Thriving business Grundfos Manufacturing

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Since its establishment in 1999, Grundfos Manufacturing Ltd Hungary has seen continuous growth and has become the second largest production unit within the worldwide operations of the Grundfos Group, employing over 2000 people. Edina Beale reports on the company’s successful development and its current activities.

With an annual output of more than 16 million pump units, the Denmark based Grundfos group is one of the world’s leading pump manufacturers. It is the largest manufacturer of circulator pumps (UP), covering approximately 50 per cent of the world’s market. Its Hungarian subsidiary, Grundfos Manufacturing Ltd Hungary, provides a large contribution to the overall results of the group, as the company manufactures the two other major product categories: submersible pumps (SP) and centrifugal pumps (CR).

Speedy expansion

Today the Grundfos group is represented by 58 companies in 45 countries. The company transferred its electric pump motor production from Denmark to Tatabánya in Hungary in 2000. The €15 million investment in the 15,000m2 property proved so successful that in 2002 Grundfos opened another 15,000m2 facility in the same town to manufacture cast iron norm/block, inline and sewage pumps. Then, in 2005, the first site was extended by another 7000m2 in order for the company to start producing submersible motors. Investments have also been made in equipment and production lines, partly transferred from western European factories, but a large investment was also made to further increase production capacity. With this new expansion, the total level of investment made by Grundfos in Hungary rose to nearly €150 million.

Soon all facilities were producing to full capacity again and Grundfos was obliged to search for a new site to extend its Hungarian operations still further. In 2007 it selected the industrial city of Székesfehérvár to establish its third production site, where it manufactures small stainless steel drainage, machine tool pumps and cables. The leading foreign subsidiary

The same city is the home to the group’s latest site, Grundfos’s fourth Hungarian production plant, which was built in 2013. The 12 billion HUF investment created 350 new jobs and Grundfos’s Hungarian operations became the group’s second largest after Denmark, today employing over 2000 people. Due to this investment Grundfos has strengthened its important role in the water utility service segment. Here, it makes pumps based on individual requests from sewage handling firms. As these products are not standardised, the company employs the most skilled engineers to satisfy the unique requirements of its customers.

europe’s largest testing facility

The new factory was built on a 29,000m2 site, which enabled the firm to develop a new production facility, offices and to build its own research and development centre with modern testing equipment. Before this investment, the Grundfos R&D department in Hungary only took part in redevelopment projects; however, now the company is able to develop brand new products on this site with the most experienced and skilled design engineers. In addition to a nearly 5000m2 laboratory Grundfos built Europe’s most modern and largest pump testing pool facility. The deepest point of the 1500m3 pool is 14 metres; and pumps with the largest diameter, up to 1 metre, can be tested here.

The close proximity between the testing centre and the production facility – literally a couple of staircase and a few doors – is extremely useful as this makes it easier to make changes and discuss and prevent problems. Grundfos sewage pumps are produced in China, Russia, USA and in the Hungarian sites, but pumps are designed and developed by Finnish and Hungarian

engineers who have to speak with Finnish and Chinese colleagues frequently. This can be a challenging task because of the time differences and distance; however, as each product is tested in the Székesfehérvár factory before being supplied to customers, the highest quality is still guaranteed.

Sales, maintenance and financial service centres

The sales centre in Törökbálint, which was established three years before the first production site in Hungary, is not only responsible for the domestic sales but also operates as a maintenance centre to provide the best possible customer service. In addition to this, Grundfos South East Europe Kft sells products directly to 12 countries.

In 2010 the Danish mother company also established the Grundfos Shared Service centre, its financial service department headquartered in Budapest. This unit was set up to record and process all financial activities of the 41 European Grundfos companies in order to provide fast and efficient accounting services for the manufacturing subsidiaries. The centre today employs over 100 financial professionals.