Photo: GEA CEO Stefan Klebert (left) and the head of the Oelde site, Klaus Stojentin (Photo: IDM)
GEA is investing around 50 million euros by the end of 2024 in the modernization of the German centrifuge plants in Oelde (NRW) and Niederahr (Rhineland-Palatinate). The mechanical engineering group announced this today at a press conference on the occasion of the 130th anniversary of GEA Separation at the Oelde site. By investing in more sustainable production, in digitization and automation, GEA is focusing on further growth in its most important markets of the food, beverage and pharmaceutical industries.
GEA centrifuges are used in over 3,500 different processes in a wide variety of industries. Growth drivers include applications for alternative protein production and global demand for dairy products. The investment package for the centrifuge plants is based on four pillars: sustainability, digitization, automation and modern manufacturing technologies.
“We proudly look back on 130 successful years in separation technology. With the investments announced today, we are making our locations future-proof in order to produce in an even more climate-friendly, efficient and modern way. We are thus strengthening the competitiveness of both German locations,” says GEA CEO Stefan Klebert. “We owe our success story above all to our dedicated employees, who tirelessly and with a high level of engineering skill do everything they can every day to ensure that we fulfill our corporate purpose of ‘Engineering for a better world’.”
In order to make production companies fit for the future, robotics and laser technology will, for example, be increasingly used in the future. New complete machining centers will also reduce the complexity of the processes and ensure consistently high manufacturing quality. Modernization of digitized processes should enable faster processing of orders and repairs. In this context, the supply of spare parts will also be automated: Thanks to predictive maintenance and smart machine monitoring, customers will in future automatically receive the parts they need for trouble-free and continuous operation of their systems.
IDM took part in the press conf: Interested readers will find an article in one of the next issues that describes GEA’s plans in the field of centrifugal separation technology in more detail.
