Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

US: Saint-Gobain plans to invest a total of US$400m in expansions to its operations including insulation operations at four US sites. The group says that the sites are located in California and the Southeastern US. It said that the new capacities will apply the most advanced available technologies for industrial performance, safety and sustainability. This will reduce waste by 50% and CO2 emissions by 20% from current levels, according to the company.

Saint-Gobain said it hopes that the investments will strengthen its leadership in North America and accelerate its growth in the region by enriching its comprehensive range of solutions for light and sustainable construction.

Czech Republic: Austria-based Austrotherm has successfully completed a 100% takeover of expanded polystyrene (EPS) producer DCD IDEAL.

Austrotherm’s CEO Klaus Haberfellner said “With the purchase of DCD, we are closing the last white spot in our core markets of Central and Eastern Europe and are thus strengthening Austrotherm's market position. DCD and Austrotherm are successful family businesses that harmonise well in terms of their corporate cultures. The takeover of DCD supports the strategy of continuing to invest in our core products EPS and extruded polystyrene (XPS).” He added “We are pleased about the opportunity to expand our climate-friendly product range for our customers, to be able to supply our XPS customers in the Czech Republic with EPS and thus to offer them an even better service."