success to the joint-venture between AFR and Saint-Gobain

It is a milestone for the development of Anhui Sino-Refractory Technology Co.,Ltd. On March 07,2022, it was witnessed that a joint-venture company between AFR and Saint-Gobain was contracted and estabished. Mr.Wei Fude, general manager of AFR, and Mr.Ludovic Weber, CEO of APAC region of Saint-Gobain signed the contract on behalf of each side, and made the speech on the ceremony. ( see the following speech translation )

From Mr.Ludovic Weber:

Dear leaders,

I am extremely happy to be with you today; today is an important date for Saint-Gobain in China as we are welcoming new friends in Saint-Gobain family, and we are making new friends in a new city for SG, Bengbu.

First I would like to thank all of you,leaders from Bengbu municipality, teams from AFR,colleagues from Saint-Gobain, for making this great achievement possible.

Saint-Gobain is French Fortune 500 company, and our ambition is to be the worldwide leader in light and sustainable construction. We have been operating in China for more than 35 years, and today we have around 50 plants in China with more than 8000 employees all around China

We are offering a wide range of solutions to make construction more sustainable, to make mobility more sustainable, and to make industry more sustainable. Today, with the acquisition of Anhui Sino Refractory technology, we are setting a milestone for our strategy in China.Together with AFR, Saint-Gobain will boost its ability to offer complete solution for Zircon based refractories, to help our customer reach better performance, better sustainability, in fast growing markets such as Solar panels, electronic glasses or other speciality glasses.

Today is a milestone for Saint-Gobain also because we are setting foot in a new city, Bengbu.Saint-Gobain was created by King of France Louis 14th to manufacture the glasses of the"chateau de Versailles"in 1665;it is our great honor and pleasure,357 years later, to set a base in Bengbu which is the heart of China glass industry. I am confident we will work very well with our new friends from Bengbu municipality and will develop many other ideas for cooperation

l look forward to working with you all, and I wish again a warm welcome to Mr Wei and whole AFR team in SG family

Thank you ！

From Mr.Wei Fude:

My distinguished party secretary Mr.Huang & mayor Mr.Cao,

My honorable president Mr. Weber & deputy president Mr.Peiming,

My respectful leaders and guests,

Good afternoon !

First, thanks for all the leaders, gusts and the staff representatives to attend the signing ceremony of joint-venture between AFR and Saint-Gobain !

It’s well known that the Saint-Gobain has been rewarded as the “long life enterprise”. The company was found in 1665 and till now, has a history of 356 years.

The fused AZS materials are the cornerstones to the world’s high temperature industry. The products are wildly used in the industry fields of steel and iron,non-ferrous, building materials, domestic glass,pharmaceutical glass, electronics and Aerospace. 

The history of fused AZS materials can be traced to the year of 1942, when the American company “Corhart” began to research and produce it. In 1980s’, our country spent 70 million US dollar to introduce the advanced production line of fused AZS to the Shenyang Refractory Plant, from the American company “C-E”. In 2016, Anhui Sino-Refractory Technology Co.,Ltd was registered and established. By the purchasing of high quality assets from Shenyang Refractory, the AFR began to fit into the international advanced technology, planned and constructed the 15 thousand metric ton capacity of production line for the zircon based new materials, according to the international standards. AFR’s products, the fused corundum block and α-alumina block, are the key materials to the high level industry kilns and furnaces. The product’s quality has been well appraised by customers.

The signing cooperation between AFR and Saint-Gobain is intended to improve the investments from both sides. The newly increased production capability will reach to 20000MT. By alliance between giants, complementary to each other, engergization of brand deepening, business collaborating, marketing development, integration of superior resources all around and extensively, we wish the introducing of the high level customer ecological resources and the advanced management philosophy into AFR and make it the leading factory in the global professional industry, pouring more energy into the future development and providing outstanding services to the global high level customers through the cooperation between the two sides.

Anhui Sino-Refractory Technology Co.,Ltd is an attracted investment project by Bengbu municipal authorities. Thanks for the sound business environment of these 5 years, provided by the Bengbu municipal party committee and government, and the Hi-Tech zone management committee, which make me turn into a new Bengbu citizen from a outlander. Hereby, please allow me, on the behalf of all the attracted investment company, to say thank you, to Bengbu’s municipal leading body, you’ve done greatly !

“Man’s road as the iron, now moving more from scratch” ! All the AFR’s family members are well prepared to face more challenges and developments before the new historical opportunity. We will make us enlarged and strengthened on the racing track of high temperature materials, and create value to pay back share holders and be kind to employees. We will actively undertake the social responsibility and advertise Bengbu at our most. We will contribute our most to the construction of “innovative city”, “the capital of materials”, and the “ World production center of silica based materials”, to the construction projects of “ three regions, two centers and one district”.

“ All things are nourished together without their injuring on another” ! The world is so large, let’s move forward together to meet the coming future !

At last, wish a complete success to the signing ceremony, and wish all the leaders and guests good health and working happily. Thank you for all.