On June 9, a groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of the Eta production facility took place at KSB’s headquarters. In the presence of Simone Schneider, State Secretary at the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Economic Affairs; Frankenthal Mayor Nicolas Meyer; Mayor Bernd Knöppel; and approximately 360 employees from Eta production and the departments involved, Stephan Timmermann, spokesperson for the KSB Executive Board, welcomed those in attendance. “We’re celebrating a great day for our location,” said Timmermann.
The Eta production facility at KSB’s headquarters is being expanded into a center of excellence for the latest generation of electronically controlled pumps in Europe. KSB is investing more than 70 million euros in this project—one of the largest single investments the company has ever made worldwide.
“With this investment, we are demonstrating our commitment to Germany as a business location with entrepreneurial courage and confidence. However, we expect policymakers and social partners to tackle the necessary changes to the economic framework with equal courage and focus. Export-oriented companies and the jobs they provide depend on local competitiveness,” said Dr. Stephan Timmermann.
Simone Schneider praised KSB’s “entrepreneurial courage.” “The investment is good for the location, the region, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Germany as an industrial hub. The state needs companies that are committed.”
To remain competitive at the Frankenthal site in the future, KSB is comprehensively modernizing its Eta production by 2030 in accordance with the latest technological and energy standards. Simon Charrier, Head of Standard Production in Frankenthal, and Björn Külzer, Head of Production Engineering, along with their teams, are playing a key role in restructuring the Eta production line.
KSB plans to expand the existing production facilities in Frankenthal. The new construction and renovation are explicitly planned as a project to be carried out while operations continue: “Production must keep running,” says Külzer. “At the same time, it will be elevated to a new level, both organizationally and technically.” Charrier notes that this is an evolution that makes both pragmatic and economic sense.
The new extensions will create space so that machining equipment, assembly, and logistics can be restructured, and older sections of the halls can be completely renovated before being repurposed. Optimized throughput times will enable faster delivery times while maintaining consistent product quality. Plans for the energy-efficient redesign of production also include switching the drying process for a new coloring plant to the local heating network of the new heating plant on site and installing photovoltaic systems and green spaces on the roofs.
Annual production capacity at the Eta plant currently stands at approximately 54,000 pumps and is expected to increase as production expands. By 2030, KSB aims to produce 65,000 pumps in Frankenthal. By then, 90 percent of the new factory is expected to be complete.
KSB is already manufacturing the new, energy-efficient, and sustainably produced EtaLine Pro pump generation for building services applications at the Eta production facility in Frankenthal. Modifications to the Eta production line are also necessary to enable the transition of additional pump series to meet future energy efficiency requirements. “We have a large market for variable-speed pumps in Europe,” explains Simon Charrier. “Pumps alone account for between 10 and 15 percent of Europe’s electricity consumption,” says Charrier, highlighting the importance of energy-efficient pumps.
These measures will strengthen the competitiveness of the Eta site in Frankenthal. According to Timmermann, this is not a sure thing. “It will only work if we make new investments. KSB must keep moving forward, adapt, and embrace change.”
