KraussMaffei Berstorff relocating HQ in Hanover

Extrusion machinery supplier KraussMaffei Berstorff is relocating its headquarters to the  Laatzen/Rethen Ost business park, in Hanover, Germany, where it is building a smart factory equipped with ultra-modern machinery.
 
Construction on the 55,000-square-meter production hall and office complex will start later this year and is scheduled for completion by the end of 2022, the company said in a June 24 statement.
 
The location, housing 750 employees, will include a “state-of-the-art” technology center and will have “optimized production” in accordance with Industry 4.0 standards, the German company added.
 
The company declined to reveal the investment volume in the new site but told PNE that it is renting the property.
 
"With this new building project, we have created the basis for further growth. More than ever, we are committing ourselves to innovation and quality ... and Industry 4.0," said Matthias Sieverding, president of the extrusion technology segment in the KraussMaffei Group. 
 
The company will set up a smart factory with “continuously networked production and data processing in real time, visualised processes and data evaluation,” Sieverding said in the company statement.
 
Employing “ultra-modern machine tools”, the facility will also sustainably increase efficiency and reduce the throughput times for the manufacture of extrusion components. 
 
A key feature of the new headquarters will be an innovation center “with state-of-the-art extrusion technology.”
 
According to the company, the center will enable demanding and intricate extrusion experiments under realistic production conditions. 
 
More than 20 machines, including small laboratory systems as well as a large-size production machine, will be available. 
 
According to KM Berstorff, there will also be special emphasis on the demonstration of technology for processing plastic waste to create new materials for use.
 
The company unveiled its cascade extrusion process in 2017, which it claims to be an ideal solution for converting polyethylene and polypropylene scraps as well as other reclaimed polymers into high-quality compounds.
 
The process involves two extrusion process steps directly performed in series. 
 
The first extruder can be equipped with optional upstream shredding or agglomeration system and is designed for feeding, melting, homogenizing and degassing the washed and sorted reclaimed material. 
 
A pump is then used to feed the melt into the second extruder, which is a conventional compounding extruder equipped with several gravimetric metering devices for all necessary compound components.