Officials preside over the start of works for Wacker Neuson

Work will soon begin on the expansion of Wacker Neuson's light equipment production site in Reichertshofen. The company will be investing around EUR10 million (USD11.3 million) in a new R&D centre for light equipment between now and the start of 2017.

Back in 1998, the company moved production of vibratory plates from the previous site near the Olympic Park in Munich (now the location of its headquarters) to the factory in Reichertshofen (65 km away) to support strong growth and overcome capacity bottlenecks. Over the coming year, R&D, product management and materials management will also be relocating to Reichertshofen, near to the production facility.

"Moving all technical operations for light equipment to the same site will improve processes, shorten workflows and boost productivity even further," explains Helmut Bauer, managing director of Wacker Neuson Produktion GmbH & Co.

Wacker Neuson currently employs around 330 employees at the Reichertshofen site. The company is constructing a new office building and test hall next to the existing production facilities on an area spanning more than 10 ha. This will include around 3,500 sqm of additional space for up to 120 employees, primarily in R&D. A large, modern test hall alongside the R&D facility will provide almost 3,000 sqm of space for extensive testing of light equipment during the development phase.

"Expansion of the Wacker Neuson production site is currently the most important commercial development in our community," says Michael Franken, Mayor of Reichertshofen. "It is creating a lot of promising new jobs that will strengthen our region."

Wacker Neuson anticipates that the first employees will be moving into the four-storey administration building and test hall by the end of the year.