Customer satisfaction
As a result of intensified communications the current integration of key customers in all customer industries was completed, thus closing the gap between theory and practice in the interest of more rapid and profound product development. This enables RHI to respond even faster to trends in product development, to further improve the knowledge of ceramics and wear-specific mechanisms and processes in the interaction between refractories and their area of application.

Exemplary measures:

• Development of solutions for all our customer industries, which are relevant to both refractory products and processes.

• Development of new processing machinery and easy-to-process lining methods in the triangle of user-material-machine, which is relevant to industrial safety.

• Thermodynamic, thermophysical, chemothermal and fluid dynamic modeling and simulation methods to support the product development process and demonstrate the performance of our products in customer applications.

New raw materials
The high volatility of raw material costs makes the strengthening of the raw material supply through exploitation of new raw material sources and development of new, innovative production processes mandatory. Consequently, RHI continuously improves its processes to record, recycle and refine secondary raw materials, both those produced in the RHI group as well as those from customers from around the globe.

Exemplary measures:

• Reuse of scrap materials after their use in operations.
• Optimization of recycling processes.

• Development of trend-setting natural and synthetic raw materials in accordance with the corporate strategy of backward integration.

Environmental and energy effiency
RHI is committed to a sustainable environmental and energy policy, which is reflected in a series of measures aiming at an efficient use of energy and consistent avoidance of technologies and product components, which are problematic or questionable from an ecological point of view. The long-term goal is the minimization of overall energy consumption, a lowered dependence on fossile fuels in compliance with the Kyoto Protocol and a reduced impact of increasing energy costs in the future.

Exemplary measures:

• Optimization of kiln operations through real-time process monitoring to minimize the output of NO_x and CO₂.

• Improved recovery of heat generated during manufacturing.

• Development of non-toxic synthetic carbon binders to replace tar pitch.

• Complete implementation of REACH – Regulation of Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and Restriction of Chemicals.