Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Germany: Measurement systems supplier Fagus-GreCon has announced the appointment of Mario Haas to its management team. Haas has served as head of the company’s fire protection unit since December 2019 and its head of information technology since December 2020. Haas joined Fagus-GreCon from glass producer SCHOTT in 2019. He has worked in industry since 2005, after gaining his engineering degree from Dortmund University and Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Stuttgart Institute of Management and Technology. Mario Haas takes the place of former technical managing director Michael Gawronski on the management team, who has left the company with immediate effect. Uwe Kahmann will remain responsible for commercial management, while Alexander Kuppe continues to head the company’s marketing, sales, after sales and service departments.

Chair Stephan Weber said "The shareholders would like to thank Dr Gawronski for his important achievements and contributions and wish him all the best for the future. At the same time, with the appointment of Mr Haas as the third managing director, we are emphasising the growing importance of the fire prevention business unit in our company."

Australia: Malaysia-based PGF Capital is preparing to open three distribution centres at Brisbane, Perth and Sydney. The mineral wool insulation producer set up its new regional headquarters in Melbourne in the third quarter of 2022, according to the New Straits Times newspaper. The site at Brisbane is set to become fully operational in March 2023, the site in Perth in May 2023 and the site in Sydney is expected to be operational in the third quarter of 2023.

The expansion drive is part of a project to grow its business in Oceania. Another market that the company is targeting is South Korea. PGF Capital and its subsidiary PGF Insulation said it has started making modifications to its production line at Perai in Penang to meet the local market requirements. it plans to start supplying insulation products to the country later in 2023.

US: Hennecke Group, a manufacturer and supplier of polyurethane processing equipment and plants, has moved its North American headquarters to a new plant in Bridgeville, Pennsylvania. The new headquarters features more office and conference space, a research and development laboratory, a parts warehouse and areas for machinery repair and mixhead rebuilding services.

"This building better represents the innovation and leading polyurethane technology that we provide," said Lutz Heidrich, General Manager of Hennecke. He added that the new plant used some of the materials that its customers produce in its construction. This includes using foil-faced polyiso panel insulation made by Hunter Panels, part of Carlisle Construction Materials.

Hennecke manufactures equipment and supplies plants that make a variety of polyurethane-based products for the construction industries and other sectors. It operates facilities in Italy, Brazil, Mexico, China, Singapore, South Korea, India and Russia.

US: The German vacuum panel insulation product manufacturer Va-Q-tec has opened its new headquarters in the UY at Langhorne, Pennsylvania. The new site will become the US welcome and innovation centre and showcase Va-Q-tec’s latest products. In addition, Va-Q-tec will also manufacture its small box containers in Langhorne and will use the location as a hub for its rental and repair station. Although the new site will focus on thermal packaging products for industries such as the pharmaceutical sector the company also manufactures vacuum panel insulation products for the construction industry.

Germany: Va-Q-Tec is preparing to move its headquarters to Würzburg from Dürrbachau. The new premises are intended to allow the producer of vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) and other thermal products to bring together five departments that were previously at different locations. The move is planned to start in June 2017 with the production department scheduled to relocate to the new headquarters by the start of 2018.