Grenzebach expands presence in Asia with new production site in India

Grenzebach, a leading company in the glass industry, head-quartered in Germany, is happy to announce reaching a new milestone: on June 15, 2023, the contract for the expansion of their site in Pune, India, was signed. The current sales and service branch will be merged with the new manufacturing site for the glass and gypsum industry at the Pune location.

The start of production at the new site in Pune is scheduled for October 2023. In the course of the expansion, the company will create about 30 new jobs in the first phase.

Investment in the Asian market
The Grenzebach Group will be investing around EUR 2 million in the expansion, thereby reaffirming their trust in the Asian market and the economic region of India.

“We firmly believe in the Indian market and expect enormous potential for growth within the next five years,” said Dr. Steven Althaus, CEO of Grenzebach Group.

Ralf Jäger, COO of the Group, added, “With the strengthening of our Indian location, we are making a statement for the Pune region, India and Asia.”

The company expects sales potential for the glass and building materials sector of EUR 3 million in the first two years, increasing subsequently. The initial investment costs should be amortized rather quickly, according to projections by the Grenzebach Group. Further investments like the purchase of the company premises and subsequent rebuilding measures to meet today’s sustainability and energy efficiency requirements are already planned.

Investment in the glass industry
The decision on investing in India coincides with the positive development of the market and the increased demand for glass products such as float and structural glass. The Indian government’s sustainability agenda is creating particularly strong demand for solar glass for the manufacture of photovoltaic modules.

Markus Gruber, Senior Vice President Business Unit Glass at Grenzebach, said, “Our location in India will enable us to support our Indian customers even better. It will also allow us to be closer to them in terms of service and order processing. In recent years, we have already worked successfully with our Indian customers and would like to strengthen this cooperation further with the new infrastructure.”

New production site
The new premises, with 4,500 square metres of floor space, are located in the Chakan Industrial Area, Pune District, about 30 kilometres from Pune’s city centre. The premises will include a modern production unit and office space for sales, design, software development and service. The manufacturing site will be used in the future for the assembly of conveyor equipment and labour-intensive welding work for annealing lehrs for the glass industry and dryers for the building materials industry.

Prasanna Hegde, MD Grenzebach India, emphasized the importance of the new production facility, saying, “The expansion, complementing our plant in Jiashan, China, will enable us to serve our glass and building materials customers in the Eastern Hemisphere even better – with equipment and machinery to German standards, in high quality, at local cost levels.”