Portfolio Insights - Tekna
From one to one million kilograms
Tekna, a portfolio company of Arendals Fossekompani, has marked a major milestone with the production of its 1,000,000th kilogram of titanium powder! We spoke with Richard Dolbec, Head of R&D, to find out more details about how his team delivered this achievement at an accelerated pace.
Est. reading time: 4 min
Tekna was founded in 1990 in Sherbrooke, Canada, by professors Maher Boulos and Jerzy Jurewicz from Université de Sherbrooke. The company originated as a research-driven venture focused on developing advanced plasma technologies.
New owners announce a shift in strategy
When Arendals Fossekompani purchased Tekna in 2014, a key point in the growth strategy was to become a major player within additive manufacturing and to achieve this goal, adding titanium alloy powders to the company’s product portfolio was critical. So, the Tekna team swiftly refocused and took on the challenge of developing the company’s titanium atomisation process.
“We needed a process to produce this specific Ti64 powder, and the fastest way to achieve it was to adapt our plasma technology for metal atomization, even though we had no references. At the time, we were a team of only three people: a technician, a scientist, and I,”
Richard Dolbec, Head of Tekna’s R&D Department.
Dolbec is a Mechanical Engineer with a PhD in materials science. He’s been with the company for 22 years.
“I have spent all my relevant career at Tekna which is beneficial now as I have had the opportunity to fully understand what’s happening with the processes and technology. That helps a lot when you’re leading projects.”
When timing is critical
Once the decision was made to focus more on additive manufacturing, speed was essential for gaining market share. Nearly everyone at Tekna was mobilised by the industrialisation of this process.
“It’s a very technical detail but we had never injected a wire into our plasma torch. This is a radio-frequency torch is like a powerful FM radio emitter. If you put a wire in, it becomes an antenna, so you need to shield everything for safety reasons and also to keep electronic instruments functional.”
Initially, the first milestone was to have an operational process for one-hour without interruptions. Likely disturbances included ongoing modifications to the process, systems repair and refusal to start.
“Once we crossed the first one-hour milestone, it turned to eight hours. But it’s like snakes and ladders. Every time we had to improve the process, we lost our initial one-hour goal.”
After a relatively short period, the R&D team delivered a functional process, and by the end of 2014, the industrialisation team had set up a production unit and for preliminary testing. In 2015, industrial production officially began with one system and one shift.
Within months, operations scaled to 24/7.
Driven by people
Scaling up meant rethinking, reorganising, and refining, all while running continually.
“Once we had the robustness, we then had the industrialisation and had to hire the new people: production engineers, technicians and 24/7 operators. There was so much uncertainty, but we were all determined to succeed. I look back and it’s a good memory even though it was challenging.”
At this stage in Tekna’s growth, dedication, long hours, problem-solving, and strong teamwork were essential.
“Once it worked, it was amazing to see that we were breaking production records month after month.”
By December 2015, the company proudly shipped its first 1-ton shipment of Ti64 powder.
Built on forward-thinking
Tekna’s industrialisation efforts were driven by a world-class Quality team. In just a few years, they secured the key certifications required to operate at a world-class level — including ISO 9001, AS9100, Nadcap, ISO 17025 and ISO 13485. Without these certifications, access to the markets the companies they serve today would not be possible.
Business as usual in 2026
It started with a single particle. And in 2025, this atomization process has generated sales of more than 27 MCAD.
The technology keeps maturing and is more automated; all this progress achieved with talented people hired since then, it’s fantastic. Now we continually work at improving the process. We keep increasing the yield and productivity while improving the quality and characteristics of the powder.
Richard Dolbec
When asked if Tekna continually celebrates the company’s impressive records, Dolbec shrugged. “Now, its’ more and more business as usual, which is good. It’s a sign of maturity.”
Today, Tekna operates internationally with manufacturing in Canada and serves customers worldwide. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange as Tekna Holding ASA and is recognised as a leader in plasma-based materials processing and advanced industrial solutions.
