Rowe Mineralolwerk reports progress on its new $53 million lubricants plant in Germany, which will have 120,000 metric tons per year production capacity and serve as company headquarters when completed at the end of 2013.
Construction began on an 82,000 square meter site in Worms in December 2012, the lubricant producer stated in a June 11 news release. On June 5 Rowe completed the shell of its new headquarters. It will include four halls, which will accommodate production and filling systems, two warehouse complexes, offices and a laboratory. According to the schedule, the technical installations will be installed in the late summer after the building has been completed, and by the end of the year, production will begin to move to Worms, the company stated.
Rowe plans to construct a tank farm with various capacities on a nearby site. The optimum connection to the local infrastructure, with the Rhine as the central waterway, offers ideal conditions for Rowe to continue its expansion plans in the future.
The company plans to grow the number of staff to 240, about 80 more than the lubricant producer employs at its current headquarters in Bubenheim. Initially about 120 people will move to Worms, and 40 people will stay in Bubenheim, because some fluids will stay in Bubenheim, Rowe spokeswoman Anja Habel told Lube Report.
During the headquarters relocation, Rowe said it intends to retain all its production facilities in Bubenheim, where it will continue to produce industrial lubricants, brake fluids, and radiator and windshield washer antifreeze fluids. Located 90 kilometers south of Frankfurt, the Bubenheim plant has 60,000 t/y capacity.
Habel confirmed that Rowe would initially move only production of motor oils, gear oils and hydraulic oils to the Worms site, though she noted the company has permission to manufacture all its product lines at both the Worms and Bubenheim sites.