Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

US: Rockwool’s Comfortboard stone wool insulation product has been certified by the California State Fire Marshall’s Building Materials Listing (BML) Program. The product is resistant to fire up to 1175˚C and has a 0/0 Smoke Development and Flame Spread rating. The BML Program certifies products based upon an evaluation of test results that include an analysis of required product performance and reliability features. The testing was completed with a State Fire Marshall (SFM) accredited laboratory.

“This listing supports our continued commitment in the promotion of fire safe building practices and helps us deliver on products that will help architects and builders meet the California Title 24 thermal and Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) requirements,” said Mark Bromiley, Vice President of Marketing & Business Development, Rockwool (North America).

Romania: Saint-Gobain Isover is upgrading its Ploiesti mineral wool plant. A modernisation and extension project of its stone wool production line is scheduled to start operation in the second half of 2019. The upgrade will increase the plant’s production capacity to 30,000t/yr and extend its range of products for the Romanian market and neighbouring countries.

Saint-Gobain Isover has run operations on its Ploiesti site since 1997, with a glass wool line currently being modernised and due to start up in July 2018, and a stone wool line.

Romania: Saint-Gobain Isover plans to reopen its glass wool production line at its Ploiesti plant in July 2018. The line is expected to restart following a complete furnace rebuild and other upgrades. 50 new jobs will be created in production, logistics and administrative departments.

“The production line allows Isover to adapt its glass wool production capacity to the market demand in the region, given that Romanian market is the largest of the South-East European region. Our decision was generated by the positive trend registered by the construction market in the past year, a trend that is expected to continue over the next years as well,” said Ovidiu Pascutiu, General Manager for Saint-Gobain Rigips and Isover Romania.

Isover has also announced plans to upgrade its stone wool production line at the Ploiesti plant in 2018. The production capacity of the line will be increased by 30,000t/yr in 2019 following the Euro50m upgrade.

Denmark: Bjørn Høi Jensen, the chairman of Rockwool, has announced that he will not be standing for re-election at the company’s annual general meeting in April 2017. He said that as he had met his goals to review the management group, start a new growth plan and introduce an ‘extensive’ improvement in results that he was standing down earlier than planned. He originally became chairman in 2014.

Rockwool’s external net sales for its insulation division dropped by 2% to Euro1.63bn in 2016 from Euro1.66bn in 2015. In local currencies the company calculated a slight rise of 0.7% for its net sales. However, its overall profit nearly doubled to Euro166m from Euro90m and its earnings before interest, taxation, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) rose by 21% to Euro389m from Euro322m. It blamed the poor sales on the industrial and technical insulation industries and the slow development of construction in Russia in both new build and renovation. In a statement Jensen described 2016 as a year ‘marked by tough conditions.’

The insulation and building materials producer also announced that it was planning to build three new production plants including a stone wool factory in Mississippi, US. Land acquisitions for the projects are expected to be completed in 2017.

Russia: Finland’s Paroc has launched its Extra Light stone wool insulation product. The release is part of a strategy to diversify its offering to the Russian insulation and construction market. The insulation producer operates an insulation plant at Tverskaya Oblast.

Russia: Restrictions on imports have stopped Paroc from transporting stone from its Lapinlahti in Finland to its insulation plant in Russia. Joakim Westerlund, Paroc's chief operating officer, said that the import restrictions on crushed rock material were imposed with relatively short notice in summer 2016 according to the Savon Sanomat newspaper. Subsequently the insulation producer has had to source stone locally in Russia. Quarrying at Lapinlahti for Paroc by Fjäder Group has previously totalled 20,000t/yr.

Russia: TechnoNicol intends to invest Euro65.3m to establish a cluster of automated insulation materials plants in Khabarovsk, Russia.

The project is expected to generate more than 270 new jobs. The units, which will utilise stone wool and extruded polystyrene foam to produce insulation materials, is expected to support domestic demand, reduce the cost of construction products by 25% and improve the energy-efficiency of buildings in the region by 46%. TechnoNicol also plans to increase its exports to the Asia Pacific region and the Americas.

US: Roxul Inc, part of Rockwool International, has opened its first US manufacturing facility near Byhalia, Mississippi. The 600,000ft², US$160m plant was first announced in 2012 and broke ground in May 2013. Production began on Roxul's stone wool insulation products in June 2014. The company will employ 150 people when it reaches full capacity.

"When conducting our site selection due diligence, it was clear the state of Mississippi and Marshall County provided us the optimal location from both a manufacturing and distribution standpoint," said Trent Ogilvie, Roxul's chairman and managing director. "The support that Roxul has received from the community and the state has been terrific. We couldn't have found a better place to call home."

Turkmenistan: A feasibility study and project documentation for the construction of plants that will produce basalt fibre is being developed in Turkmenistan, according to local media. Basalt fibre for the production of thermal insulation will be developed from domestic raw materials in the coming years. The prototypes models of the superfine fibres were produced from rocks from the fields of the Balkan Velayat Region.