Herma invests €100m in Filderstadt operation

It is the largest investment in the company’s 110-year history. Both production facilities will be located in the area immediately adjacent to the company’s Filderstadt headquarters, acquired in mid-2015. The purchase price for that area is not included in the investment sum. In both cases, construction will begin in 2017, and commissioning is scheduled for 2019.

Announced by Herma managing directors Sven Schneller and Dr Thomas Baumgärtner during a visit by Filderstadt mayor Christoph Traub, the investment is the first stage of a master plan for the 80,000 sq m site that extends to 2040. ‘With the gradual implementation of this master plan, we have the opportunity to safeguard the company’s growth at this location for several generations,' said Sven Schneller.

The new coating plant will increase Herma’s annual coating capacity by 50 percent, from 750 million sq m to more than 1.1 billion sq m of self-adhesive materials. Commented Dr. Thomas Baumgärtner, who heads the self-adhesive materials division: ‘With this investment, we plan to extend our lead regarding multi-layer technology. We will therefore be able to add completely new products to our portfolio. Furthermore, due to the technology used in the new plant, we will be able to grow even more in the attractive field of film-based materials.’ Herma has been able to leverage its technology innovations to consistently grow faster than the market. ‘We aim at maintaining this pace,’ said Baumgärtner.

Currently located in Deizisau, Germany, Herma's Labelling Machines division is also growing at a healthy rate, and will move to Filderstadt during the course of this investment. ‘We have the historically unique opportunity to build state-of-the-art production lines for labelers and labeling machines – within an ideal building layout,' said Martin Kühl, head of the Labelling Machines division. The largest growth drivers at the moment are machines for the healthcare sector and expansion in international markets, especially North America.

‘With this investment in the three-digit million range, Herma is probably the leading investor in its field in Central Europe for the time being,’ said Sven Schneller. Filderstadt mayor Christoph Traub was impressed with the multi-generation plans for Filderstadt. ‘This is a major milestone for our business location in the competitive Stuttgart area.’