Just four years after the current production facilities were built, the German manufacturing capacity of Europe's leading lithium-ion rechargeable battery system supplier is again reaching its limits. In order to be able to continue to meet the still rapidly growing demand for intelligent lithium-ion storage solutions in a wide variety of sizes in the future, BMZ GmbH is investing another 45 million euros by 2020 in the extension of their development and manufacturing capacities at the company's headquarters in Karlstein near Aschaffenburg. The first two of a total of six new production, laboratory and office buildings are to go into operation in 2015.
No other European company has had such a major influence on the development of the lithium-ion market in the last two decades as BMZ GmbH. Already at the end of the 90s, as many other competitors were still focusing fully on lead and nickel cadmium batteries, the company’s founder Sven Bauer had already recognized the gigantic potential of lithium-ion cells as an energy storage medium. Since then, over 4,200 different customer-specific lithium-ion batteries with intelligent system controls have been developed for around 1,300 customers from all over the world in the company’s own laboratories in Karlstein, and the company’s head start in system and manufacturing expertise has been consistently and constantly extended. 14 million euros flowed into research and development last year alone.
The company’s success is also reflected in their current figures. In 2014, the high-tech company, which was founded in 1994, achieved a turnover of some 300 million euros as the largest independent European lithium-ion battery system developer and manufacturer with more than 1,200 employees worldwide. The 500 million sales threshold is expected to be broken in 2020 at the latest.
In order to create the necessary production capacities the company, which also has its own assembly facilities in China, Poland and the USA, wants to continue to invest heavily above all in the industrial base in Germany in the coming years. “Apart from the most modern equipment and a well-functioning infrastructure, what a high-tech company like BMZ needs above all, is highly motivated and well-qualified staff. As a manufacturer of especially high-quality and long-lasting rechargeable battery systems, we will continue to expand not only our development, but also our manufacturing activities in Germany, presumed we find sufficient employees in Germanyâ€, explains the successful company head during the official ground-breaking ceremony for the new company headquarters on the “Zeche Gustav†industrial estate in Karlstein.
Several demand needs-oriented construction stages are planned for the realization of this major project, which is worth some 45 million euros and will successively quadruple the area available in Germany in the coming years from the current 12,000 square meters to 55,000 square meters. In the first construction phase, two halls each with an area of around 4,500 m² for production, logistics and office space will be built. Two further halls each 4,500 square meters in size with highly flexibly deployable production lines, a new administration building and 1,400 square meters of additional laboratory space are to follow by the end of 2020 at the latest, depending on the trend in demand for lithium-ion batteries.
“If everything goes according to plan, up to 1,500 BMZ employees in Karlstein alone can then produce up to 80 million lithium-ion batteries of various sizes with a total storage capacity of around 5 GWh annually. We decided on this modular concept because it means we can minimize the investment risks and still react flexibly to future market developmentsâ€, explains Sven Bauer, General Manager BMZ GmbH.
