New production unit opened in IGM "Stražilovo" - "Nexe Group" announces construction of lime factory

New production unit of Industry of Building Materials (IGM) "Stražilovo" was solemnly opened yesterday (July 13, 2009) in Sremski Karlovci. "Nexe Group" from Croatia, a part of which is the brick factory, invested 11.5m EUR in that unit.

The investment by company "Nexe" has enabled production of classical product portfolio and building blocks for partition walls of various dimensions, as well as production of gitter blocks, blocks for mezzanine structure and introduction of thermal product portfolio.

- We have started production of thermal blocks that has never been produced in Serbia before. We expect to export 50% of products of this factory, primarily into Romania and Ukraine. The position of the factory is good because it is close to the Danube and ports – Ivan Ergović, the President of Administration of "Nexe Group", told "eKapija".

(Ivan Ergović)

Part of the product portfolio from the factory near Sremski Karlovci is sold in the markets of Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Czech Republic.

Robotization of production process

Thanks to the new equipment, the capacity of the factory has been increased from 60m to 135-140m bricks. IGM "Stražilovo" signed the contract with Greek company "Sabo" in February 2007 on delivery of 3.5m EUR worth of equipment for production of thermal blocks, which signified the beginning of investments in reconstruction of units.

- The factory now owns state-of-the-arts equipment that has been imported from Greece. Production is computerized, so that the factory does not need workers for physical works any more. We have created 40 new jobs, so that the factory now has total of 112 workers - said Ergović.

In addition to reconstruction of unit 1 in the brick factory, replacement of equipment and robotization of the process, the investments have also been made in organization of the brick kiln complex, construction of facilities for storing and processing sawdust, sand storage, brick storage area and steam production unit.

Investments in Serbia

- We plan to have a new lime factory built in Jelen Dol near Čačak. The equipment has already arrived, and everything is ready for commencement of construction. We now wait for building permits. "Nexe Group" will invest about 13m EUR in that factory – Ergović announced.

About 16m EUR have been invested in IGM Stražilovo since 2003 when it entered the structure of "Nexe Group". That factory meets ISO 9001:2000 norms since year 2008.

Company "Nexe" has, so far, invested over 90m EUR in Serbia, over 54m EUR of which were the investments in modernization of production capacities.

Members of "Nexe Group" in Serbia are: factory "Polet" in Novi Bečej, which deals with production of tiles, "Jelen Do", which deals with production of lime and stone aggreggates, "Polet keramika" in Novi Bečej, which produces ceramic tiles, and "Nexe beton" from Novi Bečej, which produces concrete.