Collaboration is a word often bandied around in the resource recovery industry when it comes to working with those at the coalface of the industry, or even state governments coming to consensus about such things as landfill levies. In the case of Orez and Bianna Recycling, it’s two companies with different skill sets that have become an ideal fit to service the industry.
Spain-based Bianna is a specialist at producing plant and machinery for waste and resource recovery entities with more than 30 years of experience, while Australian based Orez – a division of CEA – is the brains trust when it comes to offering waste and resource recovery solutions to the local industry.
How did two companies from opposite sides of the world come together as partners?
As well as Spain, Bianna has offices in Turkey, France, Portugal, Mexico and Brazil. To expand, the company knows it must use expertise on the ground in those countries when it comes to local compliance laws. Bianna’s area manager for Europe, Asia and Oceania, Daniel Welsch, said that, given those parameters, there are a lot of opportunities in Australia for the company. Orez was a good fit for what Bianna wants to achieve. They ticked a lot of boxes.
“The size of Orez’s company group, CEA, was one reason, it’s in fact bigger than us,” said Welsch. “It’s good to have a healthy sized company group with whom we can have a long-term relationship. Then, there is also the number and location of their sites across Australia, which is important so that back-up support and after sales service are available on demand. Then there is the capability and capacity of Orez to stock a lot of materials and spare parts. Another good aspect is their presence in the sector, and their group represents other strong brands. The Orez team is well known in its field in Australia and New Zealand and has completed several successful projects in short succession.”
Welsch is not bothered by the distance between the countries. With modern technology it is now possible to have a working relationship that is beneficial to both parties. With technology such as Teams and Zoom connectivity, the ability to have real-time conversations and problem solve make the tyranny of distance a moot point. The Australian market had been in Bianna’s sights for some time.
“One of the reasons we decided to go to Australia is because, one year before COVID, it appeared the new waste regulations meant that Australia was trying to be greener and not landfill everything,” he said. “That is what interested us most. That is similar to how we feel about waste streams.”
From Orez’s point of view, when Bianna approached them about such a partnership, it didn’t take long for them to see what a good fit they were, according to Sean Galdermans, general manager at Orez. Welsch is the main contact when dealing with Bianna, and it’s a really good fit.
“Bianna has got a lot of knowledgeable people,” Galdermans said. “Daniel’s the right filter because he works so broadly across the world, and he knows exactly what’s required in each country.”
For his part, Welsch sees it similarly from his company’s point of view. He says that the type of waste streams it wants to tackle differ from country to country, but Australia has two areas that interest Bianna the most.
“The first one is the industrial waste. Obviously, there’s a lot of industrial waste that needs removing,” he said. “And related to industrial waste is landfill diversion. Australia has a lot of land, and it is normal in places where you have a lot of land that you find places to landfill. However, it is not sustainable. So, the government and industry began to think about landfill diversion. In Australia you still have huge amounts of industrial waste, organic waste and municipal solid waste, which is basically just landfilled. We can do lots of other things instead of landfilling.”
Welsch sees Bianna as complementing Orez to help find the perfect solution for customers. And not only to find a solution, but also manufacture machinery, and help with the transportation and supply of plant and machinery. It also wants to be there at the commissioning stage and when handing over the keys of the facility to the customer.
“The idea is to collaborate with both Orez and the customer, and to give a customer a proper solution for a long-term project,” he said.
For Galdermans, there are a lot of parts to the equation that click. He sees it as an organic match, as well as good work ethic, commitment and understanding of the types of projects both companies want to bring to fruition.
“To that extent, they have a slightly better understanding of the Australian market than some others, because they are happy to work under a licence model,” he said. “They’re happy to follow Orez’ guidance and prepare the drawings and designs for us to fabricate locally, or depending on the project, they can still fabricate it themselves and send it to us in shipping containers. They’ve got a good understanding of that supply chain and where Bianna can best add value to these projects.
“That’s where Bianna excels, in the understanding of the real value out of their products, brand and experience, and how to bring it to Australia cost effectively.”
And Orez? What are some of the key elements they bring to the partnership? Galdermans believes that a lot of companies have got too many brands and don’t know how to promote and integrate them properly. He believes one of Orez’s greatest assets is its ability to focus on how to bring projects to fruition.
“It’s almost like a race to how many brands can you have on your website,” he said. “What I think is crucial is how do you bring these projects to market. And how do you support them. With us, the design, technology integration, project management and delivery is all in house. We pride ourselves in applying our in-house design experience to bring together various equipment and technology packages seamlessly, to provide the most cost-effective and tailored solution which delivers the desired outcome to the customer. For example, we can couple Bianna with an organics technology partner to meet our customer requirements.”
One aspect that Galdermans is keen to make clear, is that the relationship is also about bringing value to Orez customers by making available leading European equipment and technologies that would otherwise be unavailable or difficult to access in Australia.
“Especially given the experience Bianna have in this space,” he said. “There’s no supplier here that would have as much experience with industrial waste as Bianna.”