News

Martin J Olesen has been an Alfix employee since May 2018, and as from November 2019 he has worked as stores manager at the factory in Kolding. We have asked him about his working day, and we have particularly talked about elements that characterize a remarkably good day at work according to Martin.

-Initially, could you give a brief description of your department?
My department, being the picking stock, counts in all 6 employees. We are about to employ yet another stock worker as order volumes increase.

-Which tasks are you in charge of as stock manager?
My duty is to manage and assign tasks, activate orders and see to it that our stocks tally. I work in close co-operation with the orders office as to when orders are ready for collection or shipment – or in case our customers have special requirements. We always do our very best to meet the requests of our customers.

-Could you highlight other of your functions?
Together, we ensure that all picking locations are filled; we pick items or products, stock pallets, load trucks and move pallets between the various buildings on the plant premises.

How would you describe a particularly good day at work?
That would be a busy day with plenty of orders where we manage to meet every requirement of every customer - within working hours.

Martin is 32 years old, lives in Kolding with his girl friend and their two little girls. In his spare time he focuses on family, friends and sports.

The 2 Alfix levelling compounds Alfix PlaneMix 20 and Alfix PlaneMix 50 proudly celebrate their 20th birthday

With the message:” The same outstanding properties – every time”, Alfix introduced two high-quality levelling compounds for straightening and levelling subfloors – the optimal products for the installation of ceramic tiles and other top floorings.

In the following, head of R&D, Frank Pingel, elaborates on the background to expand the range of products, which at the beginning of the new millennium mainly consisted of tanking products, tile adhesives and grouts:

” During the late 90’s, we observed a steadily climbing demand for self-levelling compounds from the tile fixers. A growing focus on even and smooth subfloors combined with a tendency towards large-sized tiles required thorough levelling of floors prior to tile fixing and other floorings. A growing demand for levelling compounds lead our owner and managing director, Torben C. Toft, to ask us at the lab whether we would be able to develop and produce fast-setting self-levelling and smoothing compounds. And the answer was: “Yes”, obviously. After intense product development, the two first levelling compounds PlaneMix 20 and PlaneMix 50 saw the light of the day in 2001”.

The products have become a natural part of the Scandinavian building trade, and since 2001 they have levelled approx. 5,000,000m² subfloors in total. And today, PlaneMix 20 and 50 are still among the best-selling products in the PlaneMix-range, which now counts a number of highly-specialized screeding mortars and levelling compounds. For more details read here!

Design floors
Recent years have seen a rise in demand for designer floors, also known as New Yorker floors or industrial looking floors – for domestic and industrial use as well as shop fitting.

Designer floors are seamless cement-based floors without the need for any actual top-flooring. The floors are made with a cement-based levelling compound, such as PlaneMix 20 or PlaneMix 50, and finished with the surface treatment Alfix TopCoat Design.

With the construction of an attractive new build in Løkken, situated on the west coast of North Jutland, Alfix has gained another fine reference involving the use of Alfix DuraTherm facade solution.

Alfix DuraTherm – Mineral wool is a simplified, user-friendly Danish facade insulation system for both new builds and refurbishment. Here, the facade is covered with mineral wool insulation plates and subsequently applied with a thoroughly-tested and approved Danish system of products for facade rendering.

This project involves a.o. the products Alfix DuraPuds 830 (flexible facade adhesive), Alfix DuraPuds 810 (flexible fibre-reinforced render) and as finish Alfix DuraPuds 804 (flexible thin-coat finishing mortar) in the colour cement-white.

Tile fixer Michael Thomsen, owner of the company Murer Michael in Hirtshals, has been contractor on the project and gives the following statement about his experiences with the Alfix DuraTherm system:

”Alfix DuraPuds products are very convenient and easy to use. We always use Alfix for our many facade projects and recently, we have had several projects with DuraTherm facade insulation system. It works every time and for the actual project here in Løkken, we had an informative start-up talk med the local Alfix sales rep – and that talk really ensured us a good beginning”.

Alfix appreciates the praise – it is a mere pleasure to work with dedicated and skilled craftsmen. Sales of the DuraPuds range have seen an ongoing rise since the introduction approx. 10 years ago and more recently, growth has developed remarkably – to the delight of the entire Team Alfix.

The DuraTherm system offers optimal thermal insulation of the building, environmental consideration, external installation without any notable inconvenience for the owners or residents, internal comfort while rendering revitalizes the whole facade with a beautiful, contemporary and tight appearance in return.

