Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Latvia: Valmieras Stikla Škiedra has completed the installation of a new E-glass melting furnace at its Valmiera glass fibre plant in Valmiera municipality. The company says that the furnace will reach full-capacity production in October 2021, ahead of schedule. Installing the furnace was one of the company’s 2021 strategic development goals, with the aim of strengthening its position among regional glass fibre products suppliers.

It said “The switch to investment and growth is now the logical step. We have already started further investment projects in order to meet the market requirements in 2022.”

Latvia: The Latvian construction materials manufacturer, Tenapors, plans to invest Euro3.8m in a new production plant in Dobele. The new plant, which will produce insulation sandwich panels, will be completed in September 2015 and will employ 15 people. Roberts Kurma, director of the export department at Tenapors, said that the new plant would allow the company to double its production volume and sales in the Baltic States and Scandinavia. Tenapors had another factory in Valmiera, which produces insulation materials from geofoam.

Latvia: JSC 'Valmieras stikla šķiedra' (VSS), a glass fibre manufacturer based in Valmiera, is expected to complete a US$8.38m expansion by December 2012. The new third one-stage glass furnace at the site is intended to decrease energy usage by 40% and increase production by 50%

"This investment enables us to continue to reduce the inefficient two-stage glass fibre production process or the 'glass marble technology', leaving glass marbles in the past," said VSS chief executive officer A.O. Brutāns. The project has been co-financed by the Latvian Investment and Development Agency which provided US$1.82m.

VSS, which was founded in 1959, produces glass fibre and derived products. The company exports 96% of its production to 32 countries for use in dielectric, sound and thermal insulation. It employs 850 personnel at present.