As part of a group expansion scheme up to 2015, Hilti (Schaan / Duchy of Liechtenstein; www.hilti.com), a manufacturer of professional electric drills, hammer drills and plastic fastening elements, plans to expand its German plastics processing site in Nersingen-Straß near Ulm. The project is expected to be completed during mid-2009, at a cost of EUR 22m. Up to 2015, output of the site’s main products is planned to be doubled, and the workforce of Hilti-Kunststofftechnik increased from 200 to about 230 over the next few years.

The company has acquired a site of some 20,000 m² on which it will build a new 7,800 m² hall. Injection moulding production of machine housings will move into the new building, allowing more space in the existing hall for production of plastic fastening elements. A warehouse with 4,000 pallet spaces and a smaller building for in-house toolmaking will also be built.

The state-of-the-art plan for the entire production site includes a “zero heating” concept, in which waste heat from the 70 injection moulding machines, which will heat the buildings without additional energy input. Other aspects of the German production also conform to the latest technological standards. Some of the machines, which have clamping forces of up to 6,500 kN, operate with water or gas injection technology, and there are also some two-component applications, for example for the handles of electric drills.

When the Liechtenstein group’s expansion program initiated in 2007 is completed in 2015, its global sales are planned to have nearly doubled to CHF 8 bn, from CHF 4.7 bn (around EUR 2.9 bn) in 2007 and CHF 4.1 bn in 2006. The goal is to improve production processes to meet market demands, a company spokeswoman explained to PIE. In 2007, the Hilti group posted an operating result of CHF 533m, a rise of 26% against 2006. The plastics processing activities accounted for sales of EUR 52m.