Marazzi invests more than 60 million Euro in Italy

The parent company Mohawk gives its approval to the doubling in size of the Fiorano Modenese plant.

CEO Vandini: “Growth plans based on the district’s know-how and technological development.”

Marazzi, world leader in the ceramic tile industry, has approved a major new investment for the expansion and development of its production facility at Fiorano Modenese (Modena, Italy), increasing its investments in the famous ceramics district to more than 60 million Euro.

The investment plan, worth a total of more than 30 million Euro and covering the purchase and installation of new plant and machinery, opens the way to the doubling of the site’s production capacity from the current 4 million to 9 million square metres of porcelain stoneware.

When fully operational, the plant will have new highly automated production lines including presses, kilns and a series of state-of-the-art digital technologies for decorating, colouring, rectifying and squaring the ceramic product.

The new lines will manufacture high-grade porcelain stoneware floor coverings, with the capability for a large range of medium and large sizes.

The design of the new plants has prioritised environmental impact as well as working conditions and safety, including a cogeneration plant, heat recovery systems, leading-edge safety systems and workstations organised in accordance with the dictates of the broader World Class Manufacturing Programme  to which the company is committed. 

The work, scheduled to take about 18 months, will be carried out without halting production at the site, and the first kiln will go into production by July 2014.

This major investment has been approved by the Board of Directors of Mohawk Industries Inc., majority shareholder in Marazzi since April of this year, and comes in addition to the more than 30 million Euro earmarked for 2013 for the continual improvement of production operations in Italy, including the earthquake-damaged Finale Emilia plant, where new latest-generation stoneware products have just gone into production.

“We see very much eye to eye with our new American shareholders,” comments CEO Mauro Vandini, “who are prepared, as they announced when Marazzi was acquired by the Mohawk Group, to provide generous support for growth plans based on the district’s know-how and technological development.”

“Although the context in the economy and the industry is still uncertain, Marazzi is continuing to invest in product quality and production efficiency,” Vandini continues. “We are sure this is the right policy for maintaining our position of leadership and expand our market shares, as we are already succeeding in doing.”

“We are preparing with great confidence for the Cersaie in Bologna, the biggest international exhibition in the ceramics industry, where we will be presenting sophisticated technical products, also very suitable for the residential sector, and new bathroom and kitchen tiles which, in our view, express all the potential of the new decoration technologies.”

“It is my conviction that colour and decoration are aspects of the ceramic tile worthy of greater emphasis, to reinforce the material’s expressive potential, made possible by the latest technologies. During the last few years, there has been a strong focus on neutral colours and the reproduction of natural materials, but we are concentrating a great deal on the new trends in wall coverings.”