Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Denmark: Rockwool has signed a new revolving credit facility worth Euro600m. The facility replaced its existing facilities and has a built-in pricing mechanism connecting its costs to three externally-assured sustainability goals. The goals are CO₂ emission reduction, increasing the number of countries in which it offers its recycling schemes and reducing factory waste. The purposes of the facility are to strengthen capital structure and support long-term growth.

Chief Financial Officer Kim Junge Andersen said, “While we already are a net-carbon-negative company, we have committed ourselves to ambitious sustainability targets to reduce our carbon footprint and waste from operations and to expand our recycling offerings. To measure our progress, it is important for us to have a fact-based and auditable approach to how we maximise our products’ positive impact while minimising the environmental impact of our operations.”

Ireland/UK: Knauf Insulation has launched a new packaging including new designs across the whole range, an upgrade to its compression technology and more environmentally-friendly packaging.

The new packaging designs feature bigger and clearer product names. Products are colour-coded into thermal conductivity groups consistent across the whole glass mineral wool range, and essential features such as the Euroclass A1 reaction to fire classification and Ecose Technology, Knauf Insulation’s unique bio-based binder, are more easily identifiable. The Earthwool brand has been phased out to simplify the branding structure, and a new brand, Rocksilk, has been introduced for its rock mineral wool product range. The insulation producer says that a further upgrade of the compression technology on the glass mineral wool range enables, on average, 15% more insulation per roll and 25% more packs on each pallet for slabs.

“We’ve listened to our customers, but we have also been proactive, trying to pre-empt future needs,” said Vanessa Rae, Marketing Director at Knauf Insulation Northern Europe. “We know how important it is to choose the right product for the application quickly, and move and store it efficiently, whether in-branch or on-site. We also know that sustainability matters more than ever, so we’ve taken these steps to reduce our products’ carbon footprint further so customers can rely on us to help them tick the green boxes for their projects.”

France: Denmark-based Rockwool plans to begin building a new stone wool insulation plant at Soissons, Aisne department in 2022. The new plant will use an 80%-reduced-CO₂ electric melting production method previously employed at Rockwool’s Moss insulation plant in Norway in 2020. The company says that, when commissioned in 2024, the new plant will generate 130 jobs.

France and Southern Europe regional managing director Rafael Rodriguez said, “We are pleased that our investment in Soissons will enable us to better support the government’s ambitious efforts as well as the social and economic development of the local communities. With our more than 40-year history in France, this new facility is a natural next step for us in a market that continues growing in importance.”

Ireland: Kingspan has forecast first-half consolidated net sales growth of 40% year-on-year in 2021 to Euro2.90bn from Euro2.07bn in the first half of 2020. It predicted a rise in operating profit of 57% to Euro315m from Euro200m. The company concluded its acquisition of Denmark-based pipe insulation producer Logstor International Holding on 22 June 2021 for Euro253m.

Malaysia: Knauf Insulation’s Johor Bahru mineral wool insulation plant has successfully exported its first batch of 80% recycled glass Earthwool glass mineral wool insulation to Perth, Australia. The product uses Knauf Insulation’s ECOSE Technology biological binder and is equipped with new improved clean facing. The company says that it uses compression packaging to optimise shipping volumes.

Chief operating officer David Ducarme said, “Johor Bahru is an extraordinary achievement of commitment from Knauf Insulation colleagues from around the world who came together to work with local teams in unprecedented pandemic circumstances - setting a gold standard in safety - to ensure the highest quality solutions are now available to customers.”

The Johor Bahru glass mineral wool insulation plant has a production capacity of 75,000t/yr and was originally scheduled for completion in 2020. It had an investment of Euro120m. It was built export insulation products to markets in Japan, Australia, Korea, New Zealand and Singapore.