Business field radiation crosslinking: BGS with mixed development

BGS Beta-Gamma-Service GmbH & Co. KG, a specialised service provider for plastics processing for the automotive and electrical industries, among others, looks back on a mixed business year 2022 in the radiation crosslinking business segment: While the company still registered growth in the crosslinking of cables, it recorded a decline in demand for pipes and other crosslinking products. The inadequate supply of raw materials and disrupted supply chains of processors caused problems for the plastics industry as a whole. Crosslinking expert BGS expects a recovery in the second half of 2023 at the earliest.

"Uncertain supply chains and increased energy prices have presented us with challenges in 2022," comments BGS Managing Director Dr Andreas Ostrowicki. "The tight supply of materials and raw materials has led to bottlenecks for many of our customers in the manufacture of their products. This also had effects on us as the contracted networking service provider. Despite the difficult conditions in society as a whole, we still managed to get through the year well," Ostrowicki continues. Thanks to the large field of application of radiation-crosslinked plastics in a wide variety of markets, the business unit was robustly positioned overall, but the individual segments showed very different developments. "Driven by the energy transition and the expansion of e-mobility, we continued to see growth in the crosslinking of cables. On the other hand, pipes for the heating and water supply were noticeably less in demand due to the downturn in the construction industry. This picture is also evident at the start of 2023 and is not expected to change significantly in the coming months."

BGS well equipped for 2023

Despite continued high energy costs, BGS managing director Ostrowicki believes his company is well equipped for the current financial year. "We have made some effort internally to improve our process quality, save energy and further automate the plant technology," Ostrowicki explains. "We also expect to complete our construction project at our headquarters in Wiehl in the middle of the year." With the expansion, the medium-sized company is creating around 1,000 sqm of new space for logistics and production and is investing in the company's research and development work with a new laboratory. R&D activities focus on the development of new crosslinkable materials, the recyclability of radiation crosslinked plastics and the use of radiation crosslinked biopolymers in a wide range of technical applications.