Insight

In Turnhout, Belgium, the first column for the Soudal Plant 5 has been ceremonially placed for the company’s new, hyper modern production site, which will produce adhesives and sealants from 2023 onwards.

Plant 5 will support the further growth ambitions for Soudal, increasing production capacity, as well as providing additional employment opportunities in the region. A stone’s throw from Soudal’s headquarters in Belgium, it is a considerable extension to the company estate on Everdongenlaan. The ultra-modern, fully automatic production site covers 20,000m² on a almost 5 hectare site.

Soudal is a 100% family business and Vic Swerts, chairman-founder at Soudal, placed the first column together with his youngest grandson, Andreas.

“Our slogan, ‘Build the future’ can be taken literally. We currently have construction projects underway at 12 of our 23 production sites worldwide. These mainly involve investments in additional production and storage capacity. Among these, Plant 5 is definitely the project that stands out, in terms of investment, ambition and innovation. In this factory of the future, large quantities of mastics will be mixed and filled in an almost fully automatic process. Extensive automation will mean even less waste and less energy consumption. Plant 5 will serve as an example for the numerous other future plants Soudal will undoubtedly build throughout the world,” comments Dirk Coorevits, managing director of Soudal.