Gulf Construction Online - Agru facility to cater for super-clean systems

Regional News

The Purad cleanroom factory.

Agru facility to cater for super-clean systems

01 July 2016

In a bid to meet the growing global demand for piping systems for high-purity applications, Agru, an Austrian manufacturer of premium plastic products, has opened its state-of-the-art cleanroom factory in Bad Hall, Austria.

The Purad cleanroom factory plant is an absolute benchmark in the high purity piping system field, said Fabian Beermann, division manager of the UAE-based BMC Gulf, which represents Agru.

The new facility will ensure that BMC Gulf can cater to the growing requirements for super-clean piping systems particularly for clean rooms and high-purity applications in the region, he added.

“The new Purad plant is a signature production facility in the international plastics industry and has been built under an investment of €15 million ($16.78 million) at Agru’s manufacturing site,” he explained. “The production plant is ISO Class 5-compliant, which means that it meets hygiene requirements higher than those for hospital clean rooms.”

The new investment underscores the high customer orientation of Agru: “Quality and cost leadership are two of our maxims,” asserted Alois Gruber, company owner and CEO. “So our customers profit from state-of-the-art technologies at an unparalleled price-performance ratio. That’s why we invested in this new facility. One major plus is our technological diversity: injection moulding is one of our core competencies and another is the extrusion of thermoplastics. And working with fluoroplastics is an established tradition at Agru.”

The new facility ... super-clean environment.

According to Beermann, a typical application of the Purad piping system is supplying ultra-pure water for the cleaning process in the computer chip industry. Under these super-clean conditions, Agru makes sure that no particles contaminate the piping components which could damage the computer chips during manufacturing.

This piping system for ultra-pure media is manufactured from PVDF UHP (polyvinylidene fluoride ultra-high purity).

“Uncompromising quality, outstanding customer benefit and high operational dependability are the characteristics of Purad. Whenever excellent anti-leaching properties and high chemicals resistance are essential, Purad is the first choice. Requirements differ from application to application, so these products are manufactured from different thermoplastic polymers selected for their specific advantages. Purad pipes in PP-Pure and Polypure are the best alternative for the transport of all other highly purified media,” he adds.

Founded in 1948, Agru is a key single-source supplier of piping systems made of environmentally compatible materials like polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), semi- finished products (also from fluoropolymers), concrete protection and lining systems. It manufactures precision-moulded fittings for plastic pipes and its portfolio includes everything from semi- finished products through to the liner membranes. The company has an export quota of 95 per cent and has customers all over the world.

The new building was planned by architect team ‘x architekten’ from Linz, Austria, and its characteristic features are functionality and ground-breaking design. Resembling a vastly oversized pipe, the bronze-anodised trapezoidal sheet-metal façade stretches across the entire complex. The interior carries on the modern, functional and clear architectural style, reminiscent of the cleanness and the surface quality of the Purad products manufactured in this plant.