Handtmann welcomes a positive decision on IGI Rißtal

Biberach, 16th May 2018 – The Tübingen regional council has approved the deviation from the planning objective for the Rißtal inter-municipal industrial estate (IGI Rißtal). The planning can therefore continue. The Handtmann Group of Companies welcomes this decision.

For Handtmann, the decision of the regional council is an important step towards the IGI. “The procedure has thus overcome another hurdle. However, we are well aware that nothing has been decided yet and there are many more steps to be taken in the course of the procedure. Now the legally required process of planning and civic participation will be continued”, explains Jörg Hochhausen, Managing Director of Handtmann Service GmbH & Co. KG.  

Handtmann plans to build workshops at IGI Rißtal in which new orders from the electric automotive industry, for example, can be processed. This involves the mechanical assembly and machining of components. A light metal foundry is currently not planned there. 

Handtmann is well aware that it will be some time before the first component can be assembled at IGI Rißtal. Until then, future orders will have to be relocated to other European sites. Suitable plots are already available in Annaberg-Buchholz (Saxony) and in Košice (Slovakia).  

However, Handtmann still prefers a new site near the headquarters. “It’s easier to develop the know-how in Biberach. Here we can make use of existing structures. In addition, as a family and group of companies, we are committed to the workforce and the region”, says Thomas Handtmann, Managing Director of Handtmann Holding. “At the same time, we must make economic decisions to live up to our responsibility for the company as a whole and the associated jobs. This may also mean that we need to process orders at other Handtmann sites in order to be able to fulfil them.” 

The existing Biberach plants in Arthur-Handtmann-Strasse and Aspach lack the required space already today. Consolidation concepts have already been implemented. Handtmann has now reached a point where additional construction measures are no longer commercially viable. An expansion is therefore necessary – in Biberach or elsewhere.