Alanod extends alu business
Alanod extends alu business
The German-based firm Alanod bought the UK aluminum manufacturer Metalloxyd Ano-Coil in March 1999. The UK company has been selling aluminum products under the name Ano-Coil.
According to Alanod, the UK firm will remain a daughter company, but as of September this year, all products will be sold under the brand name Alanod. Alanod is now, by far, the largest producer of reflector material in the world. It is probably the most technically advanced as well: A few years ago, the highly reflective material Miro was presented. Although luminaire manufacturers initially hesitated to incorporate the material in their products, owing to its higher price, the 95-percent reflective material is being used more and more these days. The full production capacity of the vacuum-coating plant in Ennepetal, Germany is now being utilized, and a second, larger plant has been built to cope with the increased demand. According to Alanod, the adoption of T5 lamp technology is one of factors driving this development.
The first generation of Miro uses extremely pure aluminum (close to 100 percent purity) which is anodized. After anodization, the Miro coating is applied. One problem with such pure material is that it is too soft for some applications. At the Hannover fair in 1998, a second generation of Miro was presented, called Miro L. This material allows harder and less pure types of aluminum to be used, while maintaining the 95-percent reflectivity. According to Alanod, with the new Miro coating other types of surface treatments can be made, creating surfaces with a variety of optical properties. The two generations of materials will be sold side by side.
However, since less pure aluminum can be used in the production of the new material, it is fair to assume that production should be cheaper in the long run. When asked about this possibility, Alanod had no comment.