Austrian heat insulation specialist Austrotherm GmbH recently launched its first materials production plant in Germany at the northern city of Wittenberg.
The new 114,000-square-meter plant, turning out the firm's characteristic pink extruded polystyrene foam insulating board, was built in just 10 months with an investment of 40 million euros. The facility, with 70 employees, specializes in the production of XPS substrate specifically for high pressure loads and high insulation thickness board.
Located midway between Berlin and Hamburg, the site is well placed to supply growing markets in Germany and abroad, the Waldegg, Austria-based company said.
“With the new plant, we are much closer to the market and, by eliminating the long transport routes it will be faster and more flexible for the customer. It also allows us the export to northern Europe, Poland and the Benelux countries,” Austrotherm's sales and internationalization executive director Gerald Prinzhorn explained at the start of the project.
The site location is set to benefit soon from the construction of the A14 motorway at Wittenberg, he added.
Austrotherm, which also manufactures expanded polystyrene insulation material, operates other XPS production units in Austria, Serbia and Romania. The board is used in basement and flat roof insulation as well as under the floor and in wet areas.
The privately owned group, which employs 850 and runs 18 plants across 11 countries, saw its annual sales grow by 2 percent to 250 million euros ($315.8 million) in the 2013 financial year. This was thanks to a rise in its export business.
“The fact that we were able to increase sales last year is due to our international activities, for example, the new EPS insulating plant in Izmir, Turkey,” said CEO Peter Schmid. He predicted a further sales rise in 2014 with further exports from the Wittenberg plant.
The company also invested 4 million euros ($5 million) to establish its second insulation material plant in Turkey. The EPS facility employing 40 was launched at Turgutlu, 50 kilometers from the western Turkish center of Izmir which opened last year.
