The plants first phase is slated to produce 12,000 tons per year of finished products, and a second phase would raise capacity to 40,000 t/y. A workforce of 40 employees operates the lubes manufacturing process. Fuchs already operates a smaller metalworking fluids plant in Yaroslavl, but those operations will be gradually transferred to Kaluga.

For us, Russia is one of the main important markets for the international growth initiative of the worldwide Fuchs business, and the new plant in Kaluga is an essential element of this program, Christian Ohlighmacher, Fuchs vice president for the Commonwealth of Independent States and Russia, told Lube Report on Monday. With this plant we go a big step forward in serving both local and international customers with lubricants manufactured in Russia according to our high German standards.

In the beginning, the plant will offer 30 different types of products. Fuchs now supplies such companies as Volkswagen Russia, tire manufacturer Continental and metal automotive components and units maker Gestamp-Severstal-Kaluga. The region is one of the centers of the Russian automotive industry. Other automakers and automotive suppliers that have assembly plants there include Volvo Trucks, Peugeot-Citroen and Mitsubishi, as well as Magna, Benteler and Visteon.

This region gives huge opportunities for business growth, according to Nikolay Kuznetsov, general director of Fuchs Oil, the company’s subsidiary in Russia. We have chosen Kaluga oblast on purpose, and we are grateful to the local authorities that supported our project, he said during the plant’s opening ceremony in September.

The company envisions opening a research and development center based on the current state-of-the art laboratory. This plant will not only allow us to produce different products here, but actually to formulate and develop [new products]. We are committed to invest further and don’t rule out expansion of the enterprise, Stefan Fuchs, chairman of the company’s executive board, said in Kaluga.

Headquartered in Mannheim, Germany, the family-owned Fuchs has a global network of lubricant plants and distribution channels. It is one of the worlds biggest independent lubricant providers and is a stock listed company. It has over 50 subsidiaries that produce and sell about 10,000 products for all various applications and industries to over 100,000 customers in more than 100 countries.

Fuchs has been active in Russia for 15 years and has offices in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yaroslavl and Yekaterinburg. The company employs more than 60 people who focus on the entire territory of Russia.