ASCO: Mr. Heiner, could give us an insight into the company "Achim Heiner Trockeneis"? In addition to CO₂ bottle filling for beverages, you offer dry ice via online shipping as well. How did the busi-ness areas develop and how large are they in relation to each other?
We have been in this business for 14 years now. For the last 2 years we have been running the company exclusively with our own family members. This enables us to supply our customers with fresh dry ice at very short notice and at any time of day or night. Our main business is dry ice delivery for the industry. The online shipping of dry ice and CO₂ filling for private customers is only a smaller business area that we operate on the side.
ASCO: Which are the primary industry sectors you supply?
Our most important industry sectors include plant - and machinery engineering, as well as the automotive sector, research, and the food industry. However, the use of dry ice is so versatile that we do not exclusively focus on individual sectors. We frequently supply customers involved in the restoration of vintage cars. Likewise, we are active in machine cleaning for the plastics industry, where we utilize specialized dry ice techniques. Additionally, we offer solutions for deburring and surface processing needed in various industrial sectors. Furthermore, we also play a crucial role in the transportation of medicines and vaccines by maintaining the cold chain with dry ice even during long transport times.
ASCO: Do you see specific dry ice applications where you recognize currently a particularly high de-mand for your products?
Our customers are primarily interested in two application areas that we can highlight in particular. Firstly, this includes pre- and post-processing of components and parts and components, especially deburring and cleaning. Secondly, we offer solutions for cleaning production machinery and tools. A significant advantage of using dry ice is, that no residues are left behind, such as chemicals or water/moisture, which is a great benefit to numerous industrial sectors.
By using food-grade CO₂ for our dry ice, we can also operate in the food industry. This allows, for example, the cleaning of production machinery or the maintenance of the food cold chain, which is another advantage of our technology.
ASCO: You are now producing dry ice with the “ASCO Pelletizer P28i”. You have replaced this with an old model. What is the advantage of the new pelletizer?
We chose the ASCO "Pelletizer P28i" because we wanted to significantly reduce our production times. Several tons of dry ice leave our production every day, which used to take a lot of time. With the new production machine P28i, we were able to cut the time by approximately half.
ASCO: How did you learn about ASCOs barter deal possibility "old-for-new" and decide to trade in an old ASCO Pelletizer?
We received the offer for a trade-in deal as part of our inquiry from ASCO. After carefully considering whether we wanted to keep our old machines as backups, we decided to accept the offer. This decision was significantly influenced by the advantages that the trade-in deal brought with it. In particular, the price discount provided and the elimination of the disposal of the old machines were significant benefits for us.
ASCO: What are the goals and planned projects for the year 2024?
We aim to continuously expand our customer base and establish new relationships with potential customers. Our goal is to make our services accessible to a broader audience and to disseminate our expertise across various industries. By strategically expanding our customer base, we not only seek to strengthen our market presence but also create the opportunity to convince even more customers of the benefits of our products and services.