Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

China: Luyang Energy-Saving Materials plans to spend US$11m towards upgrading its mineral wool insulation plant in the Yiyuan Economic Development Zone in Shandong. The upgrade will add 25,000t/yr production capacity to the plant, increasing its total output to 50,000t/yr, according to Reuters. Construction is scheduled to start in July 2017 with completion in June 2018.

Belgium: Knauf Insulation’s chief executive officer (CEO) Jean-Claude Carlin says he is committed to increasing production investment in Europe and North America. The group’s Visé plant in Belgium plans to restart its second line by the end of 2017 as well as adding new capacity to meet increasing demand for blowing wool. An upgrade to a line at St Egidien in Germany is underway following mineral wool production line upgrades at Nova Bana in Slovakia and Skofja Loka in Slovenia in 2014 and 2015 respectively. Another as yet unannounced European production line upgrade is planned for 2018. The group is also restarting the second line at its Inwood plant in West Virginia to support growing residential demand in the North East of the US.

“The first few months of the year proved to be highly promising for the industry and in good times it is vital that we focus on doing an even better job of providing the best possible service and quality for our customers. That is why we are planning on maximising our global footprint through investing in improvements and increasing our production capacity across the globe,” said Carlin. He has conducted a fact-finding mission visiting plants and customers since he took up the post in February 2017.

Russia: TechnoNicol plans to invest US$2.3m towards upgrading its mineral wool insulation plant in Chelyabinsk. Just under US$0.9m was invested in the plant in 2016, according to the Kommersant newspaper. The unit supplies products in the Ural Federal District as well as to the Perm region, the Orenburg region, Bashkortostan and Udmurtia.

Russia: Rockwool has completed an upgrade of its stone wool insulation plant at Troitsk, in Chelyabinsk region. The unit will use Power+ technology with enhanced micro-distribution of the binder and optimised fibre-spinning technology on the production line. These improvements are intended to improve the final product’s homogeneity and performance properties.

France: Actis plans to invest Euro3m towards building a second production line of ‘alveolar’ insulation products at its plant in Limoux. The second line is scheduled to start production in 2018, according to La Tribune newspaper. The new production capacity is planned to allow expansion in Europe. The producer is also considering building an insulation plant in the UK. Actis’ alveolar products include Hybris, a hybrid product that uses a honeycomb structure polyethylene foams plies on metallised films.

Thailand: Eastern Polymer Group is set to spend US$2.8m upgrading its Aeroflex insulation production lines with automation technology. The investment is part of a total of US$14.3m being spent by the company on cost efficiency, according to the Bangkok Post. It previously spent US$11m in 2015 towards improving production costs in order to increase its profit margin.
Deputy chief executive Challeo Vitoorapakorn said that, although Aeroflex demand had slowed over the past few years, the company is expecting the construction industry to grow in 2017.

Belgium: BASF has increased the methylene diphenyl diisocyanate (MDI) production capacity to 0.65Mt/yr from 0.56Mt/yr at its Verbund plant in Antwerp. MDI is used to manufacture polyurethanes, which are used in insulation production and other materials.

Kyrgyzstan: The Russian-Kyrgyz Development Fund plans to expand a thermal foam insulation plant at Besh-Kungei in the Chui region in 2017. The project will cost US$1.67m, with 66% of the funding provided by the Russian-Kyrgyz Development Fund and the remainder by local businesses. The upgrade is part of a umbrella of investments being made by the fund in 2017.

Poland: Paroc Group has upgraded its mineral wool plant in Trzemeszno to increase its production capacity with an investment of over Euro13m. “Up till now, some of the Paroc’s technical insulation solutions had been produced only in Finland,” said Joakim Westerlund, Chief Operating Officer at Paroc. “Shipping from Poland, combined with the fact that more products can now be transported on one truck thanks to new technology, not only will save time and resources of our customers, but also fits in our sustainability and energy efficiency policy.”

The investment marks a continuation of Paroc’s long-term development strategy in its Baltic and Central Europe area. Since 1998, when the Polish Paroc production plant was set-up, the company has invested over Euro140m in the Trzemeszno plant.

UK: TechnoNicol intends invest up to Euro5.9m to double the production capacity to at least 55,000t/yr at Superglass’ mineral wool plant in Stirling. The upgrade will involve building a new furnace at the site to come online by 2020, according to the Scottish Herald. The investment is intended to boost the insulation producer’s sales in markets in the UK and western Europe. The decision follows shareholder approval of TechnoNicol’s purchase of Superglass.