September 15 (SeeNews) - Belgium-headquartered insulation products manufacturer Knauf Insulation said on Thursday it has started mineral wool production at its recently acquired plant in central Romania after investing 4 million euro ($4 million) in upgrades.
The investment covered the initial stages of modernisation at the Gecsat plant production line in Tarnaveni, Mures county, Knauf said in a press release.
The company is starting the second stage of refurbishment in September, aiming to increase the plant's production capacity by an annual 2,000 tonnes to over 8,000 tonnes per year.
Once the entire investment plan is implemented, the Knauf Insulation factory in Tarnaveni will have an annual production capacity of about 60,000 tonnes of mineral wool, with the aim of serving both domestic needs, as well as markets in Central and Eastern Europe.
The plant employs 50, of which 45 used to work for Gecsat. Knauf plans to hire ten more people by the end of the year.
Knauf announced that it is acquiring the glass mineral wool plant in January, and became its owner in March.
Founded in 1918 in Tarnaveni as Ardeleana Glass Factory, Gecsat started producing glass mineral wool in 2007.
With over 40 years of experience in the insulation industry, Knauf Insulation employs more than 6,000 people across more than 40 countries with 30 manufacturing sites in 16 countries. The company is present in Romania since 2008.
Knauf Insulation is part of Germany-based Knauf Group, which employs more than 40,000 people worldwide, operating more than 300 factories and generating sales of over 12.5 billion euro.
($=0.9994 euro)