Masterplast solemnly handed over its healthcare textile manufacturing plant. The largest investment in the company’s history, worth HUF 9.5 billion, was carried out with the support of the Ministry of Finance within the framework of the “Health Industry Support Program”. At the event, the Minister of Finance, Mihály Varga himself gave a speech. With this development, the largest health care industrial fleece production plant in the Central European region was established, which with its annual capacity of more than 7,000 tons ensures the supply of textile raw materials for the Hungarian and regional health industry from domestic production.
The products made in the plant are used as raw materials for the production of the new generation of medical protective clothing, insulating and surgical sheets, mouth masks, and other hygiene devices used in healthcare.
The use and spread of nonwoven textile fleece raw materials within the healthcare industry has been rapidly accelerated by the coronavirus epidemic. In a pandemic situation, the higher level of hygiene offered by disposable protective equipment has become more valuable and the industry has begun to switch to more efficient devices. Masterplast is going to start manufacturing raw materials for such a new generation of modern medical protective clothing and insulation products at its new plant.
With the largest investment in the company’s history, the 7,700-square-foot plant complex, built at the company’s headquarters features the latest technology available with a high degree of automation to ensure high productivity and waste-free production. The facility, which will generate 50 new jobs, will be able to emit at least 7,000 tons of healthcare textiles per year in a clean manufacturing environment specifically designed for the needs of the healthcare industry. Single or multiply nonwovens can be produced with a wide variety of product properties that can be varied and controlled. Based on the knowledge and experience acquired from the acquisition in Germany, the company will also conduct research and development activities at its new plant with the aim of developing new, innovative raw materials tailored to the needs of the healthcare industry.
The healthcare investment, unique in the entire Carpathian Basin, will also contribute to strengthening Hungary’s pandemic defense capacity, as it will be able to cover the raw material needs of the country’s healthcare producers from domestic resources. The company plans to sell raw materials produced above the domestic demand in the European export markets. The healthcare branch could bring Masterplast annual sales of more than €20 million already in 2021, and the profitability of this new area could reach the level of the construction segment by the end of the decade.
The healthcare raw material production that has just been handed over and the ongoing production development project of healthcare raw materials go hand in hand. Masterplast has already entered into the market of finished healthcare products, and since the spring of 2021 the company has been supplying qualified medical protective overalls for the Hungarian healthcare. The company’s second major healthcare development will be completed by the autumn of 2021, when the company will produce a wider range of finished healthcare products from domestic raw materials. Thereupon, an integrated production will be carried out in the healthcare segment, which will recycle all production waste from the raw material to the finished product.
“With the German acquisition, we successfully entered into the health care industry, and the new building alongside the ongoing large investment could set the scene for the strengthening of our health care branch. In the healthcare industry, a significant expansion in the market of our non-woven textile-based products is expected even after the coronavirus period. In addition, a strong growth trend in the industry is noted in terms of areas of use and quantitative demand, which is dynamic regardless of the pandemic.” – added Róbert Nádasi, CEO of Masterplast Nyrt.
Masterplast Nyrt.
Founded in 1997, the Masterplast group is one of the leading building material producer and distributor companies in the Central Eastern European region. The company group owns subsidiaries in 10 countries, and sells products in a further 30 countries. The company is registered in the premium category on the Budapest Stock Exchange, and had revenue of 145,2 million euros in 2023.