The expansions of two German plants are on schedule at Lifocolor (Lichtenfels / Germany; www.lifocolor.de). A spokesperson for the manufacturer of colour masterbatches and additives confirmed to Plasteurope.com that work at the headquarters plant in Lichtenfels and at the Straufhain site, also in Germany, should result in the beginning of operations at both in mid-2021, as planned.

As part of the construction work that began in July 2019, Lifocolor is investing around EUR 20m in Lichtenfels in a 14,000 m² building complex for production, quality control, administration, warehouse and logistics (see Plasteurope.com of 25.07.2019). Being built beside the existing plant, the addition is expected to boost capacity by 6,000 t/y, which will more than double the total possible masterbatch output at the location, according to the spokesperson.

The work in Straufhain focuses mainly on storage capacity, but plans are said to include an 20-30% increase in production volumes at the site. The Straufhain plant currently has 55 employees and produces masterbatches for standard plastics and engineering thermoplastics.

At the headquarters of the company’s eponymous French subsidiary, which was relocated from Bellignat to Izernore in autumn 2019, another production line is to be commissioned at the beginning of 2021, which will double local capacity. “We will then be able to produce 2,000 tonnes of masterbatches per year,” said operations manager David Bouix. When the new French headquarters opened, Bouix assumed the duties of the long-standing director José Pereira, who died unexpectedly.

“The investment in the expansion of our French location was made due to the steady positive development over the past two decades,” noted Lifocolor MD Martin Fabian. The official inauguration of the Izernore facility planned for 2020 as part of the 20th anniversary of the French company was canceled due to the pandemic.