Duravit inaugurated new production site in India

Sept. 29, 2010 - PRLog -- Covering a production floor area of 31,200 square metres, it will produce design products by high-profile international designers, such as Philippe Starck and Sieger Design, which will then be sold all over the country. “It is a state-of-the-art factory that is comparable with any other production facility anywhere in the world”, announced Asutosh Shah, Managing Director of Duravit India, who welcomed more than 500 invitees from all over India to the opening.

The company that has its headquarters in Hornberg in Germany has been operating in India since 2001 and is already well-established in the luxury segment. In keeping with its motto, ‘bathroom design from jeans to dinner jacket’, Duravit now wants to access the medium-priced market segment in India. “India is a very important future market. It has a growing lifestyle consumer base due to its healthy economic development and demographic trend of a growing young and working population. There is a desire for lifestyle brands. This upcoming urban target group knows exactly what makes a real brand and what is merely hype. Real, high-performance brands are experiencing a renaissance”, reported the Chairman of the Board of Management of the Duravit-Group, Franz Kook, who was also present at the opening.  He thus sees the construction of the new factory not only as a milestone for Duravit India but also for the history of the entire Duravit-Group and its broader internationalisation strategy.
With the construction of the new factory, Duravit was one of the first investors in this region. About 340 employees are now working for Duravit India. An initial production capacity of 5 Lakh (half a million) large ceramic pieces per year is planned, and this can later be increased to 20 Lakh (2 million). At the opening, Asutosh Shah said that the entire investment was in the region of Rs. 120 crore (1200 million). He strongly recommended anyone wanting to invest in India to come to Gujarat: “It has really been a business-friendly and supportive experience for us”, he said on the occasion.  He believes that the new factory also represents a special example of the “successful coexistence” of different cultures: “Building this factory was a joint venture between German reliability, discipline and vision on the one hand, and Indian enterprise, patience and openness to support on the other.” Gregor Greinert, Chairman of the Executive Board, who had also come to the opening with his whole family, revealed a very different German-Indian link. His father had been in Ahmedabad in 1962: he participated in one of the first world hockey tournaments, the forerunner of today’s Champion Trophy.



Factory Data:

Total land area: 170,000 sq mts.
Total floor space inside the building: 31,200 sq mts.
Number of employees Duravit India: About 340

Capacities:
In the initial phase, Duravit India will produce 5 Lakh (half a million) pieces per year, which is expandable to 20 Lakh
(2 million) pieces per year.

Total investment:
The total investment is expected to be around of Rs. 120 Crore (1200 million)

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Almost 200 years of bathroom history. It all begins in 1817, when George Friedrich Horn establishes an earthenware factory in Hornberg in the Black Forest. In 1842 the manufacture of tableware is extended to encompass sanitaryware products.