Sustainable business 2022
In 2021, Messer Group GmbH was converted into a partnership limited by shares (KGaA) and has since been trading as Messer SE & Co. KGaA. Through the legal form of the KGaA, we are aligning Messer for the future as a globally positioned group of companies with expanded opportunities to act and shape the future. The control and influence of the shareholder family will thus continue to be ensured. With the new legal form, the family's tax and financial objectives can be achieved with even greater flexibility in the future.
At the end of May 2023, an agreement was concluded with the previous minority owner, CVC Capital Partners Fund VII. The aim is to become the sole owner of the Messer Industries joint venture. It comprises Messer's companies in North and South America as well as Western Europe. With the share acquisition, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2023, Messer is opening a new chapter in its 125-year corporate history. The plan is to bring all of Messer's global activities together under one roof in order to implement a sustainable growth strategy as an integrated gas specialist in the coming years. At the same time, after more than four years, the successful cooperation between Messer and CVC, which was designed to be temporary from the outset, will come to an end.
In parallel, Messer is bringing in GIC, a global institutional investor, as a partner to become Messer's long-term minority shareholder. The proceeds from this investment will be used to finance the acquisition of shares in Messer Industries. As a long-term investor with many years of experience working with family businesses around the world, GIC supports the Messer family's strategy for sustainable, profitable growth.
Messer sees considerable growth potential worldwide in the coming years. In addition, the company is aiming for even greater diversification of its product range with a focus on particularly promising sectors or through partnerships in the wake of the green energy revolution. With its strategic initiatives, Messer expects significant increases in sales and earnings in the coming years and sees good opportunities to more than double its business volume by the end of the decade. Messer SE & Co. KGaA's regional economic focus is on Eastern Europe and Asia. The Asian region represents the world's largest industrial gases market with the highest growth rates. Messer Industries has regional and product-specific businesses in North and South America as well as Western Europe. They are all united by a focus on safety, customer orientation and profitable growth. Appropriate remuneration for our products is to be achieved through a team culture focused on efficiency, success and motivation, high employee and customer satisfaction, and innovation.
Investment projects form an important basis for sustainable growth in the long-term industrial gases sector. In 2022, Messer started or completed the following exemplary projects.
More capacity for specialty gases
In Lenzburg, Switzerland, Messer 2022's specialty gases department moved into new premises and was outfitted with new equipment. This included a separate air-conditioned weighing room as well as new facilities for the parallel filling of several cylinders. The specialty gases plant in Switzerland is accredited to EN ISO 17034 and, therefore, meets the requirements for the production of certified reference materials.
In Pančevo, Serbia, a completely new specialty gases plant was put into operation. There, a wide range of high-purity gases, standard mixtures and individual gas mixtures can be produced from a portfolio of over 70 components, including hydrocarbon mixtures in the gas and liquid phases.
Messer operates four further specialty gas plants in Zwijndrecht, Belgium, Mitry-Mory, France, Gumpoldskirchen, Austria and Budapest, Hungary. This decentralized production ensures that customers in the various markets can be served quickly. Four specialty gas plants are also accredited as calibration laboratories in accordance with EN ISO/IEC 17025. Therefore, Messer can offer comprehensive expertise and certified quality standards in this field.
USA: Foundation stone laid for solar-powered production plant for air gases
In 2022, Messer laid the foundation stone for the construction of a new air separation plant in McGregor, Texas, USA, costing around 50 million US dollars. From mid-2024, the plant will essentially be supplied with energy from an on-site solar farm during the day to produce oxygen and nitrogen. It is Messer's first air separation plant to meet its energy needs using an on-site renewable energy source. The new plant, which will house the LTA, is expected to spur economic growth in Central Texas and support emerging industries.
Spain: Investment in one of the largest air separators in Europe
Messer invested more than 50 million euros in the construction of a new air separation plant (LTA) in the chemical park of Tarragona, Spain. In September 2022, the project entered its final phase, which included the construction of the plant's centerpiece: the "Cold Box", a metal structure that houses the distillation columns and the main equipment of this process. With a daily production of 2,500 tons of oxygen, nitrogen and argon, the new air separation plant is one of the largest and most modern of its kind in Europe.
France: CO₂ capacities increased
In October 2022, Messer in France opened a new CO2 recovery plant in Lacq in the southwest of France. This second CO2 purification and liquefaction plant has a capacity of 60,000 tons per year. The CO₂ recovered in Lacq is a by-product of the production of bioethanol from corn. This €11.3 million investment in the construction of the new CO2 recovery plant will enable Messer to further differentiate its CO2 procurement and rely less on traditional, energy-intensive CO2 sources, such as ammonia production. With the additional production capacity, Messer further secures the long-term and reliable CO2 supply for its customers in France and Spain.
