- Additional 4,000 square meters of production and warehouse facilites for efficient manufacturing
- 1,500 new square meters of modern workspace for shared use and targeted customer support
- Carbon footprint reduction through heating pumps, LED lighting, and photovoltaics
Weert/Netherlands, Mai 15, 2023. Syntegon is taking decisive steps in the conversion of its Weert site with a new office building and additional manufacturing space. The measures aim at increasing production and working flexibility, while supporting Syntegon’s overall sustainability targets. “Process efficiency, carbon footprint reduction, and modern working requirements are the main drivers of this project,” says site manager Leon van de Wiel. The conversion, which began mid of march 2023, involves major changes to office, warehouse, and manufacturing spaces by mid-2024. “Our goal is to manufacture packaging solutions in an efficient way. We further want to offer employees a motivating workspace that fosters cross-functional collaboration, and we are excited to welcome our customers in a state-of-the-art environment,” Leon van de Wiel adds.
Rethinking buildings use
Syntegon currently runs three buildings for different purposes in Weert: two of them cover mechanical fabrication, a Customer Experience and Innovation Center, and office spaces in the site’s north-west, near Weert’s main canal. A third building serves as final assembly unit and warehouse in the plant's south-east, close to a main transport route. Over the years, the site layout became increasingly challenging: employees had to walk long distances between different buildings. Building and testing the machinery further required transportation of the equipment back and forth between buildings, resulting in time-consuming processes.
Rethinking the use of the buildings and reducing distances has hence been a key concern – and a major building block of the entire conversion. The latter aims for greater proximity of different manufacturing steps as well as optimized logistics: in the future, Syntegon will manufacture and assemble as well as test and ship packaging equipment under one roof. To this effect, the company is investing in new warehouse and production facilities with a total surface area of 4,000 square meters, adding flexibility to the site’s manufacturing capacities. Part of the new production space can be used either for testing or manufacturing packaging solutions, allowing to substantially increase output. The production facility’s increased height of 11 meters offers ample space for the often large constructions.
A modern working environment
From a social perspective, the consolidated functions yield another benefit: “In the new setting, all employees will share a common social space next to our office complex and meet colleagues from other departments. This will help us strengthen our on-site exchange and deepen our collaboration as one team,” Leon van de Wiel explains. Syntegon will also invest in new offices totalling another 1,500 square meters: a modern building facing the canal will include workspace for shared use. With this addition, Syntegon will offer its staff an inviting area that meets contemporary workplace requirements with glass walls, dedicated spaces for conferencing, and coffee lounges. It will further help foster interaction with customers: the office building is connected to the existing Customer Experience and Innovation center, underlining Syntegon’s customer centricity.
Reducing the carbon footprint
Another important aspect of the redesign is the site’s energy usage. Syntegon aims to reduce its overall carbon footprint by 25 percent by 2025 compared to 2019. To contribute to this goal, the Weert site has identified important levers, which are taken into account during the site expansion. “Thanks to the new site layout, we see the potential of reducing our annual gas usage by up to 60 percent. This would contribute to an annual CO2 reduction of 240 tons,” Leon van de Wiel points out. The gas currently used in the final assembly building will be compensated by heating energy from heating pumps in the manufacturing and office buildings. In combination with LED lighting and a photovoltaic system, Syntegon plans to gradually increase the share of renewable energy at the Weert site in the mid term – for a sustainable future.
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