On Thursday 13 July 2017, Arburg celebrated the start of groundwork for an impressive new Training Center in Lossburg. Guests at the event included District Administrator Dr Klaus Michael Rückert, representing the municipality of Lossburg, and the supervising architects from Schmelzle + Partner. The new multi-storey building will provide 13,700 square metres of usable space and represents an investment of several tens of millions of euros for the company. This will bring the total usable space at the Lossburg site to 180,000 square metres.
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Artist's impression: the new Arburg Training Center.
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With this foundation stone-laying ceremony, Arburg maintains a long-standing tradition that is intended to bring luck to the building and ensure its long-term existence. The other aim is to instil an interest in the life and work of their predecessors among future generations.
Accordingly, the stainless steel capsule incorporated in the foundations during the ceremony contains historical materials, such as building plans and lists of those involved in the project, the latest editions of Arburg's customer magazine and in-house newsletter as well as of the local newspaper, the Schwarzwälder Bote, a two euro coin dated 2017, aerial shots of the plant and photos of the Partners.
Clear commitment to Lossburg as a production location
Prior to the foundation stone-laying ceremony, Managing Partner Michael Hehl, who is responsible for plant development, commented on the significance of this additional new building: "This Training Center is a clear sign of our commitment to Lossburg as a production location and demonstrates our long-term, goal-oriented strategy."
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Foundation stone-laying ceremony for the new Arburg Training Center
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In terms of its construction activities, Arburg has been busy since 2007: it has built a Customer Center, an assembly hall, multi-storey car park, trade-fair logistics hall and now the new Training Center, representing an investment volume of tens of millions of euros.
It will cover a floorspace of 13,700 square metres, so that the total usable area of the parent plant in Lossburg will increase by almost five percent to around 180,000 square metres.
"Over the past ten years, we have spent many millions on new buildings at the Lossburg location," says Michael Hehl.
These investments highlight the great significance of Germany as a whole, and specifically the enormous importance of Lossburg for Arburg.
District Administrator expresses gratitude for fidelity to the location and future investment
District Administrator Dr Klaus Michael Rückert was evidently highly impressed with the ongoing construction activities as well as the level of investments in Lossburg as the sole production location and he thanked the owner family for their entrepreneurial activities and future investments in many areas, which also benefit the local economy. "Arburg continues to do great things, proving its faith in the location, not only in words, but always also in deeds," said the District Administrator.
High demand for Arburg training courses
The construction of a multi-storey Training Center means that existing and prospective Arburg customers will have an even better environment in which to learn and train. Michael Hehl explained the importance of the project: "In addition to our high-quality plastic processing machines, which are used throughout the world, our customers traditionally value our first-class services. This also includes our broad range of training courses relating to machines, application technology and service. We have trained tens of thousands of specialists over the past decades - and demand continues to grow."
Five floors will accommodate training, administration and health services
The ground floor of the new building will offer space for around 15 Allrounder injection moulding machines for practical training. Twelve rooms will be available on the first floor for training customers on theoretical points. The next two floors will be open plan offices for administrative staff. Finally, the fourth floor will house Arburg's company health management services. A new staff entrance is also being built.
Functionality, aesthetics and environmental protection
In architectural terms, the Training Center will resemble the Customer Center inaugurated in 2009. In addition to functionality and aesthetics, as with all activities at Arburg, environmental protection and careful management of resources and energy will be a focus. In this context, the double-glazed facade meets with the latest requirements of the EnEV energy-saving regulations, the tried and tested concept for building air temperature control, using low temperatures and full air-conditioning, as well as exploiting rainwater and waste and surplus heat from production to keep the outdoor areas in front of the building ice-free.
Architects Schmelzle explain the special features
For 19 years, Arburg has been building in partnership with architects Schmelzle + Partner, who were also responsible for the new Training Center. In total, there have been 31 projects to date. In his speech, Managing Director, Siegfried Schmelzle talked about what he regards as an extraordinary cooperative partnership: "The truth is that everything at Arburg is really special - the speed with which work progresses, the demands on the ecological and economic viability of the concepts, with special attention paid to the responsible use of soil and land." The guidelines are always to minimise land use, conserve resources and to make the best possible use of the terrain. According to Mr Schmelzle, the requirements for construction of the Training Center have been high. As examples, he pointed to the link to the existing building for which a steel tower will have to be erected temporarily for engineering reasons, and the poor subsoil, necessitating 164 bored piles in order to construct the building. "The new Training Center has to fulfil a great many functions and it is necessary to combine technology with visual aesthetics," explained the architect. It is therefore logical that the company's first foundation stone laying ceremony should be held for this "real multi-talent among ARBURG buildings".
Foundation stone laid in several phases
After the speeches, work began in earnest: first, Michael Hehl, together with the architects Siegfried Schmelzle and Claus Matt, filled the stainless steel capsule with the historical documents. Once this has been securely sealed, he placed the container in the prepared foundation. Subsequently, the three men, together with the other Arburg Partners Eugen Hehl, Juliane Hehl and Renate Keinath, District Administrator Dr Klaus Michael Rückert and Deputy Mayor of Lossburg, Manfred Hauser, spread the mortar on the foundation and finally sealed it with stone slabs.
