Global extruder and injection moulder Rehau has invested €3.2m to launch a new manufacturing plant in the Czech Republic to produce automotive components.

The new 7,700m² production facility, the German group’s second unit in the central European country, was formally opened at Jevíčku, south of its existing plant, late in November 2011.

Initially, the Jevíčku unit which was acquired from the US company Global Safety Textiles (GST), is in trial production with two extrusion lines and 80 Rehau workers transferred from its exisiting plant in Moravské Třebové. It will focus on injection moulding and assembly operations.

In 2012, the firm plans to install another five extruders and hire 120 more employees at the new site. Rehau already employs 640 in its original Czech operations. Production at the new plant will focus on vehicle window and roof rail seals as well as other car components.

The processor, based in Rehau, Germany, also plans to open a Czech technology centre in 2012 with offices at both its sites. The Czech centre will be the firm’s fourth.

“We will centralise our technologists here (in Czech Republic). They will be working on the comprehensive development of new processes and technologies for the entire eastern Europe," explained Rehau vice president Veit Wagner.

Early this year (2011), Rehau group decided to concentrate production of extruded profiles for the automotive sector in Gava in Spain and in the Czech Republic.

In 2008, the company introduced extrusion blow moulding at the Moravské Třebové site, opening up a new area of the market and enabling it to satisfy customer need for larger components.

Rehau needed to boost its production capacity in the Czech Republic but had a choice over which route to take. “...We have considered whether we would start building a completely new area or find a suitable building in the vicinity of the reconstruction.

“A coincidence helped us, as in the nearby Jevíčku a capacity-corresponding production area on sale had been released for sale,” explained Mr Wagner.

Rehau group, which also turns out a wide range of products for the construction and industrial sectors, employs a workforce of 15,000 at 170 separate locations worldwide.