Felix Schoeller invests €13M to upgrade German sites, including a capacity boost for the most efficient decor paper machine

 Friday, October 10, 2025

The specialty paper manufacturing sector, a critical element in the global supply chain for furniture and wood-based panel industries, is witnessing a determined push towards heightened efficiency and environmental responsibility. Leading this concerted effort is Felix Schoeller, a world-renowned manufacturer that has publicly committed to a comprehensive investment package totaling €13 million to bolster the competitiveness and sustainability of its German facilities. This substantial capital injection, earmarked for projects over the next two years, represents the decisive next step in the company’s “Reinvent Strategy,” solidifying its long-term commitment to its domestic manufacturing base.

The investment is strategically distributed across four of the company’s key sites: Osnabrück, Weißenborn, Günzach, and Neustadt. The overarching goal is to achieve full market capacity in decorative papers from 2027 onward, ensuring an optimal customer offering and a significant competitive advantage in a rapidly evolving global market. The centerpiece of this financial commitment is a €9 million investment concentrated at the company’s Osnabrück headquarters. This funding is specifically directed at upgrading and enhancing Paper Machine 1 (PM1). The ambitious goal of the project is to increase the machine’s performance by approximately 20 percent.

This capacity expansion is not merely about volume; it is a strategic move designed to reinforce Felix Schoeller’s position as the operator of the most efficient decorative paper machine in Europe. In the highly competitive global decorative paper market—a sector crucial for producing substrates for laminates used in furniture, flooring, and interior design—operational efficiency is the ultimate determinant of success. By boosting PM1’s output while maintaining its status as a benchmark for efficiency, the company creates crucial additional capacity, strengthens its customer supply capabilities, and secures a decisive competitive edge.

The Osnabrück site, a cornerstone of the company’s structural realignment earlier this year, has already integrated products and paper grades from other consolidated mills. The investment in PM1 directly supports this consolidation by providing the necessary high-efficiency production platform to service an expanded portfolio, affirming the Osnabrück facility as a central hub for the company’s future decorative paper business.

Beyond the core focus on production capacity, Felix Schoeller is dedicating a further €4 million to essential sustainability technologies across three other German locations. This investment underscores the industry’s increasing recognition that ecological action and economic principles must align for a sustainable business future.

The strategic sustainability projects include:

• Weißenborn: A steam storage facility will be installed as part of the mill’s energy concept. Steam is a critical, high-energy resource in the paper-making process. By implementing a steam accumulator, the mill can optimise its energy usage, reducing its overall consumption, enhancing energy efficiency, and leading to a measurable reduction in CO2​ emissions. This approach is vital for an energy-intensive industry working toward climate-neutral production goals.
• Neustadt: The focus on energy efficiency continues at the Neustadt mill, where Felix Schoeller will install a new heat exchanger on Paper Machine 18. Heat exchangers are fundamental tools for recovering and reusing thermal energy that would otherwise be wasted. This upgrade will contribute to further lowering the mill’s operational energy costs and minimising its environmental footprint.
• Günzach: This site will see a modernisation of its wastewater treatment plant. This investment directly supports the company’s expansion of its expertise in the production of pre-impregnated resins (PRIP). PRIPs are value-added products used in decorative applications, and by modernizing the treatment facility, Felix Schoeller is improving its production processes while simultaneously meeting increasingly stringent environmental standards for water quality and resource conservation, ultimately increasing the flexibility of its product offering to customers.

The announcement of this comprehensive investment package follows the structural and portfolio optimisation changes unveiled by the company at the beginning of the year, which included the difficult decision to close the Penig mill and streamline its imaging portfolio. These decisions were necessary precursors to the current growth-oriented investments.

CEO Hans-Christoph Gallenkamp emphasised the importance of the new investment as the company navigates its long-term strategy: “With these investments, we are reaffirming our deep-seated commitment to Germany as a key manufacturing location, substantially increasing our operational performance, and laying a solid foundation for future, profitable growth. Following the challenging decisions required to consolidate our mill structures, this investment package represents the next logical and essential step in our path forward.”

Felix Schoeller is setting itself up for maximum production capacity by 2027 and establishing itself as a robust and environmentally responsible leader in the specialty paper industry by allocating nearly 70% of the funds to improving the efficiency of its top decorative paper machine and the remaining portion to essential energy and environmental upgrades. The decorative paper industry will continue to develop its technological capabilities and actively contribute to global sustainability goals thanks to this strategic capital expenditure.

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Tags: decorative paper, Paper Machine Investment, PRIP, specialty paper