Structural work on Vetter’s new German facility Ravensburg Vetter West has been completed within eleven months of groundbreaking. As scheduled, the company concluded structural work on its centre for visual inspection and state-of-the-art high-bay warehouse for cold-storage and room-temperature products. Interior work and the construction of an environmentally friendly power supply system will be finished by late 2011, when operations will begin. In addition to photovoltaics and biogas, the facility will also use geothermal sources of power. More than 20 companies from the region participated in the implementation of the €31m project. The facility will employ more than 230 staff.
With its new centre for visual inspection and logistics, located in the industrial area of Erlen, adjacent to Ravensburg, Vetter further meets the needs of its international customers. The facility offers optimised quality control processes and material supply, enabling even more efficient and reliable product delivery around the world. To respond to the growing demand for stability tests, the centre will offer advanced-design stability chambers, with expanded capacity for long-term stability testing under a range of temperatures.
The facility will harness renewable energy across the site: Vetter is installing photovoltaic cells on the facade to generate solar electricity. The company is also collaborating with regional farmers who run, exclusively for Vetter, a biogas plant used to operate a block heating and power plant within the company’s site. Geothermal energy will be used to regulate temperatures in the high-bay warehouse.
“Our new facility in Erlen reinforces Vetter’s position in international markets,” says Thomas Otto, Vetter managing director. “It combines efficiency and sustainability, and its advanced processes support a high level of product and delivery security. Our investment both in the facility and in renewable energy testifies to our commitment to the region. In Erlen, we are laying important groundwork for Vetter’s continuing growth and success on the world market.”