New Delhi – Sheela Foam is expanding its foaming capacity in Australia by building a second foaming plant. The company is also expanding capacity at its existing European site in Spain. The new Australian facility is expected to be operational by the end of 2022, while the capacity hike at the Yecla site in eastern Spain is expected to be completed by early 2023.
Sheela investing A$20 million in Adelaide foaming site
Gautam: Expanding in Australia
Sheela is investing A$20 million in setting-up the second site, which will spread over 12-acres in Adelaide, the capital city of South Australia. “The Adelaide site will have foaming capacity between 10,000 to 15,000 tonnes annually, similar in capacity to the existing Sydney foaming site, which caters the Australia and neighbouring New Zealand markets,” said Rahul Gautam, chairman, Sheela.
Sheela acquired the Sydney plant in 2005, revamped it completely in 2009, and now operates with the latest VPF (variable pressure foaming) technology. The Adelaide site will also have VPF technology. The VPF process is based on continuous foaming in an airtight enclosure, where flexible foams are produced under controlled atmospheric conditions of under- or over-pressure. Regarded as an environmentally friendly process because of the use of an enclosed chamber to control the pouring conditions, and because it no longer requires auxiliary blowing agents (ABAs) which can present an air pollution risk.
The upcoming Adelaide site is expected to be operational by November and will help to make aggressive strides into the Australian market in the post-Covid phase. “Australia is a huge country. The facility at Sydney is at the extreme east while the upcoming Adelaide plant, which is located almost exactly in the middle of the country, helps serve the central and western side of the country efficiently. Catering such a vast country from a single site on the east side was a huge logistical challenge.”
Sheela is also investing about €8 million in expanding the curing and storage areas of its Spanish site by January 2023. The expansion will add foaming capacity of 7,000 tonnes. Currently, the plant has foaming capacity of 15,000 tonnes annually, which will be raised to 22,000 tonnes post-expansion. Acquired in the middle of 2019, the Spanish plant caters for the Europe market.
