THALHEIM. Austria’s only battery manufacturer, Banner from Leonding, is expanding its range of products. For this purpose, the family company has ten million euros in hand and put a new production plant in Thalheim near Wels into operation.
Banner has had the production site in the Am Thalbach industrial park – in the immediate vicinity of the injection molding tool manufacturer Rico Elastomere and the glove specialist Eska – since June of the previous year. The official opening took place yesterday, Friday, in the presence of employees, customers and Thalheim Mayor Andreas Stockinger.
The company has invested in an existing company site in Thalheim. 25 people are employed, in ten years it should be twice as many. This was announced by the commercial director Andreas Bawart.
Lift platforms and golf carts
The company intends to concentrate on the production of industrial batteries and energy storage devices at the new location. The areas of application include electric forklifts, lifting platforms and golf carts, but also safety and emergency batteries for hospitals or power plants. This is one way to respond to short power outages. In the event of a blackout, the storage solutions are a bridge before emergency generators run.
The main markets in this business area are Austria and Switzerland, said site manager Josef Berger. There is potential in Germany and France. “We want to have an even stronger ear for the customer,” said Berger. Banner intends to generate 28 million euros this year via this channel.
Industrial batteries are one of Banner’s mainstays, the other – much larger – are starter batteries and car batteries. In the fiscal year that ended in March, the company sold 4.2 million batteries. The total turnover was 286 million euros. In 2020 there were 272, in 2019 there were still 307. Bawart expects slight growth for this year, although they are struggling with increased electricity and gas prices and the supply chains are hardly functioning.
A third of Banner’s business is with initial equipment for vehicles, the lion’s share is replacement products in retail and in car workshops. Banner employs 820 people, 500 of them in the Leondinger headquarters. (Rome)
Source: Nachrichten
