ACTEGA DS celebrates topping-out ceremony

Under construction: Expansion of the ACTEGA site.

L. to R.: Laurent Bled, ACTEGA DS, Production Manager; Marius Würzburg, ACTEGA DS, Project Manager for Site Expansion; Wilfried M. Lassek, ACTEGA DS, Managing Director; Klaus Steupert, IE Plast, Overall Project Manager; Thorsten Kröller, ACTEGA, Head of Business Unit ACTEGA.

With the topping-out ceremony on March 19, 2019, the extensive construction project to expand the Actega DS site in Bremen continues. The goal is to take over the new building from IE Plast, which was commissioned with planning and implementation, in November 2019, and to relocate or reintroduce the operational facilities. After the completion of the new production facility with more than 7,500 m², the renovation of existing buildings with 1,500 m² will follow.

The site expansion at Actega DS will make the company more future-proof on the one hand, but on the other hand, it was also necessary to meet the great successes and future prospects of new products and business areas. These include PROVALIN®, the first PVC- and phthalate-free sealing compound for metal vacuum and P/T closures (Press On/Twist Off), the PVC/PVDC-free sealing solution for wine, sparkling wine, and champagne closures VinTellox®, or PROVAMED® and SOFT EST®, the portfolio for the MPC business area.

"With an investment volume of around EUR 20 million, by the end of the site expansion, we will not only have significantly expanded the production and storage space. The production capacity will also be increased by 50 percent, and the research and development area will be tripled," said Wilfried Lassek, Managing Director of Actega DS. "This investment was necessary because the current production site is reaching its limits. To secure the company's growth, we decided to build additional modern production facilities at the site to increase efficiency. This allows us to respond flexibly to market demands and to meet the increased customer demand for specialized solutions."

IE Plast, a business unit of IE Group, a company specializing in industrial buildings, was commissioned to implement the project. IE Plast accompanies the site expansion from the initial planning phase, the master plan, to the turnkey factory. A particular challenge of this project is to realize the new building while production is ongoing, integrating logistics and infrastructure. The high standards for the quality of such a production facility—in all areas—building, supply, and production technology—must not be neglected. IE Plast combines architecture and operational processes so that manufacturing processes, building technology, and architecture are optimally coordinated.

"The topping-out ceremony is a truly significant emotional milestone in the construction of a building; the worst is over, and most worries are behind us," said Jens Beck, the responsible architect from IE Plast for the Actega DS expansion. "To better illustrate the dimensions of the project, I would like to briefly mention a few facts: The total construction volume amounts to 125,000 m³ over a total area of 7,700 m². The amount of concrete used will ultimately be around 9,000 m³, which corresponds to approximately 1,125 mixer trucks, lined up this would be about 12 km long. The steel used will be about 1,200 tons, roughly the empty weight of three Airbus A380s."

"With the extensive investments in expanding our production, storage, research, and development capacities, we are developing our site as an innovation center," said Wilfried Lassek. "This will accelerate the introduction of new, patented technologies. As always in our long-standing company history, we will offer demanding and application-oriented solutions for closures and packaging for the food and beverage industry. Furthermore, we are developing materials and technologies for products in the medical technology and consumer goods sectors."