As a socially responsible, future-oriented company, Recticel has always attached considerable importance to technological innovation. The Group will continue to promote this policy and attitude consistently and coherently in the future. Innovative ideas, technological improvements and new product developments are now the keys to sustainable progress, continuity and added value.

Customers and other stakeholders inevitably experience both ongoing and occasional needs at various levels, for which it is not always possible to give a ready-made answer immediately. With its constant concern to serve its customers with the best products and most attentive service, the Group has for many years run its own Research and Development Centre (the IDC – International Development Centre). Not only are concrete responses provided to ad hoc inquiries, but also solutions are drawn up essentially to future challenges and developments. Although the combination of environmental concerns, profitability targets and the commercial pressure of the markets represent a major challenge for the Group, Recticel views these phenomena more as structural opportunities. An example of this is the ever greater call to be able to step up the offer of new, more sustainable and lighter materials and products, which then possibly also integrate various functionalities with one another.

In the organisation of the research and development activities, it has appeared that centralised research activities are the best guarantee to capitalise on the specified needs more cost-efficiently and flexibly. Naturally, a great deal of attention is concentrated first and foremost on the development of new products with specific functionalities. However, alongside this, the IDCalso focuses on the improvement of existing products and the further optimisation of existing production processes. Regarding the latter, endeavours are made to reduce the general consumption of raw materials and the volume of residual products and to enhance the efficiency of the production flows.
The IDC has a budget for this, which it distributes judiciously among the various business lines. Although the Automotive business line still accounts for the lion’s share of the budget, the distribution among the various business lines is becoming far more even.

The various joint ventures can also call on the expertise of the Research and Development team. This creates a win-win situation. For the joint ventures, this means that recourse can be had more cheaply to valuable research and development services. On the other hand, as a result of the greater critical mass, the operational resources assigned can be used more efficiently. By providing access for all levels of the Group to the specialists of the Research and Development team, all communication channels with the various markets remain fully open, which is a must for good market-driven development. Just as in other fields, pooling know-how will not only increase efficiency, but at the same time speed up developments and boost creativity.

In its endeavours also to make a contribution to the sustainability of business management, the Research and Development team also pay considerable attention to clean technology and ecologically sound products and production methods. In this way, Research and Development contributes to the Group’s unique industrial position and to the welfare of all.

Applications have been made for 7 new patents during the past year and specifically work was carried out and/or significant advances were made regarding the following projects, among others:

Further improvement of biofoams, which consist of an ever larger percentage of basic raw materials from renewable sources, with it also being possible to use these foam types in previously less accessible fields of application (including foam for bra cups, technical foams for watertight and airtight seals, etc.).
Development of various types of technical foams for a very wide variety of applications, such as:
PureFoams (biofoams).
Polyurethane foam based on MDI isocyanates, which provides flexible foam with a more rigid or more sturdy structure.
A new type of vibration-absorbing foam for use in heavy-duty conditions (e.g. under railway lines, heavy machinery, etc.).
New very fine-celled and opened-celled reticulated Bulpren®foam for applications in non-damp environments, etc.
Approval received from a number of car manufacturers for the new generation of Colo-Fast® skins, known as Colosense®. These Colosense® materials have the advantage over their predecessors of better touch and feel (haptic) properties, as well as greater flexibility.
Research into further optimisation of the production of dashboard and door panel skins in the Colo-Fast® spray process, with a view to avoiding a number of ‘lost’ pieces of skin having to be punched out at a later stage.
Research into further improvements in the sensation of foam and keeping end-foam clean.
Development of a new generation of Colo-Fast®materials with still fewer emissions of volatile compounds.

Corporate Programme

The Corporate Programme, started in 2006, is based on the principle that certain new developments must be started from broad generation and evaluation of ideas and end with generic platform projects as a breeding ground for the existing or for new business environments.

This approach entails new building blocks being created which must then lead to specific products or processes.

Feasibility studies are carried out very systematically, in which the provisional ideas and findings are first tested for feasibility before turning them into large(r) projects.

In the past year, a number of interesting platform projects were in the pipeline. Although it did not prove possible to create any end products for commercial launch, good progress was made.

Promising results were found for specific absorption and acoustic applications. Interesting findings were also recorded in the field of lightweight materials. Furthermore, the first steps were taken in a new series of functional polyurethane products which have an active chemical function for a number of applications. Interesting avenues for exploration were also developed in the search for combinations of polyurethane with other materials, chiefly in an open innovation model with external development partners. In 2009, the search for new materials is being stepped up.