New Knauf Insulation plant in France is a major boost for customers

The new plant in Illange will produce more than 110,000 tonnes of Rock Mineral Wool every year, enabling the company to evenly distribute capacity across our European sites, improving service levels and lead times for customers.

Group CEO, Jean-Claude Carlin, said: “The insulation market can be volatile. Over the past 18 months, there have been occasions when our plants in Central and Eastern Europe have been running overtime to meet sold-out situations. That clearly puts a significant pressure on our teams from production right through to customer service. Getting Illange online is therefore a great opportunity to recalibrate our production across Europe, get back to a normal workflow in our plants and significantly improve customer service”.

“We are very excited about serving our customers in Western Europe, especially France, where demand for our non-combustible Rock Mineral Wool external wall solutions is at an all-time high due to a national commitment — reinforced by regulation — to renovate hundreds of thousands of dwellings every year to reduce the country’s energy use and carbon footprint.”

State-of-the-art new technologies are currently being road-tested at the site, and when operational the plant will serve markets in Germany, and the Benelux, in addition to France.

Mr Carlin added: “We have a fantastic team at Illange and I am very proud of what we have achieved already. We have created over a hundred new local jobs already and developed the capacity and technology to produce an exciting new range of Rock Mineral Wool solutions. Over the years we expect to contribute an economic benefit to the region of up to €20 million every year.”