A quarter of a century of progress

With products from Omnicon, wind power plants, bridges and many other structures stand on a firm foundation. They enhance the surfaces around the Eiffel Tower, and they turn run-of-the-mill paving blocks into real eye-catchers. In short: they add style, resistance and a longer service life to everything that is made of concrete. Products from Omnicon ensure outstanding quality that speaks for itself. This year the company in Denmark will be a quarter century old: so, it’s time to look back.

Since 1995 ready to go

Thorsten Biallas made his dream come true already at the age of 29 and, in 1995, took the courageous jump to start his own business. A pioneering spirit and the objective of developing and implementing the companies own, creative ideas for concrete products was then and continues until today to be the motor of the Omnicon Group. Products for coloring concrete are to this day part of the classic performance spectrum of Omnicon A/S, headquartered in the Danish city of Sønderbørg. Two years later, the subsidiary Omnicon GmbH was founded in the city of Handewitt near Flensburg, in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein.

 Ever since, Steen Kristensen of Bencon DK has been at his side. His experience in the Danish concrete industry and the regional insights he has gained are indispensable for positioning and development on the Scandinavian market. In the past 25 years, the Omnicon team has always kept moving and was always ready to pick up on innovations and investments. “We learn from our mistakes and constantly develop,” says the entrepreneur. Here, environment consciousness and sustainability play an increasingly larger role.

In 2005, the company’s own production facility for iron oxide was erected in China on a greenfield site, which therefore ensured independence in raw materials supply. “To confirm the leap of faith that our customers have placed in us, we have put an enormous effort into our projects from the very start. This is the only way to manufacture products cost-effectively,” says Thorsten Biallas. Concrete color and admixtures are the basis for constant, reproducible quality and effective production.

Redefining concrete

“The construction material concrete has existed for thousands of years and is indispensable for the construction industry. Outstanding structures are built with it,” says Thorsten Biallas, who adds “Not all concrete is alike. Our objective is to define the construction material anew, again and again, and to make it fit for the future.”

The success of the company is reflected in growing demand and, accordingly, also in production volume and the number of employees. Concrete manufacturers from all over Europe and far beyond use products from Omnicon. Here, consultation and long-time after-sales support provide the strength of the company. “For us, providing our customers with consistent and high-quality support through all processes is part of it all,” enumerates the company’s owner one of the building blocks of his company philosophy. Members of the Omnicon team are permanently on location and train concrete products manufacturers from all over the world in the proper application of the Omnicon portfolio.

In the years that followed, the company’s organizational structures were built up worldwide. With the foundation of subsidiaries and branches (e.g., in Poland, Romania and Norway) fast regional reaction to customer demands is now possible. With its own Chinese company in Shanghai, the company is now able to make optimal use of local networks.

Later, to bundle competence and synergies, the construction materials testing laboratory BKS was added. Here, the company’s own developments are tested and evaluated, problems encountered by customers are analyzed and proposals for optimization worked out.

Based on these experiences and on closeness to customers, the Qavertec GmbH came into being, in 2009, in the course of around five years’ development time. With its internationally patented measuring device Qaver, the company sets a milestone and represents a unique selling point. “With this technology, properties in the concrete that develop only later can be derived already in the fresh concrete,” explains Thorsten Biallas. This enables the customers to prevent claims and to adjust their mix designs.

The headquarters of the Qavertec GmbH is in Flensburg-Handewitt in Northern Germany.

New quality grade system

Another subsidiary since 2011 is OTE GmbH, which focuses on the development and manufacture of surface protection products for concrete products. “We want to durably maintain the aesthetics of concrete products – and that as resource-preserving as possible,” puts the company founder the principle in a nutshell. In this respect, too, concrete can take the edge over other construction materials in terms of value. With OTE GmbH, a quality grade system for classifying coated concrete products could be introduced for the first time – an absolute first in the concrete sector.

Today, the Omnicon Group is a medium-sized company that stands for personality and performance with a vision. Here, direct contact with the customers and identification with the product are the biggest assets of the strong team.

On board is Sönke Hansen, co-shareholder of Qavertec GmbH. Starting out as a student in process engineering, he now heads, in addition, the marketing of Omnicon Group worldwide, focusing on delivery reliability, customer-oriented service and professional consultation.” Our staff is given a high measure of personal responsibility and the right for co-determination,” says the salaried managing director. Flat hierarchies, communicative interaction and the Scandinavian way of being on a first-name basis ensure a productive and people-oriented work climate.