Kirn. The allocated site at Plant II in Kirn had originally been meant to accommodate a production facility spanning 1,200 sq m and a three-storey administration building, 1,000 sq m in size. The Management Board of SIMONA AG has now decided to extend the administration building by including two additional storeys. Construction work is scheduled for completion in the third quarter of 2015.

The production building, spanning 1,200 sq m was completed as planned in September 2014. A new production line was brought into service in December 2014; it is being used for the extrusion of new high-tech plastics.

These include PLA, a bioplastic, PFA, a fully fluorinated high-performance plastic, and polysulfone, a thermoplastic with high heat resistance.

A further production line will be put into operation as early as the first quarter of 2015.

The Process Development, Research & Development and Laboratory departments are to be brought together at the Technology Centre. "We are looking to concentrate as much technical expertise at our Technology Centre as possible. This will provide efficient structures and strengthen our abilities as an innovator," said Dirk Möller, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of SIMONA AG. "With this in mind, Production Management as well as the Operations Scheduling and Applications Engineering departments are now also to be accommodated in the Technology Centre on the site of Plant II in Kirn. This decision has meant that we will have to expand the administration building by two additional storeys," said Möller.

A sum in excess of €4 million has so far been invested in construction of the Technology Centre. In total, SIMONA plans to invest more than €10 million in new machinery and systems in the coming years, the aim being to extend its technical capabilities and introduce processing methods for new types of material.