Röchling Puts Plant into Operation in Czech Republic

Mannheim (Germany), October 11, 2007 – The Röchling Group has officially started operations at its new Czech production facility in Koprivnice. Compression-molded and shaped parts are made from plastic for the automobile industry at the new location in the east of the Czech Republic. The plant belongs to Röchling Automotive’s Europe Central region, which is managed from Worms, Germany.
“The foundation of Röchling Automotive Koprivnice s.r.o. means that the Röchling Group is now represented in the automotive plastics segment in Central and Eastern Europe. In doing this we are following our customers. Many international automobile manufacturers have transferred parts of their production to this region,” said Georg manufacturers are reported to have invested around EUR 24 billion in the region, mainly in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary and Romania.

“From the Koprivnice facility we aim not only to supply automobile manufacturers and automotive suppliers in Western Europe but also and most importantly to gain the assembly plants of Western and Asian carmakers in Central and Eastern Europe as new customers,” said Ulrich Mauß, a member of the Management Board of Röchling Automotive, explaining the Röchling Group’s investment in the Czech Republic.

After a construction period of eight months in which EUR 6.5 million was invested, Röchling Automotive Koprivnice has already commenced production of its first injection-molded and compression-molded parts for Ford, including plastic partitions for interiors and under the hood.

The company currently has 64 employees at its Czech location. “We expect to double this figure in one or two years, thereby having created 120 jobs,” Mauß said. The first employees underwent training at the Röchling Automotive plant in Worms for the technologies that were to be used in Koprivnice. In-house training is now provided on location in the Czech Republic.

Röchling is a worldwide operating plastics group based in Mannheim, Germany. With 6,000 employees at 54 locations in 18 countries, Röchling today is a leading international plastics processing company. With its High-Performance Plastics and Automotive Plastics divisions, Röchling Group sales total over EUR 1 billion in Europe, America and Asia.