By Richards Higgs
Plastics & Rubber Weekly
Schwanenstadt, Austria -- Austrian aircraft seating and foam insulation producer Greiner PURtec has expanded its capacity in the Czech Republic by almost 50 percent with the completion of a new production hall.
The company has invested around Euro 11 million ($15.2 million) in the construction of a new 13 000-sq.m hall at its Czech subsidiary Greiner PURtec spol in Nyrsko. The relocation, which will enable the Czech business to meet growing demand, tripling its output of hot water tank insulation jackets, was completed in late April with the formal opening of the new unit.
Greiner PURtec needed to invest to prepare for new business stimulated by the growth in heat pumps, solar panels, biomass boilers and other ecological heating equipment. The move also allowed the local offshoot to shorten delivery periods and offer additional services such as insulation installation, it said.
Other PURtec production units handled much of the Czech subsidiary's workload during the transition to its new plant, begun last November with the installation of the aircraft seat cushion moulding machine.
The Czech business, established in Nyrsko in 1999, installed an enlarged seat moulding machine at its original plant in 2005. Schwanenstadt, Austria-based PURtec, part of the group Greiner Holding in Kremsmünster, recorded annual turnover in 2008 of Euro 51 million with a 460-strong workforce.
PURtec operates other plants in Niedereisbach, Germany; Fort Worth, Texas in the US and, since 2006, in Shanghai, China.
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