“A great uncertainty remains in Europe. We must stay watchful and alert to envision all possible outcomes”, Éloïse Harvey, CEO at EPIQ MACHINERY

Born in Montreal, Éloïse Harvey obtained her Bachelor of Engineering & Management from McMaster University (Hamilton, ON). In 1999, Éloïse joined Mecfor (equipment manufacturer), the youngest of the four companies in the family group (Ceger) as a Technical Sales Representative.

Over the years, her dynamism and her vision for business development led her to work her way up within the growing organization. Indeed, from 12 employees and 2 million in turnover when started, Mecfor saw its number of employees and its volume multiply by 10 during the first twenty years of Éloïse's career. In 2018, Éloïse and a group of a few operator partners bought Mecfor from Ceger.

The arrival of a patient financial partner who invests in the long term represents the first step towards an aggressive program of organic and inorganic growth. This was followed, a few years later, by the merger of Mecfor and Advanced Dynamics to create the largest equipment supplier in Canada for the aluminium industry: EPIQ Machinery.  Éloïse becomes CEO of EPIQ Machinery in August 2021.

AlCircle: Regarding the recent spike in gas prices and the geopolitical situation in Europe, how do you foresee the European aluminium industry being a technology solutions provider?

Éloïse Harvey: There have been three major disruptions in the global market over the past years starting with COVID and its repercussions on the supply chain and lack of manpower. The war in Ukraine is the second element to impacts our world and the last is global warming and severe weather events affecting our ability to supply food globally.

All events impacted the demand and price increase of primary metals and other raw materials. This had a positive upwards on equipment manufacturers as most aluminium smelters were investing to increase production and take advantage of the growing market. Plus, many producers are seeking innovative technology solutions to boost their productivity while better managing their costs. We are glad to see that, more and more, they turn to EPIQ Machinery for fully integrated solutions and benefit from the deep knowledge of our sales and engineering teams.

However, the latest surge in oil and gas prices generated by diplomatic actions from Western countries in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused a sharp rise in costs for European industry, severely hurting the aluminium sector and creating a very oppressive environment for every energy-intensive industry in Europe. High power prices resulting from the soaring gas price have already taken almost a million tons of aluminium offline in Europe. There might be further closures of smelters that did not have long-term power contracts.

The recycling industry sector might be part of the answer to a diminished local supply of primary metal. We are noticing an increased demand for future recycling smelter projects. These new recycling plant projects will be creating opportunities for equipment manufacturers such as EPIQ Machinery.

Great uncertainty remains in Europe. We must stay watchful and alert to envision all possible outcomes.

AlCircle: Several European economies are slowing down due to the geopolitical issue. What will this mean for your European business, and how are you coping with it?

Éloïse Harvey: The strength of EPIQ Machinery is our diversification and our flexibility. Indeed, we are active in various heavy industries with primary metals, pulp and paper and rail being our main sectors of activities. But we are also diversified concerning our exportation markets with the US and Europe being two distinct and growing markets.

We also diversify our manpower source to enable our growth through hires in Canada and Europe but also a large fabrication capability in India to allow us to deliver an expanding project pipeline. Our local European staff can support local Canadian projects or join the automation team working on an American job if the business slows down in Europe and vice versa.

AlCircle: Do you think your heavy-duty material handling systems will augment the productivity of European aluminium casthouse and smelters to offset backlog and meet increasing demand?

Éloïse Harvey: Our integrated solutions in automation and optimization can undoubtedly help improve the yields of our customers.

To this end, we are increasingly invited to carry out engineering mandates during which we address an overview of the client's process, identify bottlenecks, and consider updates by integrating new technologies, adding new equipment in the process line or reworking the layout. Each situation is unique and deserves to be analyzed properly.

AlCircle: Could you please share your views on the possibility of regaining the European aluminium market with the use of digital solutions?

Éloïse Harvey: All operation-assisted technologies that can relieve the burden for our customers are seriously studied and challenged as part of our R&D product improvement. At EPIQ, we have an open and collaborative approach with our clients. It always starts by listening to our client's needs and where they are at in their thinking. We work with them to develop the best technical solution to suit their situation; which translates into several open discussions. Our clients know their processes and we know about machinery. Our knowledge of equipment design combined with industry requirements gathered over time allows us to provide recommendations and/or warnings. Down the road, our main objective is our customers’ satisfaction both in terms of health and safety and in terms of performance of our equipment, technology or not. Although, with our Smart Casthouse Solution and our ability to better automate handling equipment, we are confident that we offer the right balance between efficiency, costs, and technology.

AlCircle: Do you think the recent merger between Advanced Dynamics & Mecfor to form EPIQ Machinery will serve as a standing example of the Aluminium Hub of Excellence in Europe in 2022 and beyond?

Éloïse Harvey: The merger to form EPIQ Machinery already has an impact on the eco-system of the industry. We are now able to offer equipment in all sectors related to aluminium production, both primary and secondary. We are big enough to offer turnkey solutions and have enough flexibility and agility to meet the demand for custom equipment.

Also, for some time, it has been more common to see industry suppliers come together to combine their strengths and offer more extensive services. Having a long-lasting business relationship value, we nurture the concept of cooperation towards success. Cooperation can be done with another equipment designer through partnership agreements or with the end-user customer.

AlCircle: Could you please share your roadmap for business development in the European market this year?

Éloïse Harvey: We strive to bring as many technologies as possible to our equipment; when R&D is mutually shared, it allows us to go further and faster from conceptual design to prototype to final design ready to market. The result is that everyone wins by getting better equipment in better time with better risk management.

We aim to get closer to our European customers. To the effect, we maintained our commitment to the Manuloc Group (France) which offers our EPIQ MECFOR Smart Casthouse solution and other adapted vehicles. For more than 5 years, Manuloc has been supporting us with our aluminium industry customers by offering the after-sales service they need.

Recently, we worked on an agreement in principle with DTA Global Services (Spain) to team up in the development of AGV equipment.

In cooperation with DTA, we are working on AGV TEAM 2.0 prototype for molten metal hauling. In addition, the agreement with DTA Global Services opens an array of possibilities to offer AGVs of all kinds and all sizes, not only heavy-duty AGVs like metal or anode hauliers. In the aluminium industry, there are many heavy-load travels done between various sectors (ladle of molten metal, anodes, coil, ingots, etc.). Each requires a rigorous analysis of inputs to ensure safe travel in all conditions, indoor and outdoor, winter and summer.

EPIQ Machinery and DTA want to embrace the aluminium producers towards the shift to Industry 4.0. by offering global material handling system integration into plants. As the AGV market is booming, the cooperation between EPIQ Machinery and DTA Global Services is timely. The combination of the skills of the two equipment manufacturers, leaders in their field, can only benefit end-user customers.