• Investment of 20 million Euros at the Leonding facility

• Realignment and international growth strategy

• Intensive co-operation with universities and universities of applied
science

• High-level technology and innovation leadership

• Significant enhancing effect for the business and research location
Upper Austria

Leonding/Austria. Poloplast, a leading provider of plastic pipe systems for plumbing, sewage and water supply installations as well as compounds, plans to invest 20 million Euros at its headquarters in Leonding/Austria. This reflects the next forward-looking milestone for the development of Upper Austria as a location specialising in plastics. The investments planned for the Leonding facility will allow Poloplast to achieve a focused realignment, additional growth and will safeguard its leadership position in innovation and technology in the long term.

20 million Euros for the Poloplast growth strategy
Poloplast’s main focus lies in the area of plastic pipe systems for plumbing, water supply installations and sewage. In the area of plumbing, among other applications, Poloplast products are used in noise-insulated above-ground drainage, in interior installation systems, in controlled dwelling ventilation systems, and in siphonic roof drainage systems. In the area of civil engineering, public sanitary engineering projects also use Poloplast products.
International reference projects such as Frankfurt Airport, the Vatican’s Museum Palace or the Conference Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi were equipped with Poloplast products.

In order to continue the activities aimed at growth, approximately 20 million Euros will be invested in the Leonding facility.
“The investments will be realized in tranches of 4 million Euros each, during the period from 2011 to 2015”, Poloplast’s Commercial General Manager Wolfgang Lux explains. Investments will focus on research and development, new extrusion lines, compounding, injection moulding and the facility’s infrastructure.
Wolfgang Lux: “Together with our owners we made the strategic decision to invest in the further development of the Leonding site and to establish a 5-year investment plan. Funding will be realized exclusively via cash flow. This investment package serves to position us perfectly for future growth. In 2009, at a cost of 5.3 million Euros, we completed the construction of a new logistics centre and put it into operation. In 2010, a further 3.5 million Euros flowed into new production facilities, infrastructure systems and our laboratory. The 20 million Euros mentioned represent an addition to these investments, and are planned for the period from 2011 to 2015,” Lux continues.

Realignment and international growth strategy
Poloplast serves a balanced portfolio of countries and has developed a strong international network. The principal markets are Austria, Germany, Italy, France, Spain, Scandinavia and the Middle East. Its partner organisations are distributors of building materials and plumbing materials, licensees, partners in industry co-operations and general importers.
The investments will also push forward the research and development efforts carried out at the Leonding site, thus contributing to expanding the technology leadership in the multi-layer technology of high-grade pipe systems, and to further advance the innovations and ongoing development of the product ranges. “This is precisely the point at which we differentiate ourselves from our competitors in the long term. Poloplast sets the themes that define what is supplied on the market. We know we are on the right path, because international competitors are taking less and less time to closely investigate our innovations. We represent high-level technology and innovation leadership”, Wolfgang Lux explains.

Poloplast employs 260 staff at the Leonding site. Adding the location in Ebenhofen/Germany, around 320 employees work for Poloplast.
“By expanding our activities and the investments we can employ around 325 members of staff at our Leonding site by 2015”, Wolfgang Lux cites as a positive balance for the years ahead.

“With our two sites we expect to generate revenues of approximately 75 million Euros for the year 2010. That corresponds approximately to the level of the previous year,” Lux says. “Our growth markets are mainly in Germany, France, Italy and Spain, as well as in Eastern and Southeast Europe.”
Poloplast has an export share of approximately 50% and hopes to increase its market share by investing in innovation. Annual production corresponds to around 18 million moulded parts. Operating a three-shift system, one moulded part is produced every second.

Measured in kilometres, Poloplast’s annually produced pipe length represents a distance of approximately 11,500 km, which is equivalent to the route from Johannesburg to Beijing.

Intensive co-operation with universities and universities of applied science in the area of R&D
“In the area of research and development, Poloplast works very closely with universities and universities of applied science,” Wolfgang Lux explains.
“These agendas are managed by our Technical General Manager, Jürgen Miethlinger, whose fields of responsibility at Poloplast include research and development and who acts as the link to university research.” Jürgen Miethlinger has been the head of the „Institute of Polymer Extrusion and Building Physics (ipeb)“ at the Johannes Kepler University Linz since mid-2008.
Lux is convinced that “the intensive co-operation with universities and universities of applied science will secure Poloplast’s ongoing innovative edge in the long term.”