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Large investments to cut delivery timesPutzmeister AG is currently increasing its production capacities in Germany, undertakingextensive construction work and investing up to €45 million within two years. This expansionof production capacity is urgently required in response to the continually increasing demandfor high-quality concrete pumps and placing booms. Construction activities are scheduled totake place at the main plant in Aichtal, as well as the highly specialised PM manufacturingplants in Gründau and Althengstett. Numerous new construction projects and expansions arealso planned or already under construction at Putzmeister sites outside Germany. Reports onthese projects will be published in later editions of the PM Post.The prerequisite for the expansion of the main assembly site in Aichtal was the enlargement of thefactory premises by approx. 10%. The focal point of the construction activities is a new state-of-the-artpaintwork centre covering a roofed surface area of approx. 7,500 m². The new paintwork centre willenable several large boom pumps (of 60 metres and above) to be coated and dried at the same time.The centre is scheduled to begin operation in mid 2007. Wolfgang Laux, responsible for preparationand painting, explains the benefits: "The new centre will provide five areas to prepare booms forpainting. All arm assemblies will now be painted completely with the boom extended and whilemounted on the truck-mounted concrete pumps. This means that in future, we can promise fasterprocess flows and even better paint quality." In addition, we will also have considerably more space forcustomer-specific versions of the machines (e.g. special coatings and lettering), and for the finishingprocess, which can be particularly complicated.Another construction project will create a new logistics centre for large components such as basestructures and arm assemblies, which will be located immediately next to public transport routes. Thenew logistics area will include a 1,200 m² covered loading and unloading zone. Putzmeisteranticipates that these measures will significantly accelerate the material flow within the plant fromJanuary 2007.(four small infoboxes with photos)… and yet more building projects at PM - some already completedThe construction of a modern 5-storey office complex will accomodate Putzmeister's workforce, whichhas been steadily increasing for several years. The building, scheduled to open in December 2006,covers an area of around 2,500 m² and will house a modern central data centre, additional trainingrooms and office space for approx. 140 employees.

A covered materials reception area, the expansion of the storage and test area for truck-mountedconcrete pumps, as well as the provision of new parking spaces for employees have already beencompleted in Summer 2006.Further projects currently in the planning phase will expand warehouse capacity by 50 %, resulting ina considerably improved stock of components. The surface areas of the associated packaging andshipping area will double in size, and the loading ramps are to be fully modernised.The state-of-the-art robot welding systems at sites in Gründau (near Frankfurt) and Althengstett (nearCalw) have now been operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week for over a year. The expansion ofthese two Putzmeister locations for steel processing, with a combined investment of € 20 million,ensures that Putzmeister will continue delivering specialist high-quality components such as placingbooms, base structures, and support systems in the required quantities in the future, and deliverytimes will be further reduced.Captions:1466-2:Finally enough space: Wolfgang Laux looks forward to "his" new paintwork centre. To the right of thisstands the spacious new logistics area.1466-3:The new 5-storey office building with 2,500 m2 of floor space is due to be occupied at the start of 2007following a record construction period of just five months1466-4:The materials reception area was already extended and covered in Summer 20061466-5:The expansion of the PM works in Althengstett has also been completed under high pressure – thenew building can be seen to the left of the picture