Röchling, a German family-owned group of companies with 92 subsidiaries active in 25 countries of the world, is a leading enterprise among plastics processors. Thanks to more than 200 years of experiences, the company sets the course of industry development. Röchling with its 3 divisions – Industrial, Automotive, Medical – is the most significant producer of semi-finished plastic products supplying solution for every application.
Röchling Industrial Tábor s.r.o., a Czech subsidiary, belonging into Industrial division, supplies customers within whole Central and Eastern Europe for more than 20 years. In the completely new premises in Tábor (company moved to Tábor in Autumn 2022), the production is specialized into extrusion of PP sheets, rods and welding rods.
Interview with Jaroslav Bílek, Managing Director Röchling Industrial Tábor s.r.o.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
Jaroslav Bílek: Röchling itself offers broad spectre of products for all industries, from chemical processes and agriculture, over sports equipment, transportation or mechanical engineering, up to medical devises, aerospace and nuclear industry or ballistics. We in Röchling Industrial Tábor focus on production for industrial applications, such as water treatment, aquafarming or products for agriculture, but also products, which are “nearer to end-users”, like swimming pools, car accessories or boats.
Beyond own manufacturing, RI Tábor is distribution hub for deliveries of products from Röchling Industrial production plants to customers from Central and Eastern Europe. Hereby, we offer extruded, compression molded or cast semi-finished products of PP, PEHD, PVC, PE-HMW, PE-UHMW, PVDF, PA, POM, PEEK, PET, PPSU etc.
E.E: What’s the news about new products?
J.B: As experts in plastics, we are aware of our special responsibility not only towards our customers, but also towards environment and our planet in general. With respect to this fact, we continuously work on development of 3 pillars: Products, People, Planet. People = employees, where we are aiming to achieve maximally sustainable, safe and diverse working environment. Planet = focus on environment – we are systematically reducing our ecological footprint by responsible use of energy and resources. Products = thanks to our permanent development of innovative solutions for different applications, we create competitive advantages for our customers and actively support them in achieving their sustainability goals. With our product families Röchling-BioBoom® and Röchling-ReLoop®, we are continuously expanding our portfolio of bioplastics and high-quality recycled materials. The branches include broad spectre of solid as well as foamed materials from PIR (Post Industrial Recycling) as well as PCR (Post Consumer Recycling) processing cycle.
E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?
J.B: Apart from our sustainable products, we offer sophisticated solutions also for high-demanding applications under the brand “SMART”. It involves wear and temperature sensors helping to perform machines maintenance in an effective way. For clear identification of our products, we offer “Smart marker”, which helps to identify the producer of the part very simply without any visible marking on the part itself.
E.E: What are the ranges of products?
J.B: Except the special products, our portfolio involves standard items, which are mostly available on stock in Tábor as well as products manufactured on customers´ requests. Some of our well-known brand names are: Polystone® P, Polystone® G, Polystone® Play-Tec®, Polystone® M, Polystone® D, Matrox, LubX, Polystone® Polar, Foamlite® P, Polystone® P CubX®, Polystone® PVDF, Trovidur® EC, Trovidur® EN, Astrawood®, Lamigamid®, Sustamid®, Sustarin®, Sustakon®, Sustaglide®, Sustadur® and many others. Our products are certified acc.to different standards and are therefore suitable for applications with high-demanding requirements (materials for food contact, classified at VO acc. to ul 94 and DIN EN 45545-2:2013, medical grade products etc.).
Our products are used in lot of miscellaneous applications in various climate conditions. We adjust the products to withstand climate changes and differences from wet hot weather and seawater in Vietnam up to dry windy climate in Kazakhstan. Nevertheless, not only products demand special approach, but also customers in individual countries have to be serviced in accordance with their individual needs. Markets vary country to country with regard to their industry segmentation, economy development as well as cultural habits etc.
E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?
J.B: After slow-down in Covid-period in all countries and markets, most of the markets have already recovered to the pro-covid period. Oppositely, some specific applications experienced boom during these times, like for example swimming pools. Due to more reasons, such as rapidly limited human resources in the Covid time, we have experienced problems with raw materials availability. This state graduated after beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which has had a significant effect on prices of energies, as well as raw-materials availability. The market situation got very turbulent in these times and no long-term predictions could be made. Only thanks to our very strong position at the market and long-term relationships with resin suppliers, we were able to secure sufficient amounts to fulfil needs of our customers.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends? / What estimations do you have for the rest of 2023?
J.B: Currently, the situation has moreover stabilized on the state, where markets are stagnating and most of companies wait for further development of the market, not only from the view of local economy and energy prices, but also from the view of geopolitical situation worldwide. Nevertheless, we expect further growth in order incomes and target to the next record year. For the coming periods, we want to maximize our effort in order to satisfy all customers´ needs and supply our markets with quality products taking into consideration our sustainable goals.