Wanit Fulgurit

Wanit Fulgurit limited company located in Heidelberg/Leimen, was founded in April 2007.

As the European export organisation of the worldwide Belgian Etex Group, Wanit Fulgurit Ltd. is responsible for the area of East and Southern Europe. The Etex Group is a worldwide operating industrial holding company in the building materials market consisting of more than 90 sister companies and about 14,000 employees.

The main role of Wanit Fulgurit is the distribution of roofing, façade and interior products. The company works closely with the market leaders of fibre cement, cement bonded particle boards, concrete and clay tiles and we also offer high quality products in each of the three product groups mentioned above. Furthermore our production is certified according to the TÜV ISO 9001 regulations. As well as having a distribution role, Wanit Fulgurit is also in charge of developing new markets in East and Southern Europe.

These activities provide Etex Group the opportunity, to establish new local distribution companies and production facilities.

100 years of tradition

While Etex Group today has branches in 39 countries across all the continents, the Etex Group's origins lie in Belgium.

Origin

In 1900, the Austrian industrialist Ludwig Hatschek developed a new technology in which cement is reinforced with fibres. In 1905 Alphonse Emsens acquired the licence to exploit this new technique in Belgium, and set up a factory in Haren – the birth of Eternit in Belgium.

The first fibre cement boards and slates were produced one year later, and when the first fibre cement corrugated sheets were subsequently brought to market it gave rise to a new trend in building.

Expansion

Between the wars Alphonse's sons, André and Jean, worked to expand their industrial enterprise internationally; branches were set up in Europe and Latin America, and the new production unit at Kapelle-op-den-Bos was provided with a laboratory.

The need for new buildings in Europe after the Second World War brought a revival for the construction sector. Eternit also profited from this stimulus, and the results included the establishment of its first factories in Africa and Asia.

Diversification

The growing economic opportunities from the 1950s on saw the start of a period of product diversification for the Group, both through organic growth and through takeovers.

From 1951, the Group became active in vinyl floor coverings; in 1957, the production and sale of plasterboard started; from 1969, systems for passive fire protection were put on the market. And that growth continued steadily in the following years. As from 1972, roofing materials were supplemented with a range of concrete tiles; from 1985, the production of ceramic tiles for floors and walls started up in Latin America; in 1987, the Group took over a natural stone quarry in Belgium; from 1988, clay tiles also became part of the product range; the Group had been active in the plastics sector since 1978, but this activity was given a new boost by the takeover of the French company Etex in 1994.

A new name

In the mid-1990s, the management decided that the Group's constantly changing size and composition made it necessary to look for a new name that would better reflect the Group's identity. And so the Eternit Group was rebaptized as Etex Group in 1995.

Reinforcement and reorganisation of the core activities

At the end of the 1990s, Etex Group expanded again with the takeover of Marley, a UK building materials manufacturer with activities in a number of countries. In 2001 Etex Group announced the takeover of the Pipe Systems Division of Glynwed, a British group, resulting in the creation of a worldwide market leader in plastic pipe systems.

The rapid growth of the business leads to the formation of two important divisions, building materials and plastics, both of them having a significant critical mass and a focused industrial profile.

On 18 June 2003, the General Meeting of the Shareholders approves the split of the Group into two separate legal entities: Etex Group SA retaining all the roofs & boards as well as the floors and walls activities and Aliaxis SA regrouping the activities in plastics for the plumbing sector.

Environment - Our guarantees for the future

Appropriate environmental management in our factories

Consciousness of the importance of proper environmental management has long formed part of the day-to-day policy of the companies in the Etex Group. This concept is extremely important for the management of the production centres.

In line with this environmental protection, which is based on continuous improvement, a large number of the companies in the Group have obtained ISO 9000, ISO 14001 or equivalent standards. Some subsidiaries have gone a step further by combining quality, environment and safety in a single environmental management system. It remains a major objective for Etex Group to bring all the companies up to a standard such as ISO 14001 or equivalent.

Analysis of the environmental impact in product development

Environmental aspects are also taken into account in the development of new products. Various research programmes therefore have it as their goal to define the environmental profile of our products.

Other projects are directed towards research into the full life cycle of the product. On this basis, Etex Group aims to limit the use of natural sources and promote the recycling of products that are to be replaced.

These research programmes fit perfectly into the concept of sustainable construction that combines economic and social objectives with respect for the environment.

Sustainable development

A Sustainable Development working party with people from different departments - Research, Environment, Marketing and Production - investigates how the impact of our products on the environment can be reduced.

The Group is convinced that an open attitude is extremely important in sustainable development and can make a contribution to society, both ethically and financially. In addition, it helps to create a climate of trust among customers, shareholders, employees and the whole society that benefits from it.