Marazzi invests more than 60 million euros in Italy

CEO Vandini: "Growth plans are based on technological development and local expertise"

Marazzi, a world leader in the ceramic tile sector, has approved a major new investment to expand and develop its facility in Fiorano Modenese (Modena), bringing its investments in the Sassuolo ceramic district to more than 60 million euros.

Following an investment worth a total of 30 million euros for the purchase and installation of new plant and machinery, the site's annual production capacity will be more than doubled from the current 4 million square metres to 9 million square metres of porcelain tile.

When fully operational, the facility will have new highly-automated production lines equipped with presses, kilns and a series of cutting-edge digital technologies for decoration, colouring, rectification and squaring of ceramic products.

The new lines will be used for the production of high-quality porcelain floor tiles and will have a high degree of flexibility in terms of medium and large formats.

The new plants were designed with a strong focus on environmental impact as well as the comfort and safety of operators. They feature a cogeneration plant, heat recovery systems, state-of-the-art safety systems and workstations organised in accordance with the principles of the World Class Manufacturing programme that the company has embraced.

The approximately 18-month investment will be carried through without halting production at the facility, with the first kiln scheduled to begin production by July 2014.

This major investment was approved by the Board of Directors of Mohawk Industries Inc., the parent company of Marazzi since April. It follows on from more than 30 million euros of investments made in 2013 with a view to continuously improving production in Italy. This includes the facility in Finale Emilia which was damaged by last year's earthquake and has recently begun producing new lines of cutting-edge porcelain tile.

"We enjoy strong backing from the new U.S. shareholders, who - as announced at the time of the acquisition of Marazzi by Mohawk Group - are ready to give concrete support to the growth plans focusing on the technological development and expertise of the Sassuolo district - commented CEO Mauro Vandini -. Despite continued uncertainty in the economic environment and in our sector, Marazzi is continuing to invest in product quality and production efficiency," continued Vandini. "We believe this is the way to maintain our leadership position and to continue to secure new market shares."

All set up for the next Cersaie in Bologna, the ceramic sector's leading international event. "We are preparing with great confidence for this event - continues Vandini -, where we will be presenting sophisticated technical products that are particularly suited to the residential sector, as well as new bathroom and kitchen wall tiles that we believe fully exploit the aesthetic potential of new decoration technologies. I believe we must return to colour and decoration in ceramics and use new technologies to achieve the maximum aesthetic potential. Whereas research in recent years has focused strongly on non-colours and on the interpretation of natural materials, we are concentrating strongly on new trends in surface covering."