Walvoil’s new R&D Center and added manufacturing

Walvoil announced the expansion of the production plant already present in Cavriago near Reggio Emilia, Italy, and the construction of the new Innovation Center on the same site.

The company - part of the Interpump Group – already counts eight locations in Italy, six of which in Reggio Emilia and its province, and two in the province of Bologna. Walvoil will celebrate fifty years in 2023 and is deeply rooted in the territory of Emilia Romagna region.

The two new buildings in Cavriago will cover 9 000 and 3 000 m3 respectively, for a total investment of about €31 million including the interior fittings in technology and machinery.

The company explained that the expansion of the production plant will be carried out according to shapes and proportions similar to those of the existing building. The smaller building, but of greater impact, will host the new Innovation Center, the research and development laboratories of the company, currently located in Reggio Emilia.

These labs are the operational heart of all research activities for Walvoil and will be further of service to foreign branches in Australasia, Brazil, Canada, China, Korea, France, India and the United States.

A particular attention in the project was given to green areas, which were in fact studied with the intent to reduce the impact of the intervention, and, at the same time, to carry out an important action of relaxing for people and operators involved, and compensation for emissions from industrial sites.

The project is expected to be completed in 14 months and the new manufacturing hall will double the production capacity of the current plant. The investment of €31.5 million will utilize €16.5 million initially, while the remaining 15 will be invested in the period 2023-27.

The number of staff employed in the Cavriago site is expected to increase from 174 to 400 jobs, composed of new recruitments and transfers from other locations.

Walvoil estimated an increase in turnover of €30 million thanks to this investment. “This upstream investment in design and downstream production allows us to increase our international competitiveness and, in particular, to bring the product closer to the application of our customers’ machines,” said Andrea Ferrari, Walvoil sales & marketing director. “In recent years we have found a strong interest in our electronic products, pumps and motors and in compact hydraulics to complete the historical product of directional valves. The expansion of production goes in the direction of satisfying this important growth.”