Dinex, the exhaust and emission systems specialist, is set to double its business over the next few years. Agility and forward-thinking are the key ingredients for success.

Dinex, headquartered in Middelfart in Denmark, is one of the leading manufacturers and suppliers of innovative exhaust and emission solutions for heavy-duty vehicles with diesel and natural gas engines.

The company delivers exhaust and emission systems to both OEM customers and the aftermarket. With its staff of nearly 2,000, the company serves hundreds of customers on three continents – ranging from local spare part distributors to market-leading original equipment manufacturers.

Established in 1982, its founders – the entrepreneur Jørgen Dinesen and his wife Grethe – started with a simple idea: to provide spare part exhaust systems for heavy-duty vehicles, produced in-house, offered in the most comprehensive catalogue in the market and distributed through regional warehouses within 24 hours of ordering.

While simple, the idea has proved to be highly successful – by the mid-1990s, Dinex had deeply disrupted the European heavy-duty aftermarket by giving the customers something that they had needed for a long time – agility, quality, partnership and a competitive, price-attractive one-stop-shop concept.

The company’s COO Naresh Nagarwal says: “Our vision is to look ahead based on our strong development capability. Agility is in our DNA – as a company, we are attractive to customers who look for a fast response, low cost and globally competitive solutions.”

Today, run by the founders’ son and CEO, Torben Dinesen, the Dinex group is divided into an OEM- and an AEM-divisions strengthened with new competencies within leadership and operations, and operates 10 sites spread across North America, Europe and Asia.

Comprehensive Offering

Dinex itself produces more than 95% of all the parts for complete exhaust systems including advanced emission technologies. Its comprehensive in-house capability includes all processes from R&D to delivery, thus significantly reducing dependence on suppliers.

The technologies Dinex develops and produces enable its customers to comply with the most stringent emission standards, and the company is constantly ready to push new boundaries. The core business, as the company defines it, is simple – Dinex offers all you need from turbo to tailpipe, for trucks, buses, vans and industrial vehicles.

As a true specialist in its field, Dinex can develop and improve its technologies in-house without external involvement. The company is the only manufacturer of exhaust after-treatment systems in the world that develops and produces catalytic coatings, metallic substrates and silicon carbide particulate filters in-house. Along with all the vehicle-specific metalwork, Dinex is able to complete all vehicle-specific emission-control applications within the US, Russia, Europe, Asia and elsewhere.

“We are the only company in the world right now with such a wide scope of solutions, all made in-house. Our competitors focus mostly only on one part of the vehicle, but we provide the complete system. Our overall portfolio allows the customer to reduce costs as they only have to deal with a single supplier, something which an increasing number of companies prefer, and which differentiates us from other players in the market,” Mr Nagarwal points out, adding that Dinex recently benchmarked 20% cheaper than its competitors when it comes to a full system approach.

Go East

Looking ahead has been another factor pushing business growth, and as the markets shift from diesel to electricity, Dinex is already focusing on EURO7 technology as well as dual-fuel technology so that its systems and products can be sustainable with growth in the market.

“While e-mobility has been the centre of attention for passenger cars, heavy-duty vehicles are a different story,” says Mr Nagarwal. “We invest heavily in future technology and are working on the EURO7 design ahead of the market. We are focused on developing systems which are going to work with dual fuel, hydrogen fuel and blend hydrocarbons.”

He points out that the company has three R&D centres around the world, and is about to set up two more this year, in India and China, the region where Dinex expects the steepest growth. Last year, the company established a new coating technology facility in China – by far the world’s largest truck market – that is set to primarily service local needs. The expectation is to significantly increase turnover in China, exceeding over a billion DKK by the end of 2023.

In India, another promising market, Dinex has set up its fully automated factory to produce all technologies in-house from wash coat to fully assemble system using Industry 4.0 and integrated factory concepts. This factory has produced systems for PPAP and on-road applications which are under final validation. Its capacity to produce 50,000 finished ATS systems a year can be doubled with minimum investment.

Dinex also made agreements with a local partner to set up a new JV factory in Pune in order to supply the Indian off-road industry with green emission solutions. Given the market potential, the company is now in the process of building a second factory in India, that is expected to be operational by the end of 2020, with the first deliveries starting in January 2021.

Doubling the Business

Dinex is also investing heavily in its global test centre next to the headquarters in Denmark. Because of the extensive portfolio of upcoming OEM projects, Dinex expects to require twice as much testing capacity and plans to increase the staff by 30% over the coming years.

Speaking about last year’s performance, Mr Nagarwal acknowledges that although Dinex was affected by the coronavirus crisis like everyone else in spring 2020, the business picked up again in the second half of the year, and 2020 ended with sales increased by 20%, partly as a result of a booming logistics sector and high demand for heavy-duty vehicles.

“The market is open and we are set to expand, to serve customers that are looking for a comprehensive offering from a single supplier,” says Mr Nagarwal. “In the next few years, we will progress in line with our 2023 strategy. The plan is to double the business within three years. By 2023 we target achieving 3 billion DKK on our top line, supported by the heavy investment in India, Russia, Turkey and China. The aim is to have a stronger footprint globally, knowing that customers welcome our solutions and are happy with our approach.”