Ionway, a battery materials producer, has appointed Philip Fimmers as its global supply chain manager.
Fimmers has more than two decades of experience in supply chain management, operations and purchasing in fast-moving consumer goods as well as the food and printing industries.
In a statement on LinkedIn, Fimmers said Ionway “is at the forefront of driving positive change in the automotive industry”. He added: “Fully charged to contribute to this energetic team and make a difference. Together, we make the energy transition happen.”
The Brussels-headquartered firm, which is a joint venture between Volkswagen Group’s PowerCo battery division and circular materials technology company Umicore, was launched in October last year. It will enable large-scale industrial production of cathode active material (CAM) and precursor cathode active material (pCAM) for PowerCo’s European battery cell factories. Through the JV, Umicore will be a secured part of the supply chain as Europe’s demand for battery materials ramps up.
The JV said it intends to expand annual production capacity to 160 gigawatt hours (GWh) per year by the end of the decade, which is enough to power 2.2m vehicles.
Ionway is in the planning stages for its first cathode materials plant in Nysa, Poland, adjacent to Umicore’s existing CAM plant. The factory will run on renewable energy and “accelerate the establishment of regional, sustainable and transparent battery value chains”, according to the firm. The Polish government is investing €350m ($380m) into the factory in cash grants under the Temporary Crisis and Transition Framework, for a total investment up to €1.7 billion by the end of the decade.
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