Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Another milestone at Aerzen’s local plant
The maker of industrial blowers, compressors and pumps celebrates finishing its $7 million expansion
SADSBURY » Aerzen USA Tuesday officially opened the $7 million addition it has put on its Coatesville area manufacturing facility and headquarters building during a day of speeches, tours, music and an outdoor employee celebration.
Tony Morris, president of Aerzen USA and Klaus-Hasso Heller, CEO of Aerzen Germany, were joined by Neil Weaver from the state Department of Community and Economic Development at the outdoor food-truck-provided lunch during the program recognizing the company’s continued commitment to the LEED-certified facility.
Aerzen makes industrial grade displacement blowers, turbo blowers, screw compressors and vacuum pumps used by water treatment plants, chemical and food processors, and in cement and steel production as well as mining. Aerzen USA’s parent company, Aerzener Maschinenfabrik, was founded in Germany in 1864. It set up U.S. headquarters 25 years ago and moved into its current building in 2008.
Morris and Heller told the assembled employees – 110 work at the Independence Way headquarters, a number that has steadily grown in recent years – completion of the yearlong project represents another important milestone for the plant that for more than a year has worked to adopt lean manufacturing practices.
Heller recalled arriving in Exton 25 years ago to begin his U.S. training in a facility known to employees as “the cave.”
“What I remember, though, is that it was a very motivated team,” said Heller. “The team has been growing quite strongly.”
Heller said the company “wants to be the solutions provider for our customers” and must “reduce our carbon footprint.”
The CEO of Aerzen Germany drew laughs when, after praising the building, acknowledged he also had to
“We don’t provide the cheapest, we provide the highest quality and most reliable (products).” – Tony Morris, president of Aerzen USA
“calculate the costs” as the work was being done.
“I must admit to thinking, ‘hey, what are they doing?’” Heller said when the bills started arriving. “So now you have to earn it back.”
Some of the ecofriendly features of the 40,000-square-foot building include:
• Fire lanes paved with turf pavers to provide more green space;
• Permeable paving, underground rock beds and rain gardens promote responsible use of rainwater;
• Aggressive integration of solar energy technology, including solar tubes for lighting;
• Earth tubes, which pass outside air underground to cool the shop space;
• Recycled furniture in
most office areas.
The addition, which doubled the office space and added 30 percent to the manufacturing area, continued the green practices with tanks to collect rain water, more solar panels, wooden beams made out of recycled wood chips and geothermal heating and cooling. It also has a garden that produces 250 pounds of vegetables a year for area food banks, said Ralf Weiser, part of Aerzen USA’s management team and board chairman of the Manufacturing Alliance of Chester and Delaware Counties.
“We are very much interested in helping the county meet its Vista 2025 goals,” Weiser said, pointing to its work in encouraging green business practices as well as providing manufacturing jobs. “We are kind of an example of how manufacturing has come back. We can do a green building and make it significant
and make it profitable.”
During a tour, Morris said the company wants to double the output at the Coatesville area location in seven years. Today, it makes 800 to 900 machines a year.
“We are pursuing a target of $100 million” in revenue, Morris said.
The location is also becoming the R&D facility for the Americas to develop an 800-horse-power high speed turbo blower, twice as powerful as the highest horse-powered current Aerzen machine.
“We don’t provide the cheapest, we provide the highest quality and most reliable (products),” Morris said. “High end German engineering is never really cheap.”