Lenzing AG strengthens its position as major shipper in Heiligenkreuz
The Lenzing Group is expanding production capacities for its specialty fiber “Tencel” at its site in Heiligenkreuz, Burgenland. After obtaining all required approvals and permits, the expansion project was initiated on March 21, 2017. The ground-breaking ceremony was attended by Lenzing CEO Stefan Doboczky, along with Bernd Zauner and Dieter Eichinger, the two managing directors of Lenzing Fibers, Burgenland’s Provincial Governor Hans Niessl and Alexander Petschnig, the Regional Minister for Economic Affairs.
“We will invest about EUR 70 million over the coming twelve months to expand production capacities for our high-quality botanic specialty fibers”, Doboczky says. With this investment the company is responding to strong global demand for new types of the premium fibers.
Annual production capacities for fibers will be increased by about 25,000 tonnes as a result of the investment. The fibers will be available to customers starting at the end of the first quarter of 2018. “We launched the production of lyocell fibers in Heiligenkreuz 20 years ago, and have expanded the site to make it to one of the largest industrial employer in Southern Burgenland. The new investment is a further important milestone in our success story, and will provide added impetus to growth in a structurally weak region”, states Zauner.
Lenzing put its first industrial-scale lyocell fiber production facility into operation 20 years ago. Today the fibers are sold under the “Tencel” brand name. A recent study carried out under the scientific supervision of Friedrich Schneider, Professor at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, concluded that the Lenzing plant in Heiligenkreuz generates considerable regional economic effects. In addition to the approximately 230 jobs at Lenzing Fibers itself, around 940 additional jobs are secured on a long-term basis thanks to the company’s economic activities in the region. The additional value creation equals about EUR 102 million per year.
In its 20-year history, the Heiligenkreuz plant has sold close to 700,000 tonnes of fibers and exported the majority across the globe, as far away as China, Korea and Japan. The factory in Heiligenkreuz has been continuously expanded due to rapidly growing demand. Up until now, Lenzing has invested a total of roughly EUR 750 million to build and extend production capacities for “Tencel” fibers. In addition to the Heiligenkreuz facility, these specialty fibers are also manufactured at the Lenzing site, in Mobile (USA) and Grimsby (Great Britain).
