Investment in the double-digit million range: Capacity expansion at Watt Drive

Strong expansion of the production and storage area to over 10,000 m² / Significant investments in the location as well as intensification in apprentice training and staff expansion

WEG, a leading global manufacturer of drive technology with more than 45 production facilities worldwide, has significantly expanded the capacities of the WEG competence center for gearbox development in Markt Piesting. The site expansion on the site of the WEG subsidiary Watt Drive Antriebstechnik GmbH has been completed, and the modernization of the machine park will continue until 2023.

Investment in the double-digit million range: Capacity expansion at Watt Drive

The investments in the double-digit million range in the location underline the role and importance of Watt Drive within the WEG group. The new WG20 geared motor program was developed by Watt Drive and the WEG subsidiary is also coordinating the worldwide expansion of new WG20 assembly plants. At the same time, these are also supplied with components that are manufactured on site in Markt Piesting.

Trend-setting expansion of the production and storage areas

In order to increase the capacities of the existing production and storage area, a new building started in 2019, which was successfully completed in mid-2020. This means that a large part of the investment plan has already been implemented. Further investments amounting to millions in the machine park are planned until 2023. After the completed expansion, Watt Drive now has a total area of ​​over 10,000 m² in Markt Piesting. The storage capacity alone increased by 20%. The area of ​​production for CNC machines grew by 60%.

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The new building of Watt Drive Antriebstechnik GmbH in Markt Piesting started in 2019 us is now complete. With the extension there is now one total area of ​​over 10,000 m² available.

Klaus Sirrenberg, Managing Director of Watt Drive, comments: “The expansion of our capacities in Markt Piesting are important for the sustainable modernization of the location. Because of the COVID-19 crisis, we weren’t able to celebrate a big opening event this year. We have bundled all our strengths for extensive capacity expansions in order to secure important competitive advantages in the market. This includes the fact that we can increase our production capacities in good time with the steps taken, also realize shorter delivery times and reduce our production costs without any loss of quality. At the same time, we have hired more skilled workers and also intensified our apprenticeship training in order to be prepared for the challenges ahead. “

Personnel expanded, apprenticeship training and location strengthened

As a specialist in the development and manufacture of geared motors and drive solutions for industrial applications, Watt Drive has been an important business location and employer in the Wiener Neustadt region (40 km south of Vienna) for over 25 years. The assembly and manufacturing company depends on skilled workers from different professional groups in order to meet international standards in a highly competitive market. The number of employees increased by around 15% between 2018 and 2020. Apprenticeship training is also an important topic at Watt Drive, for example in the areas of metal or electrical engineering. For the WEG subsidiary, it is both an investment in the future and a way to bind capable workers to the company in the long term in order to be able to continuously expand know-how, quality and service.