- Festive opening ceremony with many guests
- Construction completed smoothly
- Favorable order situation makes plant expansion necessary
Koprivnice, Czech Republic, May 24, 2016 ..... The plastics specialist Röchling has completed the expansion of its location in Koprivnice successfully. Röchling Automotive celebrated the official commissioning of the new spaces, warehouses, and production facilities with a ceremony at the plant today. “We are glad that our expansion project was completed so smoothly, thanks also to support from the town, the Czechinvest economic promotional agency, and local construction companies,” said Evelyn Thome, Commercial Manager of Röchling Automotive Germany SE & Co. KG in Worms. The capital expenditure for the expansion and renovation amounted to EUR 8 million.
The plant in Ostrava has been supplying customers in Europe, Asia, and the USA since 2007. In that time, it has made an important contribution to the success of the Group. At the beginning of 2015, Röchling Automotive had acquired a 3,000-square-meter property next to its site in the industrial area in Koprivnice, expanding the overall size of its premises to 31,000 square meters. This was followed by the expansion of the existing plant. The production hall, including engineering and social spaces, was expanded by 2,600 square meters, the logistics warehouse by 4,200 square meters, the engineering area by 250 square meters, and the logistics canopy/empty packaging area by 1,000 square meters. Now the area for maintenance and molds, including offices, has 500 square meters in additional space.
In total, the production area was expanded to 4,200 square meters; the logistics area now covers a total of over 6,500 square meters. A modern warehouse management system will be introduced in the logistics warehouse that will make technology-supported loading and unloading possible. Loading will now be done directly from three docks onto the trucks. At the opening festivities, which were attended by the Executive Board and management of Röchling Automotive as well as employees, customers, and representatives from the town of Koprivnice and local businesses, the Plant Manager Hartmut Bischoff explained the reasons for the expansion. Key factors are filling various new orders for existing customers as well as winning several new customers. Röchling Automotive produces innovative plastic parts for automobile manufacturers for the underbody, engine compartment, air flap control, and air and water management. In addition, it produces innovative plastic tanks for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) method, which reduces emissions from diesel engines. “The orders made additional storage and logistics space necessary as well as an expansion of the production facilities,” Bischoff said. Investments were made in two new injection molding machines with a clamping force of 500 and 1,100 metric tons, respectively. Mirror welding and test equipment are awaiting installation. In addition, by the end of this year another 500-metric-ton injection molding machine and two 2,700-metric-ton machines will be put into operation.
The automobile supplier employs 130 staff at that location, with this number set to grow. This is the final expansion for Röchling Automotive at the Koprivnice location.