The tile adhesives Alfix Profix and Alfix Letfix are true bestsellers within the product range and the two products have therefore been appointed “first movers” in terms of introducing alterations in our packaging design; alterations that will stress the Danish ownership and facilitate recognition. The packaging has been supplied with a small Danish flag along with a product-unique bottom slip, which will make it easier to distinguish one tile adhesive from the other by means of individual colours.

Locally manufactured products with Danish ownership
” In these very weird and unpredictable times, where the demand for local and Danish products sees a remarkably rise, Alfix has chosen to put a small but distinctive logo featuring the national flag on the front of our Alfix Profix and Letfix packaging. This icon tells the story of our Danish background and identity; an identity positively reflected from our customers – not only in Denmark but also throughout Scandinavia”, says Anders Bertelsen Toft, CCO, and 3rd generation of the Alfix family business.

Since its foundation in 1963, Alfix has been owned by the Toft family, and so it will continue to be according the owner family. Eventually, the small Dannebrog logo will lighten up each and every Alfix bag and sack concurrent with the reprint of the packaging.

Individually coloured bottom slip on the Alfix packaging identifies product
Apart from the red-white flag on the packaging, tile fixers, building merchants and other users will now see a blue bottom slip on the Alfix Profix bag and an orange bottom slip on the Alfix Letfix bag. The bottom slip colour is identical with the letter colours used in the product name on the front of the bag. This colour repetition will, hopefully, ease recognition of each Alfix product when stored on pallets or placed in shelves at the builders' merchant or on building sites.

Previously, all Alfix tile adhesive bags were supplied with a white bottom slip with black print. In future, every Alfix tile adhesive will eventually have its own uniquely coloured bottom slip.

See the entire tile adhesive range here: Alfix tile adhesives

After 6 years on the current platform Alfix has develop a new digital web presence. Simplicity and user friendliness have been essential features throughout the developing process.
”The object has been to create an appealing and simple website that meet contemporary demands in terms of functionality and user behavior”, says Claus Bernd Høgdal, Sales- and Marketing director at Alfix.

Interviews with retailers and craftsmen ensured useful knowledge
During the creative process, Alfix and the co-operation partners involved focused on user behavioral paths revealed by all segments likely to visit a website like www.alfix.com.
Alfix started the process by interviewing both retailer staff, craftsmen, specifiers as well as end users with interest in the building trade. All to collect useful knowledge about the requirements and needs of our customers og business partners in relation to the design and configuration of an Alfix website version 2021.

“Hopefully, customers will give the website a good reception. And hopefully, the page will guide them quickly to the product information, calculators or technical specifications they seek for a certain project. Simultaneously, we wish to present Alfix as a leading Danish manufacturer of building materials, setting the agenda for sustainable building in 2021” Claus Bernd Høgdal concludes.

As from 1. December 2020, Alfix switched to eco-friendly biomethane for the operation of the factory in Kolding. A deliberate choice which will entail a significant 10% reduction in the total CO2 emission of the plant. About the latest green initiative, Anders Bertelsen Toft (CCO) elaborates:

“The transition to biomethane is the latest initiative in our long-term sustainable strategy. Biomethane is a climate friendly and CO2 neutral energy source produced from organic fertilizer and organic household waste, a.o. The green Alfix strategy also includes the implementation of an extensive waste segregation and the use of 100% green power, which exclusively has been generated from renewable and CO2 neutral energy”.

EPDs, DGNB and the Nordic Eco-label
Today, Alfix has launched Environmental Product Declarations (EDP) for more than 60 products, and the majority of these products comply with an overall sustainable profile enabling use for eco-labeled and DGNB certified building projects. The demand for certified green systems has seen a significant rise within the last couple of years, and this market tendency seems to continue.

”Our sustainable initiatives come straight from the heart – the right and only thing to do as a manufacturer of building materials. Fortunately, our customers approve of the transition and consider a co-operation with Alfix a possibility to turn green. Together, we can make a difference. We are, hence, very pleased to learn that many merchants, specifiers, craftsmen and end users now have acknowledged the importance of sustainable construction”, Anders Bertelsen Toft says.

The Alfix slogan is Responsible Strength, and the company vision is to create assurance for its customers. A long-standing and lasting slogan and vision. For that reason and as a locally founded Danish manufacturer, Alfix should be at the forefront when it comes to responsible building, obviously.
”We owe it to society in general and to future generations in particular” the CCO concludes.

Read more about our green activities here