Wienerberger AG opens in Bulgaria the most contemporary hollow bricks factory in Europe

The robotized facility in Lukovit produces the best bricks on the local market

The world's largest producer of bricks and number two on the clay roof tiles market in Europe, Wienerberger AG, officially opened its first factory in Bulgaria. The facility is located in the city of Lukovit and the investment is more than ? 25 mln. The factory is the most contemporary of its class in Europe and is equipped with fully automated production lines where robotized technologies replaced traditional manual operations. The modern facility will produce the state of the art, high quality hollow bricks for the Bulgarian market.

After the acquisition of the old brick facility in Lukovit in the year 2006, Wienerberger AG launched a major reconstruction and modernization campaign. As a result the most contemporary technological equipment was delivered and installed in the factory and the production site was totally renovated. Thus Wienerberger AG set up the fundaments for a sustainable production of the high quality hollow bricks POROTHERM in Bulgaria.

Facing the latest standards in the energy efficiency, environment protection and health and safety conditions, the Lukovit facility is the first new generation plant, not only in the region of Balkan Peninsula, but also in Europe. The engineering and the technological projects were worked out by Corporate Engineering department of Wienerbeger AG, Vienna. The construction part of the project was designed by Jung Project LTD and the construction works were implemented by Unger Stahlbau Bulgaria.

In a production area of 14 000 m² the latest generation of machines and equipment is concentrated, delivered and installed by leading companies such as Händle GmbH, Hans Lingl Anlagenbau und Verfahrenstechnik GmbH & Ko KG, VHV GmbH, etc. The technological process is fully automated; the line control is implemented by computers and programmable controllers Siemens SIMATIC S7-400.

The human intervention is decreased to the possible minimum – many processes are executed by industrial robots. Dryer and kiln are specially designed to guarantee maximum energy efficiency and minimum emissions. Natural gas is used as fuel for the burning process. Wienerberger EOOD has implemented a rotating system for multi used pallets aiming to reduce the waste of wood as packaging material and thus contributing to the preservation of the forests in regional and global aspect.

The first products produced in the Lukovit facility are POROTHERM 25 N+F for external walls and POROTHERM 12 N+F for partition walls. Aiming to satisfy the market needs for masonry bricks the company will introduce new products in 2008.

The clay bricks POROTHERM are large format hollow bricks made of 100% natural materials. The structure of the bricks (high content of cavities) improves the thermal and sound insulation characteristics of the buildings.
The POROTHERM products meet all clay bricks requirements: mechanical stability, fire protection and multi functionality. These products are with excellent thermal and sound insulation characteristics and guarantee long life of the products. POROTHERM products are environmentally friendly; guarantee economy, easy and quick assembly as well as safety during the construction works. These products were designed to meet the highest requirements of investors, construction companies and end users.

Wienerberger AG is the world's largest producer of bricks and Nr. 2 on the clay roof market in Europe. The group also holds leading positions in pavers in Europe. The company was founded in 1819 in Vienna. With a total of 260 plants in 26 countries and five export markets, Wienerberger achieved revenues of ? 2.48 billion and profits of ? 551.2 million EBITDA in 2007. Wienerberger has a global workforce of more than 15,500. The Wienerberger strategy is based on profitable growth with a focus on products for wall, façade, roof and surface.