Facility to be “world’s first” carbon-neutral hose production unit

Vienna, Austria – Semperit Group is investing €110 million in its existing hose manufacturing facility in Odry, Czech Republic, to increase capacity and build what it has described as “world’s first” carbon neutral hose production plant.

The investment in the plant, which manufactures industrial and hydraulic, will have a particular focus on sustainability and automation and will be completed over the next few years, Semperit said in a statement 13 July.

As part of the project a new “highly automotated” production hall will be built to manufacture 32 million metres of hydraulic hoses, bringing total production capacity to 200 million metres of hose per year by 2025.

Semperit said the project is the final stage of a plan to increase capacity that has seen investments made into all of its hose factories, including in China and in Thailand.

“By investing heavily in Odry, the Semperit executive board will be guaranteeing the ongoing organic growth of Semperflex [hose division],” said CEO Karl Haider, noting that the company’s customers were “on track for exceptional expansion in the future.”

“Being located close to our customers in Europe, a key market for us, brings us benefits like more manageable supply chains, faster deliveries, reduced carbon emissions, and savings on transportation,” added Gerfried Eder, managing director of Semperflex.

The expansion, Semperit added, will help Semperflex “to disproportionately increase” market and supply share.

In terms of sustainability, Semperit said the new hall will be powered exclusively by renewable energy.

While capacity will be increased, the overall water consumption in Odry will drop by around 30% once the new hall is finished, the company statement added without offering further details.

Furthermore, the flow of goods will be optimised to improve lead times at the site.

“Every step of the production process that can be automated will be automated,” said Michael Adelbauer, director of operations at Semperflex.

This, he said, will improve staff productivity, process stability, and consistent product quality.

Semperit’s Semperflex segment, which accounted for around 29% of the group’s €227-million total revenue in the first quarter of 2022.

The unit produces hydraulic and industrial hoses at sites in Austria, Thailand, and China in addition to the Czech Republic.