The Schunk Group has invested 28 million euros in the modernization of carbon production at the Heuchelheim site: The technology company opened a new production hall there today.
"The construction of this new production hall is an important milestone for the Heuchelheim site," said Dr. Arno Roth, CEO of the Schunk Group, at the opening of the new production hall. "Because the new production brings us a big step closer to our goal of modernizing the Heuchelheim site all around." Since 2016 alone, Schunk has invested more than a quarter of a billion euros in Heuchelheim - the largest site in the Schunk Group and the company's headquarters.
"The new production hall meets all the requirements of modern industrial production," said Dr. Ulrich von Hülsen, Member of the Executive Board of the Schunk Group and responsible for the materials business. He added that production of plain bearings and sealing components made of carbon and other high-tech materials in particular will be bundled here. "The new building will enable us to concentrate production areas that were previously spread across the site here and thus also make internal logistics on the plant site more efficient, for example in terms of material flow." Last but not least, Schunk expects this to result in shorter throughput times for its products, which will benefit customers in particular, Dr. von Hülsen added. "With the new production hall, we are now also more flexible and can adapt our product portfolio more easily and quickly to the needs of our customers, which further strengthens our future viability." And last but not least, Dr. von Hülsen continued, the employees also benefit from the modern and appealing workplaces.
100 machines on 4,500 square meters
Planning for the new building began back in January 2019, with demolition of the existing buildings starting in June 2021 and the go-ahead for the actual new building in November 2021.
The new production hall houses around 100 different machines for mechanical processing on an area of over 4,500 square meters. A wide range of different products are manufactured here, which find applications in the sealing industry on the one hand and in the pump and compressor industry on the other.
In the sealing industry, Schunk's high-performance materials have been meeting the stringent requirements for decades, which has made us one of the most important partners of companies in this industry worldwide. Customers can rely on specifically designed materials that offer high reliability and long service life. Whether extremely cold or extremely hot, this cannot harm Schunk's sealing components. Not even contact with extremely aggressive substances. This is ensured by Schunk's extensive portfolio of high-performance materials, combined with leading machining expertise and application technology consulting. For Schunk’s customers, this means that they will always find the perfect seal for them, regardless of whether it is for drinking water, chemicals, refineries, power plants, food, pharmaceuticals or aviation.
The situation is very similar for products for the pump and compressor industry. Here, as a specialist for carbon and silicon carbide materials, Schunk offers a wide range of products from a single source. Whether in the classic liquid pump or in the dry-running high-vacuum pump - these high-tech materials perform outstandingly well everywhere as plain bearings, slides, armor sleeves, sealing rings and pump linings. Among other things, they are characterized by very low friction and high wear resistance and are used in pumps, vacuum pumps, compressors, turbo compressors and engines. Because material properties and design often influence each other, Schunk advises its customers during the development of new units. The technology company’s customers include both highly specialized niche suppliers and the global market leaders in the pump industry, who in turn supply markets such as the chemical and refinery industries, the power plant industry or the food and pharmaceutical industries. There, the components that will in future be manufactured in the new production hall in Heuchelheim will perform reliably and safely.