Belgium: CO₂ recovery in the port of Ghent
GreenCO2, ein Joint Venture zwischen Messer in Benelux, der Bioraffinerie Alco Bio Fuel und der IJsfabriek Strombeek, hat in Gent, Belgien, eine zweite CO2-Rückgewinnungsanlage in Betrieb genommen. Zusammen mit der ersten Anlage, die bereits in Betrieb ist, sollen jährlich 160.000 Tonnen Kohlendioxid zurückgewonnen werden – 60 Prozent mehr als zuvor. Das biogene Kohlendioxid entsteht bei der Herstellung von Ethanol aus Biomasse. Statt wie sonst direkt in die Atmosphäre zu gelangen, wird es in den beiden Rückgewinnungsanlagen aufgefangen und für CO2-Anwendungen zur Verfügung gestellt.
Austria: Investment in security of supply and climate protection
Messer errichtete auf dem Gelände der Donau Chemie in Landeck, Österreich, eine Anlage zur Rückgewinnung von CO2 aus Rauchgas. Das Rauchgas entsteht bei der Produktion der Grundchemikalie Kalziumkarbid und enthält einen sehr hohen Anteil Kohlendioxid. Mit der CO2- Rückgewinnung wird es aus der Abluft gewonnen und kann für weitere Anwendungen, beispielsweise in der Getränkeindustrie, genutzt werden. Auch Entfernungen spielen bei der Versorgung mit Kohlendioxid eine wichtige Rolle: Je näher Rückgewinnung und Verwendung beieinanderliegen, desto weniger Transportkilometer müssen bewältigt werden. Das senkt nicht nur die die Gesamtkosten, sondern verkleinert auch den CO2-Fußabdruck: Durch die neue CO2- Rückgewinnung können pro Jahr rund eine Million LKW-Kilometer und die entsprechende Menge Abgase eingespart werden. Zugleich wird die CO2-Produktions- und Versorgungssicherheit in der Alpenregion erhöht.
Slovakia: Argon from residual gas
Messer installierte beim Chemieunternehmen Duslo in Šaľa, Slowakei, eine Anlage zur Argongewinnung. Hierbei handelt es sich um die erste Anlage dieser Art bei Messer. Argon ist in den Restgasen enthalten, die bei der Ammoniaksynthese anfallen. Dazu gehören auch Methan, Stickstoff und Synthesegas, ein Gemisch aus Stickstoff und Wasserstoff. Wie das Argon gewinnt die neue Anlage auch diese Gase in der vorgegebenen Qualität zurück und führt sie wieder dem Prozess zu. Durch die Gewinnung hochwertigen Argons in der Slowakei erhöht Messer die Versorgungssicherheit seiner regionalen Kundschaft. Zudem können durch die kurzen Wege zwischen Rückgewinnung und Verwendung Lkw-Transporte und damit verbundene Emissionen von 1,4 Tonnen CO2 täglich eingespart werden.
China: Messer supports further growth
Messer nahm auf dem Gelände von Hunan Yuneng New Energy Battery Materials Co., Ltd. (Yuneng) in Xiangtan, Provinz Hunan, China, einen neu errichteten Generator in Betrieb. Über die ferngesteuerte On-Site-Anlage versorgt Messer seinen Großkunden mit Stickstoff. Yuneng ist Chinas führender Hersteller von Lithium-Eisen-Phosphat (LFP), dem Kathodenmaterial für Lithium-Ionen-Batterien. In einem neuen LFP-Werk von Yuneng in Anning, Provinz Yunnan, errichte Messer einen weiteren Stickstoff-Generator. Die Investitionen festigen die Marktposition von Messer in China und unterstreichen die Reputation von Messer als zuverlässiger und sicherer Anbieter von Industrie-, Medizin- und Spezialgasen.
Many Messer companies have strategically and technically realigned their IT infrastructure, continued their digitization strategies and already achieved important milestones.
Based on modern, globally established standards, the new standardized and flexibly scalable IT structure is an essential prerequisite for improved business processes, for greater efficiency and for more flexible and agile working.
Messer also strengthened its employees' awareness of cybercrime and phishing attacks, in particular through training and regular internal communication.
Demand-driven and sustainable supply chains
Messer offers customers with a correspondingly large gas demand storage tanks for rent, which are equipped with level measuring devices and a SIM card: once a day, the current fill level is automatically transmitted to Messer via the mobile network. From the history of the fill level data, logistics knows the customer's consumption profile, which can be evaluated for optimized supply. If the level in the tank falls below a minimum quantity defined for each individual customer, the route planning system automatically schedules a subsequent delivery.
