Insulation industry news from Global Insulation

Finland: Metso has launched the Outotec Mineral Wool Furnace, an electric furnace for mineral wool production. The new model is based on Metso's established proprietary equipment, used in ferroalloy and slag cleaning applications. As part of Metso's Planet Positive offering, the furnace offers reduced CO₂ emissions, high plant availability, extended life and an easily customisable modular design for specific applications.

Technology director Tom Ronnberg said “Demand for insulation materials is growing due to tightening energy efficiency requirements. At the same time, the insulation material industry is aiming for better efficiency and carbon neutrality in their production processes.”

Kazakhstan: Cormatex and the Kazakhstan Investment Development Fund say that their upcoming insulation plant will come online in 2024. Local press has reported the location of the plant as the city of Aktobe, in the region of the same name.

UK: SIG says that its full-year sales dropped by 2% year-on-year in 2023. Reuters has reported that the company nonetheless expects to record an underlying operating profit in the upper half of its forecast for the year. It said that restructuring and productivity initiatives carried out in the second half of 2023 saved an anticipated Euro11.6m. SIG expects ‘soft’ market conditions to continue in 2024.

Germany: Ireland-based Kingspan completed its acquisition of flexible wood fibre insulation producer Steico for Euro250m on 5 January 2024. Alliance News has reported that Kingspan issued shares to former Steico owner, Austria-based Schramek, following its completion of the deal.

UK: Recticel says that new requirements following the UK’s exit from the EU have created estimated extra one-time costs of Euro464,000. Local press has reported that UK-based laboratory testing is estimated to cost Euro325,000 across eight products, while new fire tests for the same products will add a further Euro130,000.

Senior technical manager Simon Blackham said “It’s the same standards, to the same test method, the same everything - and it would have to be paid for, ultimately, by the customer.”