Fuchs announced plans last week to build a new manufacturing plant near Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. The German lubricant manufacturer expects to begin construction in mid-2015 and to be fully operational by mid-2016. Fuchs did not disclose the projects cost.
Fuchs selected the new 25,000 square meter piece of landin Beresfield because of its proximity to all major connecting highways to the north, south, east and west, and also because it is close to the companys Wickham facility, which the new plant will replace. All existing employees will be able to continue to work at the Beresfield plant, the company noted in last weeks press release.
The existing site in Wickham was too small to expand, so we made the decision to move to the new Beresfield site which will allow us maintain our experienced workforce and increase our production capacity and operational efficiencies to better service our key customer base in New South Wales and Queensland, said Wayne Hoiles, managing director of Fuchs Lubricants Australasia.
While such a significant portion of Australias manufacturing is moving offshore, we have focused on growing our business in Australia and New Zealand, particularly in high demand areas, Hoiles continued. This project will be a significant investment into the Newcastle region, and is part of an ongoing strategy to increase our investment into our operations in Australia. Fuchs also noted that the company is focused on not just Australia and New Zealand, but on Southeast Asia as well.
The Australian mining industry, in particular, is growing, and customers in the Hunter Valley region will be better served by the new plant, noted Dr. Georg Lingg, a Fuchs Petrolub AG board member responsible for the Asia Pacific and Africa region.
Fuchs completed an A $4.5 million (U.S. $4.1 million) warehouse facility in Melbourne, Australia, last August, which it said was the first phase of an A $6 million plan to increase lubricant production capacity and efficiency there by the end of 2014.
Fuchs Lubricants Australasia is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fuchs Petrolub SE of Mannheim, Germany.