The route planning itself is optimized with the help of software. It ensures that the tanker truck approaches the various delivery points along the shortest possible route and with the most efficient distribution of the transported gas.
The gas supply is even more direct and fully automated by on-site plant, from which the gases flow by pipeline to the customer. There, production follows the actual purchase quantity virtually every minute; transporters by truck and the associated emissions are completely eliminated.
Automated control optimizes energy efficiency of air separation
The extraction of industrial gases from the air is energy intensive. In order to save energy and make even better use of it, Messer is now using specially adapted control systems in its air separation plants (LTA). They make it possible to adjust the production of gases promptly to the actual needs of customers, so that neither too little nor too much product is produced. Excess air gases could only be blown off, which would mean that the energy used would be lost unused.
Fluctuations in customer demand are often short-lived and the corresponding adjustment of the LTA is complex. In addition to the compressor output, which is particularly important for energy consumption, a good dozen other parameters must be adjusted so that the plant runs smoothly and delivers the desired gas quality. Optimizing all this every minute is hardly possible by manual control. Only with a software-supported automated control system is it possible to optimally combine demand-oriented product supply and the best possible energy utilization.
In order to be able to objectively determine Messer's current status quo with regard to sustainability and climate protection in comparison with other companies, and to identify specific potential for optimization, Messer had itself independently assessed: firstly, as part of a "Sustainability Performance Overview" by EcoVadis, and secondly by the "CDP Score Report - Climate Change 2022".
EcoVadis “Sustainability Performance Overview”
EcoVadis is the world’s largest provider of sustainability ratings for companies. In the “Sustainability Performance Overview” published on August 18, 2022, Messer was among the top 33 percent of companies rated. In terms of “Work and Human Rights”, Messer scored 70/100, which well above the global average of 50.3. This rating by EcoVadis is valid until August 18, 2023.
„CDP Score Report - Climate Change 2022”
“The “CDP Score Report – Climate Change 2022” facilitates a classification of companies with regard to environmental and climate protection – in comparison with other companies in their industry. In 2022, Messer scored “C“ (= Taking coordinated action on climate issues). CDP regularly raises the bar for what qualifies as environmental leadership. With its current rating, Messer is ahead of or at the same level as 59 percent of companies whose reports to CDP scored between C and D-. In addition, Messer is also ahead of the majority of companies that do not yet disclose their data.
Personal commitment of the owner
Stefan Messer is a member of the General Assembly as well as Chairman of the Foreign Trade Committee of the Frankfurt am Main Chamber of Industry and Commerce. He is also an honorary senator of Darmstadt Technical University and Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Department of Economics and the Board of Trustees of the China Institute at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the German-Swiss Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Advisory Board of Wirtschaftsinitiative FrankfurtRheinMain e.V., a member of the Advisory Board of Mainova AG, a member of the Hesse Regional Advisory Board of Commerzbank AG, a member of the State Advisory Board of HDI Gerling and a member of the Board of the Friends of the German-Vietnamese University. Since January 2009, Stefan Messer has been Honorary Consul of the Republic of Slovenia for the consular district of Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland. He is active within the association ASU - Die Familienunternehmer. He is also a member of the presidium and board of the East Asian Association (OAV) and chairman of the country committee Thailand.
Business involvement in associations
Messer SE & Co. KGaA is a member of the European Industrial Gases Association (EIGA). The EIGA, based in Brussels, represents almost all companies throughout Europe that produce and distribute gases for technical, medical and food applications. The focus is on achieving the highest possible safety and environmental protection standards in the production, transport and use of gases. Messer is also a member of the International Oxygen Manufacturers Association (IOMA). Messer employees are represented on all the management committees of these two gas associations as well as in the East Committee of German Industry, the East European Association of German Business and the East Asian Association.
Messer SE & Co. KGaA is a member of the German Welding Society (DVS e.V.). In DVS, a technical-scientific and non-profit association based in Düsseldorf, Messer employees are involved in specialist committees, supervise research projects and maintain contact with technologically demanding specialist circles.
Our subsidiaries are active locally in various industry associations. Messer in America is a member of the following associations, among others: American Chemistry Council (ACC), Compressed Gas Association (CGA), Chemistry Council of New Jersey (CCNJ), Texas Chemical Council (TCC), California Large Energy Consumer Association (CLECA), Indiana Energy Consumers, West Virginia Large Energy User Group, West Virginia Manufacturing Association, Pennsylvania Energy Consumers Association and Ohio Energy Group.