Investments by the Röchling Group 2018 till March 2019

Röchling Medical Lancaster

FRANK Plastic AG

Schwartz GmbH Technische Kunststoffe

Last year, the Röchling Group again invested more than 150 million euro in its locations. This means that the level remains high, even though it was slightly lower than the previous year. “With courage and a commitment to expanding capacity across the Röchling Group, we have again spent large amounts of money to satisfy increasing customer interest in our products. Besides additional manufacturing capacities, we have also invested in new manufacturing technologies,” said the CEO of the Röchling Group, Professor Hanns-Peter Knaebel, at the annual financial press conference at the plastics specialist’s headquarters in Mannheim on Thursday, 23 May. Furthermore, last year, two companies were acquired in the Medical division and one in the Industrial division.

Below is an overview of key projects

January 2018

- Industrial division: The extrusion hall of Röchling Sustaplast SE & Co. KG in Lahnstein, Germany, was expanded significantly by 2,500 square meters and the expansion of the Logistics Center completed with the commissioning of an additional sheet saw with cutting optimization software, and a grinding machine. This significantly boosted delivery capability, optimized internal processes and improved the level of service for customers.

February 2018

- Industrial division: Röchling Engineering Plastics in Gloucester, Great Britain, puts an ISO class 7 cleanroom into operation and, in doing so, expands its range of high-precision finished parts made from thermoplastics produced especially for the medical technology, pharmaceutical engineering, aerospace and semiconductor industries. Röchling uses modern CNC equipment to machine complex finished parts according to customer drawings. In the new cleanroom, the components are cleaned according to specific procedures, packaged, and labeled according to customer specifications.

April 2018

- Medical division: Röchling celebrates the inauguration of a new building at its Neuhaus am Rennweg, Germany, site. A new production facility covering a total of 6,900 square meters has been completed; it houses the manufacture of primary packaging for pharmaceutical products under ultra-modern Class GMP C (approx. 1,100 square meters) and Class GMP D (approx. 500 square meters) cleanroom conditions. The investment sum amounts to 35 million euro and marks one of the largest single investments in the history of the Röchling Group in one location. The undertaking also creates around 70 new and modern jobs at the site.

- Industrial division: Röchling Plásticos Técnicos in Bocairent, Spain, expands its location by around 1,500 square meters of hall space. The new building creates space for the expansion and further growth of the location. Customers will benefit primarily from shorter delivery times and even better service. With this investment, Röchling is taking into account the strong growth of the subsidiary in recent years.

June 2018

- Medical division: Röchling Advent Tool & Mold, Inc. (today Röchling Medical Rochester) acquires the American medical technology specialist Precision Medical Products, Inc., (PMP) based in Denver, Pennsylvania (USA). The Röchling Group is thus consistently expanding the Medical division. PMP now operates under the name Röchling Medical Lancaster and employs 120 people. The products manufactured include: autoinjectors (special syringes for anaphylactic shock), medical products (minimally invasive instruments for eye surgery), bifurcation needles (special needles for vaccinations and allergy testing) and special syringes for bone cement.

- Automotive division: Together with Italian joint venture company Errecinque of the Lovera family and Röchling Precision Components, Röchling Automotive expands its plant in Oarja near Piteşti, Romania. In a total area of 16,100 square meters, 182 employees are now responsible for the production of active grille shutters and SCR exhaust aftertreatment and filling systems, among other things.

- Industrial division: Röchling Maywo GmbH opens its new logistics hall and expanded production area in Bad Grönenbach, in the Allgäu region. With the investment of 5 million euro, Röchling is strengthening its position as a leading European manufacturer of vacuum formable sheets and foils made from thermoplastics and creating 25 new jobs. The site was expanded by approximately 10,000 square meters. Here a 5,000 square meter warehouse and production hall was built, in addition to a large employee parking lot.

July 2018

- Medical division: Röchling acquires FRANK plastic AG, a provider of medical and industrial equipment based in Waldachtal in the Black Forest, with 260 employees. With this acquisition, Röchling is continuing to pursue its growth strategy in the medical and industrial segments. FRANK provides medical technology for such segments as cardiology, infusion therapy, angiography (CT/MRI), surgery and ophthalmology. The Industrial division supplies select segments with extrusion profiles, complex injection molding parts as well as valves, flow meters, and fittings.

August 2018

- Industrial division: Röchling is planning to make substantial investments in the further gradual expansion of Röchling Hydroma GmbH at the Ruppertsweiler site between now and 2021. The groundbreaking ceremony takes place in August, with construction of the new production hall beginning at the start of September. Investments are thus being made above all in the development of punched components and machined drawing parts made of thermoplastics. This is strengthening and expanding the product portfolio in the food industry.

October 2018

- Medical division: At its location in Brensbach, Germany, Röchling opens a new plant area. A total of 7.2 million euro was spent on this. From now on, production in Brensbach will also take place in hygiene-sensitive GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) class C areas and under smart factory conditions. The existing cleanroom area was expanded to 2,000 square meters and thus almost doubled in size. The existing cleanroom was modernized at the same time. All logistics, production and building technology systems were also connected.

November 2018

- Industrial division: Röchling Engineering Plastics SE & Co. KG in Haren acquires plastics processing company Schwartz GmbH Technische Kunststoffe in Xanten, Germany, with a total of 240 employees. The company is integrated into the Group as Röchling Industrial Xanten. The new location, which specializes in the production of molded parts made from cast polyamide and, in particular, offers large-volume and heavy-duty finished parts made from technical plastics for almost all industries, is to be expanded into a Center of Excellence for casting. A six-figure sum is to be invested in this in 2019.

March 2019

- Industrial division: Röchling Engineering Plastics (India) Pvt. Ltd. inaugurates its second production building in Vadodara. In the 5,000-square-meter new building, in which the company is investing around 2.5 million euro, Röchling is manufacturing sheets made from branded material Polystone® P (polypropylene) in the extrusion process, with a width of up to 2,500 millimeters and in lengths and thicknesses desired by the customer.