Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Slovenia: A fire has caused damage to Knauf Insulation’s Škofja Loka mineral wool plant. The fire started in a warehouse before spreading on 2 February 2019 before it was extinguished, according to the Slovenian Press Agency. No injuries were reported during the incident. The cause of the blaze is being investigated.

Slovenia: Knauf Insulation has celebrated the 60th anniversary of its Škofja Loka mineral wool plant. The plant originally opened in 1958 under the Termika brand. The company also opened the Knauf Insulation Experience Center (KIEXC), a sustainable building showcase. KIEXC will be used to provide an educational base for the latest construction techniques, energy advisory consultations and training.

“Thanks to Škofja Loka’s pioneering research and development we are the cutting edge of innovative solutions such as sandwich panels, fire-resistant rock mineral wool systems and domestic appliance insulation,” said Jean-Claude Carlin, president of the board of Knauf Insulation.

UK: Plans by Knauf Insulation and Veolia to tackle complains about the ‘offensive’ odour from a glass-recycling unit at Knauf’s St Helens mineral wool plant have been approved by the local council. The proposals include introducing a wet scrubber and extending the current dryerstack to 30m from 13m, according to the St Helens Star newspaper. These measures were suggested following an assessment with Odournet. Local residents have made complaints about the Veolia-run unit since it became operation in October 2017.

US: Knauf Insulation has celebrated its 40th anniversary in the US. ‘Knauftoberfest’ featured German-themed music, costumes, foods and beers, according to the Shelbyville News newspaper. The German company has its US headquarters in Shelbyville and it started local operations in 1978. At present Knauf operates multiple facilities in the US and it employs around 1900 workers.

UK: Knauf Insulation has strengthened its strategic partnership with Siemens Energy. The next phase of the collaboration will focus on enhancing efficiency at Knauf Insulation’s glass mineral wool plant in Cwmbran, South Wales. This follows previous work started in 2015 at the insulation company’s St Helens plant. Across the two plants, the partnership is expected to reduce CO₂ emissions by more than 5000t/yr.

“We look forward to partnering with Knauf Insulation to deliver a comprehensive energy management programme that will use intelligent technologies not only to monitor where consumption is taking place and to what extent, but also implement a significant reduction in energy use across the company’s UK manufacturing plant asset base,” said Steve Martin, Head of Strategic Transformation at Siemens UK.

Malaysia: Knauf Insulation plans to build a Euro120m glass mineral wool plant at Johor Bahru. The new unit will have a production capacity of 75,000t/yr. It is scheduled to be completed in early 2020 and will create 180 jobs in Malaysia as well as a further 60 new positions across the region.

“We have seen record sales due to increasing energy costs across Asia and more stringent energy-saving building regulations in countries such as Australia, Japan and Korea,” said Stuart Dunbar, Regional General Manager for the Asia Pacific Region at Knauf Insulation.

The new plant will use up to 80% post-consumer recycled glass in the manufacturing process and feature Knauf patented high compression packaging. All products will be made using Knauf Insulation’s Ecose binder.

The company also intends to use Malaysia’s shipping links to develop new distribution partnerships in South-East Asian countries and strengthen its presence in the markets of Japan, Australia, Korea, New Zealand and Singapore.

France: Knauf Insulation plans to invest Euro110m towards building a new rock wool plant at Illange in Moselle. The plant will have a production capacity of 0.11Mt/yr and it is scheduled to start operation at the end of 2019. Insulation produced at the site will be targeted at markets in France and Germany. The new plant is expected to create 120 jobs.

UK: Knauf Insulation has appointed Luke Davies as product manager to lead the development of its rock mineral wool range. He joins from architectural aluminium manufacturer Kawneer and brings product marketing experience in sectors including construction, retail and technology.

UK: Knauf Insulation and Veolia have officially opened a Euro11m glass-recycling unit at Knauf’s St Helens mineral wool plant. The unit will be able to recycle over 60,000t/yr of used glass that will then be used as a glass cullet source for glass mineral wool production.

"We have been using recycled glass in our manufacturing process for some time already. As well as securing our glass supply, the quality and consistency that we are getting now from the new facility will enable us to increase further the percentage of glass cullet we use in the manufacture of our glass mineral wool insulation solutions, taking us one step further in our sustainability journey,” said John Sinfield, Managing Director at Knauf Insulation Northern Europe.

Veolia's unit sorts and separates glass to produce pure glass cullet. Machinery at the unit includes vibrating screens for size sorting, magnets to extract ferrous materials and eddy current separators for non-ferrous materials. The new facility enables Knauf Insulation to secure its glass supply and maximise the use of recycled materials instead of using virgin minerals. The closeness of the new unit to the St Helens plant is also expected to save around 600,000km of road journeys. Glass mineral wool products from the plant contain up to 80% recycled materials, the vast majority of which now comes from the glass cullet supplied by Veolia. The new recycling unit has also created 18 jobs.

UK: Knauf Insulation has appointed Vanessa Rae as Marketing Director to lead all Northern European marketing activities. She brings over 20 years experience in business-to-business marketing roles in Belgium, Germany and the UK. Previously she worked as the head of marketing and communications for the digital organisation at Rolls-Royce. Prior to this, Rae managed international marketing teams at Kingspan Insulated Panels and NSG Group (Pilkington Glass).