Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Austria: Austrotherm has announced the launch of Fit for the Future, a capital expenditure (CAPEX) plan worth Euro10m in investments in its Pinkafeld and Purbach, Burgenland plants. The plans consist of a new office building with training centre and workshop at the Pinkafeld plant, “intended to illustrate how sustainable construction for office buildings should be implemented in the future,” and a 3600m² finished goods warehouse at the Purbach plant, as well as ‘numerous digitisation and automation projects’ across both plants.

Managing Director Klaus Haberfeller said, “Despite all the adversities of the Covid-19 outbreak, we have started an investment programme that will make our two Burgenland locations fit for the future. We are investing in the modernisation of the infrastructure and in optimising the processes at the locations in order to increase efficiency and occupational safety, and, as a positive side effect, benefit the regional construction industry.”

Serbia: Austria-based Austrotherm has started operation on a new extruded polystyrene (XPS) production line at its Nis plant. The upgrade cost Euro3.5m and has created 15 new jobs at the site. It originally purchased the expanded polystyrene (EPS) and XPS plant in 2005 and it exports products to Albania, Kosovo, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bulgaria.

“We are particularly proud that we were able to complete the capacity expansion in Serbia as planned, despite all the Corona adversities,” said Klaus Haberfellner, managing director of Austrotherm.

Denmark: Rockwool’s post-tax profit for 2019 was Euro285m, up by 7.5% from Euro265m in 2018. Sales rose by 3.2% to Euro2.8bn from Euro2.7bn. The company’s insulation section saw ‘mixed market conditions’ but ‘showed modest growth’ over the period, thanks in particular to state-supported energy efficiency improvement in construction practices generating increased demand in the South-West Europe region.

Rockwool said that it invested in long-term growth, having opened a plant in Romania in late-2019, with a capacity expansion to a German plant due to come online in mid-2020 and a further plant in the US to follow in early 2021. Rockwool Group chairman Henrik Brandt and CEO Jens Birgersson said, “For the fifth year in a row, our customer satisfaction scores increased.” Satisfaction rose by 14% year-on-year.

Sweden: Denmark-based BewiSynbra has announced its acquisition of an extruded polystyrene (XPS) insulation plant in Norrköping after its conditional takeover of the owner for Euro5.6m including BewiSynbra’s assumption of its debts. The company says it will expand XPS production and install an expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation line at the plant in late 2020, as a result of which it will close its nearby Norrtälje EPS insulation plant. It expects to conclude the deal in February 2020.

UK: Superglass has completed a Euro43m upgrade to its glass wool plant in Stirling, Scotland. Production capacity at the unit has been doubled to 60,000t/yr, according to the Scotsman newspaper. A new furnace, curing oven and an automatic packing system were installed as part of the upgrade. The project was first announced in 2017 following the acquisition of the company by Russia’s TechnoNicol in 2016.

UAE: Huntsman Corporation has opened its new polyurethanes systems house at the Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone (JAFZA) in Dubai. The unit comprises a production area with manufacturing equipment plus blenders, reactors, filling stations, control room, offices and quality control laboratories. It will manufacture polyurethane foams for construction, insulation, appliances, bedding and furniture applications. It will also produce systems for the footwear industry; and prepolymers for coatings, adhesives, sealants and elastomers applications.

The site will also serve as the regional base for Huntsman's Demilec spray polyurethane foam (SPF) business. The new systems house is equipped with a dedicated spray foam application and training centre and will provide customers in the region with local technical and training assistance, fully supported by the global Demilec organisation.

"This investment is the latest step in the expansion of our worldwide systems house capabilities, which underpin our downstream growth strategy. Constructing the new systems house at JAFZA brings us closer to our customers and gives us everything we need to expand our business in the Middle East and North Africa, including manufacturing competitiveness, infrastructure links and speed of response," said Tony Hankins, President of Huntsman's Polyurethanes division.

Huntsman's other downstream businesses in the Middle East include Huntsman EMA, a systems house in Turkey, and Huntsman Arab Polyols Company in Saudi Arabia, a joint venture with the BCI Group of Companies, in which Huntsman is the majority shareholder.

US: Knauf Insulation North America and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) have announced an investment of around US$35m at Knauf’s fibre glass inslation plant at Albion in Michigan. The upgrade is expected to convert and restart an idled production line, increasing production capacity by more than 30% and adding 34 new full-time jobs. It will use recycled bottle glass recovered through the state of Michigan’s Bottle Deposit Law as a raw material. The project is expected to be completed in late 2020.

“Keeping pace with the growing demand in the upper Midwest for quality loose-fill insulation products will be made possible through the expansion of our plant here in Albion,” said Kevin Keen, plant manager at Albion.

The Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF) has approved a US$200,000 Michigan Business Development Program performance-based grant in support of the project. The MSF also approved a 100%, 15-year State Essential Services Act exemption valued at US$780,000.

Hungary: Bodrogi Bau is upgrading its polystyrene insulation plant in Szeged. It is spending Euro3m on building two new production lines, according to the MTI-Eco news agency. One of the new lines will be used to manufacture polystyrene insulation blocks. The project is supported by a Euro1.5m grant from the European Union (EU) and the local government. The company runs businesses in construction, building material retail, planning and real estate.

US: Johns Manville (JM) plans to build a new fibreglass insulation production line at its McPherson plant in Kansas. The new line will produce its Climate Pro blowing wool product. JM will begin construction on the expansion project later in 2019 pending various governmental approvals. It anticipates the completion in early 2021. When complete, JM will employ more than 330 people in McPherson.

Lithuania: Paroc plans to increase the production capacity of its stone wool plant in Vilnius to 115,000t/yr from 75,000t/yr. The subsidiary of US-based Owens Corning intends to make multiple minor upgrades to reach this goal, according to the Verslo Zinios newspaper. It hopes to achieve the increased production capacity by 2022 subject to market demand.