Blow moulder Rikutec moves domestic water tank production to new plants

Rikutec plant at Altenkirchen, Germany

German bulk container moulder Rikutec is consolidating production of domestic water and fuel oil tanks at the plants in France and Spain it acquired with the French blow moulder Sotralentz-Habitat.

Bad Honnef, Germany-based Rikutec group, which already moulded household rainwater tanks itself prior to the takeover at the end of 2016, said it will transfer tank production from its main German facility at Altenkirchen to its new European plants.

The acquired blow moulding operations, today run by the group’s Habitat division, are located at Drulingen in Alsace, France and at Lantarón in the Basque region of northern Spain.

In December 2016, the company, a specialist in moulding multi-layer big volume containers for industrial use, such as drums and IBCs, paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Habitat offshoot of Sotralentz Group which was entering insolvency.

From the start of 2019, Habitat’s move there will help to streamline group operational and logistics processes after the acquisition. Because of its multilingual sales team, Habitat will continue to serve German-speaking customers from its new base, according to the group.

“At the same time, we have successfully laid the groundwork to organise the utilisation of available resources and capacity in Germany more effectively,” explained Rikutec owner and chief executive officer Bodo Richter.

Rikutec is taking the opportunity to create competence centres at all three of its European facilities “through bundled know-how” in order to use the expertise of each more effectively.

In December 2016, the company, a specialist in moulding multi-layer big volume containers for industrial use, such as drums and IBCs, paid an undisclosed sum to buy the Habitat offshoot of Sotralentz Group which was entering insolvency.

Meanwhile, the merger of the French business with Rikutec has been reflected in another sign of cooperation. The group recently installed a 40,000 litre plastic tank moulded by Rikutec at its Altenkirchen plant at the Drulingen site to act as a foul drainage septic tank.

The sturdy double-walled Aqua’Terne 204 tank is one of a range of moulded containers from 5,000 – 52,500 litres in capacity manufactured by the company and suitable for rainwater, for retention or as a leaching tank, said Rikutec.