The new facility, which will mainly supply rubber to the automotive industry, is a reindustrialization of an Italian production plant.
The project was financed with over EUR 250 million, and involved constructing a new production line on a land which was reclaimed and duly authorized for renewed industrial use, and the revamping of the existing elastomer plant.
The company claims the investment will increase overall production capacity by about 50,000 tonnes per year.
It will also enable the company to update its elastomer product range and increase employment, with 45 new staff to be added to production and related services, and another 50 people to outsourced activities. An average of 550 people worked on site during the construction and the majority of the materials were supplied by Italian companies.
Ferrara plays a key role in Versalis’s production system, with 330 employees and an average of 180 contractors a day. As well as elastomers production, the complex also includes production facilities for low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and a major research centre.