German machinery giant KraussMaffei Group GmbH is moving its headquarters and production plant from Munich to Parsdorf, a 30-minute drive from the current location.
Subject to supervisory board approval, the move will start in 2022, but construction on the site can start as early as May, when an extraordinary meeting of the board will convene to decide on the project.
The company is making the move in anticipation of growth both in terms of staffing and production capabilities, Marion Sommerwerck, head of corporate communications and marketing, told Plastics News Europe.
"We have been in this location for 100 years, and it is not big enough now," she said in a telephone interview.
With the relocation, KM will expand its facilities from the current 1.5 million square feet to roughly 2.7 million square feet.
The company also expects to substantially increase the number of employees at the site, which currently stands at 1,800. The new building is designed to accommodate a workforce of 2,500.
According to KM, the relocation project is one of the largest projects in Munich of the past 30 years. The investment figures have not been disclosed.
KM, which makes injection presses, extruders and reaction injection molding machines, is Chinese-owned. The state-owned China National Chemical Corp. (ChemChina) bought KraussMaffei in 2016. KM started trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange earlier this month.
KM has a long history in Munich, dating to 1838 when Joseph Anton von Maffei founded Eisenwerk Hirschau in the city. The core product was locomotives. A competing company, Krauss & Co., was founded in 1866 by George von Krauss.
The competitors merged in 1931 and moved into a new company headquarters in Munich. The combined company went on to produce a mix of civilian and military vehicles, centrifuges and buses.
KM began to produce injection molding machines after World War II. In 1964, KM took over injection molding press pioneer Eckert & Ziegler GmbH, which had produced injection presses since 1926.
The German machinery giant is moving to support growth
