J. Schmalz GmbH is the world's leading supplier of vacuum technology and has been growing continually for more than two decades. In the past five years, it has created about 200 new jobs at its Glatten facility alone. In order to meet future challenges and to do away with the existing lack of production and storage space, Schmalz started the largest construction project in the company's almost 100-year history on 2 September 2008. This investment of about 16.4 million euros will ensure that Schmalz has enough space for production until at least 2012, based on the currently planned growth rate.

The new building will be erected alongside modern office building which was completed in 2002. With a length of about 140 metres and an average  width of 70 metres, the new production hall will provide an additional production floor area of 10,170 m², and will thus more than double the existing production area of about 8,600 m². The entire production of all Schmalz products will take place in this new building. A high-rack warehouse with a height of 17 metres and a fully automated stockroom for small parts will considerably simplify the stock-keeping operations and provide additional storage space. An adjoining logistics area will decisively improve the complete material flow at Schmalz, from goods receipt, through commissioning and packing to dispatch of the finished products.

In addition to the above-mentioned production and logistics area, the new building, with a total floor area of 13,770 m² will include about 220 m² of additional office space, an underground parking garage with a floor area of 2,080 m² and space for about 70 cars and 1,300 m² for auxiliary, social and technology rooms.

The entire project was planned in accordance with the latest ecological standards. The underfloor heating system installed in all of the rooms will be powered by the company's own wood-chip heating plant. A rainwater cistern will supply water for all of the sanitary facilities in the new building and for irrigation of its surroundings. The north-light shed roof will permit optimal illumination and heating/cooling of the production hall and will also act as a supporting structure for the photovoltaic modules which will be installed later. A central air-extraction system for the machine tools and two ventilation plants will help to keep the air in the hall clean and to combat excessive heating in the summer. In the winter, the waste heat generated by the production systems will be utilised and fed back into the heating system.
A modern sprinkler and fire-detection system will ensure a high level of fire protection. A further ecological feature is that the sandstone excavated from the company's grounds will be recycled and used in the ballast substructure for the new building.

Access to the new building for trucks will be via the new entrance road across the top of the dam for the water-retention pond. Construction will take about one year and is expected to be completed in the autumn of 2009.