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The innovative new building utilizes the latest technologies which enable most of its energy needs to be met with self-generated electricity.

Following successful trial operations, Griesser is to immediately commence production as scheduled in the recently-completed new facility at its Nenzing (Austria) site. The innovative new building, work on which began in July 2023 and was completed after around a year of construction, utilizes the latest technologies which enable most of its energy needs to be met with self-generated electricity. The new Nenzing building also offers enhanced working conditions and creates new jobs.

In addition to its automated small parts storage and retrieval system, which also conveys powders all the way to the coating booth to substantially reduce in-house transport movements, a state-of-the-art powder coating plant forms the centerpiece of the new 3 000-square-meter facility. The new building is unique in Europe in drawing on hybrid energy for its operations: almost all of its powder coating activities are conducted using solar power, with other renewable energies serving as a secondary power source.

Sustainably innovative

Sustainability has been placed firmly centerstage at Griesser’s impressive new Nenzing facility. The building is constructed entirely of wood, which has largely been sourced from the local Vorarlberg region. And no energy is drawn from external sources for the building’s heating or cooling: its powder coating plant provides sufficient warmth in the cooler months; and cooling is effected when required by extracting the waste heat generated through its operations and feeding this to the heat pump for system re-use.

Sustainable solutions have also been adopted for the new powder coating plant’s electricity needs. A 700-kWp photovoltaic system extending over some 4 000 square meters will meet between 80% and 100% of the plant’s annual energy requirements, with any surplus electricity so generated being fed into the national grid. On the procedural front, heating the pre-treatment tanks via the heat pump reduces annual energy consumption by some 25%; and further energy savings have been achieved by reducing curing temperatures by 10%.

As further contributions to the new facility’s sustainability credentials, the powder coating plant is devoid of any waste water outlet: all the waste water produced through the plant’s operations is appropriately treated and fed back into the system. More electric vehicle parking spaces have also been provided, complete with charging stations. And part of the new building’s roof has been used to create an accessible greened rest and relaxation area with panoramic views.

In building its new Nenzing facility, Griesser has made further tangible progress towards its climate goals. “Renewable energy sources and state-of-the-art resource-saving technologies of the kind we will now be using at our Nenzing site are vital elements in our journey towards our objective of making all our production sites carbon-neutral by 2035,” Griesser Group CEO Urs Neuhauser explains. “So with this expansion of our Nenzing operations, we have marked another milestone on our road to climate neutrality.”

A commitment to the Vorarlberg region

For Griesser, the substantial investment in its new Nenzing facility is not just a major commitment in economic and ecological terms. “In putting our new facility into operation, we will be creating around five new jobs, with further expansion planned in the longer term,” CEO Neuhauser continues. “And we will also be providing further tangible benefits for everyone who works in it, not least by making ergonomic enhancements to their workplaces and by maintaining ideal ambient working conditions.”

Griesser’s firm commitment to the local Vorarlberg region is further reflected in its choice of project partners: almost all the companies involved in developing the new Nenzing facility are locally based. Griesser’s enlistment of local partners not only helps boost the regional economy: it also substantially reduces the energy-intensive transport journeys entailed, along with supply and delivery times.

New name, same pioneering spirit

It was its acquisition of the Alu-System-Technik company (A.S.T) in 2012 that marked the beginning of Griesser’s Austrian production activities. Ever since, the Griesser Group – which is one of Europe’s leading providers of solar shading solutions – has been successfully producing its full range of window shutter products at its Nenzing site under the Griesser AST GmbH name. With the commencement of its newly expanded operations, Griesser’s Nenzing-based business is also changing its name, to Griesser Austria GmbH.