ZKW Slovakia: Start of construction for the largest expansion in ZKW’s history

ZKW Slovakia: Start of construction for the largest expansion in ZKW’s history

With the groundbreaking on September 27th, 2018, the Management Board of the ZKW Group and ZKW Slovakia s.r.o. kicked off the largest and most cost-intensive expansion project in ZKW’s 80-year history.

ZKW Slovakia s.r.o. was founded in Krušovce in 2007 and has been developing rapidly ever since. The factory in Krušovce has roughly 2,500 employees, making it the second largest ZKW production site after the plant in the Lower Austrian town of Wieselburg. ZKW’s Slovakian headquarters primarily produces headlights and fog lamps and works to develop new light systems.

“Over the last few months, the production facilities at ZKW Slovakia have been working at full capacity due to the many new projects we have received and their complexity. Because of this, we planned an extensive expansion of approx. 37,500m²,” says Franz Nigitz, CEO of ZKW Slovakia s.r.o. of the expansion. Currently, the plant has 42,000m² of space available for production, with additional rented warehouse space of approx. 14,500m². The building expansion will nearly double the available production space. Processes and the organization will also be optimized at the same time as the expansion, in order to maintain the plant’s long-term competitiveness.

Expansion with style

In addition to the production area, a new office wing with a training center, open plan office, and central medical emergency center will be constructed. The plant will integrate 45 injection molding machines, and in the future will also start production of plastic lenses and modules. Approx. 155 million euros of total investment are planned over the next three years.

A focus on sustainability and concluding construction quickly

The planning phase of the expansion focused primarily on ensuring construction was as cost-effective, low energy, and environmentally protective as possible. Heating in the warehouse for replacement part production and floor heating for the headlamp warehouse are fed using waste heat from the injection molding machines.

Plans for completing the warehouses are ambitious: Construction of the production warehouse is slated to finish by late March 2019, with the opening of the entire building planned for late May 2019. “Although the schedule is tight, because of our excellent preparatory work I’m optimistic that we can conclude the expansion project as planned. The expansion of the Slovakian plant will allow us to be more competitive and allow Krušovce to contribute even more strongly to ZKW’s overall growth in the future,” says Oliver Schubert, CEO of the ZKW Group GmbH.