June 2001
Wülfrath Refractories and Baker form LWB Refractories

Following the acquisition of Baker Refractories by the Belgian Lhoist Group, the process of merging the activities of both Baker and Lhoist’s refractories division, Wülfrath Refractories, is in full progress.

The new group will operate from July 2001 under the new name LWB Refractories. LWB stands for Wülfrath and Baker, merged under the umbrella of the Lhoist Group.

The new name illustrates our objectives: we want to strengthen our competitiveness by combining the know-how, the experience and the technical expertise of Lhoist, Wülfrath and Baker. Combining the strengths of the different companies will further improve our service, our technical support and our efficiency.

For Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia, sales administration will be provided by the head office in Hilden, Germany which will operate under the company name LWB Refractories GmbH & Co. KG.

Sales administration and customer service for customers in North, Central and South America will in future be handled by the LWB Refractories Company in York, USA, in future.

In the UK, the customer services will be merged and relocated to a new office in the Sheffield area. The new office will become operational in September 2001.