3 | 0.3/0.2 | 0.2/0.2 | 0.2/0.2 | | pH (specified) | 6.5-8.0 | 6.5-8.0 | 6.5-8.0 | 6.5-8.0 | | pH (Achieved) | 8.6 | 7.2 | 7.4 | 7.1 | | Sieve residue 0.045%, max | 0.15/0.15 | 0.03/0.004 | 0.01/0.003 | 0.01/0.004 | | Whitening power | 1700/1870 | 1800/1950 | 1900/1980 | 1900/1980 | | Whiteness | 94/94.7 | 94.5/95.5 | 96/96.2 | 96/96.5 | | Hiding power, g/m2 | 40/27 | 35/25 | 35/24 | 35/23 | | Dispersibility, mem | n/a / n/a | 15/12 | 15/12 | 13/12 | | Oil absorption, g/100g | 25/23 | 25/21 | 25/21 | 25/23 | | Yellowing (b* coordinates) | n/a / n/a | n/a / 2.9 | n/a / 2.5 | n/a / 2.6 |
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 David Vaughn-lee (centre) learns about the huge growth in sales and the rapid quality improvements from Titan Crimea staff
The company is now looking at combination of zircon and organic treatments to develop a grade with high weathering resistance for the automotive industry (CR-04), but the research is still in the early stages.
Titan Crimea currently produces grades CR-02, CR-03 and CR-07, which are all used for coating applications. In the future, the company plans to be more active in the plastics and master batches markets.
If this was not enough, there are a large number of smaller projects, all designed to steadily improve pigment characteristics, quality standards and increase capacity (Figure 3 flow chart). These discussions naturally led to the plant tour itself, with a more detailed examination of the various quality improvements themselves.
NEW PACKING LINES
The first workshop I was taken to featured a new automated packing line where the Italian designed equipment had increased the productivity up to 3-6 tonnes per hour, or about three times the speed of the older manual packing line in the next bay. This has made a significant impact in de-bottle necking the production line, and once the second packing line is installed in the 2nd quarter of 2005, there will be sufficient flexibility to cope with additional capacity upgrades.
In a similar fashion, the company has completed the second in-situ replacement of the older drum filters to new leaf vacuum-filters as well as an improvement in automation processes with the purchasing of a new suite of computers for the central control-room, both of which have contributed to increasing the stability and whiteness standards of the Rio2 products, from 92 to 95 units. Replacement of the drum filters in the second workshop will be completed in 2005.
Automation has also been introduced to the Yemenite digestion, hydrolysis, vacuum evaporation and reduction bays with new microprocessor controlled hardware.
The main priorities of the company's technical policy is the modernisation and re-equipment of production processes for the improvement of finished product quality.' Explained Mr Edward Kurmachov, Vice Technical Director, who also praised the staff and engineers for completing this already complex process in a short space of time, with minimal interruptions to the production process.
Further process upgrades that are scheduled include the replacement of wet grinding ball mills by bead mills to improve pigment dispersion characteristics. Technologists are also looking to replace the belt-driers in the final stage with modern boiling-bed or spray-type driers with the aim of increasing the range of available product grades.
Furthermore, the increased financial investment has allowed the company to increase product quality by purchasing better quality Yemenite ores from India, and the use of automotive-grade steel scrap instead of cast iron scrap for the reduction of titanium sulphate solutions, which will stabilise the quality of the product grades.
However, infrastructure development does not stop with mere quality improvements. The company is in discussions with contractors to build a third workshop, which will continue the expansion of plant capacity, which has already increased from 6000 tonnes per month in 2003 the the current capacity of 7000 tonnes per month. It should be noted that to meet the current demand, Titan needs to increase this figure still more to 9000 tonnes per month. |  Figure 3: Production flow chart showing a selection
of quality improvement measures and planned upgrades
By 2007 the capacity will be increased by an additional 50%, or going from 240 tonnes per day up to 360 tonnes per day, with the flexibility to adapt production for all four current grades.
Other issues include power consumption, and to ensure the plant is not completely reliant on external power, a $2.5m steam generator house has been installed, which currently supplies 30% of the plant with power. While this facility still has the flexibility to cope with some small increase in power demand through the aforementioned quality improvements a further power plant will probably be built in 2007. And the good news is that the new facility is saving the company approximately $3000 per day in power costs, which all helps the company to be competitive on the international market.
LABORATORY FACILITIES
The modern laboratory complex is now the Jewel in Titan's crown. The laboratory itself is full of modern analytical equpment, such as the latest spectrophotometers, colorimeters, weathering test chambers and chemical laboratories, purchased from leading suppliers around the world. The Chief Technologist, Vyachaslev Redkin, explained that this facility has enabled the techncial teams to develop new products and upgrade quality because the technicians are now able to take samples of competive grades from leading global suppliers, and accurately compare their properties to Titan products, resulting in the product improvement programme.
And what has all this meant for the staff? Apart from being involved in a number of exciting projects, the company is expanding its internal benefits. Wages were increased by about 25% in 2003, with access to Titan's modern on-site hospital and, as I discovered even has a number of holiday villas by the sea. I wonder how many European companies can offer a holiday apartement to their staff.
Final impressions of the company were of a vibrant atmosphere, superb hospitality and inordinate pride in the achievements made to date.
David Vaughan-Lee, Technical Editor, Coatings Group
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