Groundbreaking ceremony for KSB’s largest investment in Frankenthal
- The Eta production facility is being modernised and expanded at a cost of more than 70 million euros.
- A state-of-the-art, digitalised production facility with new buildings is being created.
- The investment is a commitment to Germany as a business location.
FRANKENTHAL: The groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of the Eta production facility took place today at KSB’s headquarters. In the presence of the State Secretary in the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Rhineland-Palatinate, Simone Schneider, the Lord Mayor of Frankenthal, Nicolas Meyer, Mayor Bernd Knöppel, and around 400 employees from the Eta production facility and the departments involved, Stephan Timmermann, CEO, opened the ceremony and welcomed the attendees.
The Eta production facility at KSB’s headquarters is being expanded to become the competence centre for the latest generation of electronically controlled pumps in Europe. KSB is investing more than 70 million euros in this expansion over the next few years – one of the largest single investments the company has ever made worldwide.
“With this investment, we are committing to Germany as a business location with entrepreneurial courage and confidence. However, we expect politicians and social partners to tackle the necessary changes to the economic framework with the same courage and goal-focused action. Export-oriented companies and the jobs they provide thrive on local competitiveness,” says Dr. Stephan Timmermann, CEO.
To ensure that its Frankenthal location remains competitive in future, KSB is comprehensively modernising its Eta production by 2030 in line with the latest technological and energy standards. Simon Charrier, Head of Standard Production Frankenthal, and Björn Külzer, Head of Production Engineering, have been instrumental together with their teams in the restructuring of the Eta production facility.
KSB plans to extend its existing production facilities in Frankenthal. The new construction and refurbishment work are expressly planned to take place without interrupting operations: “Production must continue,” says Külzer. “Parallel to this, production will be taken to a new organisational and technical level.” According to Charrier, this evolution makes pragmatic and economic sense.
The new extensions will create space to restructure the machining, assembly and logistics areas and to completely refurbish older parts of the production hall before they are used again. Optimised throughput times will enable faster delivery times while maintaining the same high product quality. The plans for the energy-efficient redesign of production also include connecting the drying system of a new paint shop to the local heating network of the new heating station located at the headquarters and installing photovoltaic systems and green areas on the roofs.
The annual production capacity of the Eta plant currently stands at around 54,000 pumps and will increase with the expansion of the production facility. KSB aims to produce 65,000 pumps in Frankenthal in 2030. By then, 90 percent of the new factory will be complete.
KSB is already manufacturing the new, energy-efficient and sustainably produced EtaLine Pro pump generation for building services applications at its Frankenthal-based Eta production facility. Modifications to the Eta production facility are also necessary in order to adapt further pump type series to future energy efficiency requirements. “There is a large market for variable speed pumps in Europe,” explains Simon Charrier. “Pumps alone account for between 10 and 15 percent of Europe’s electricity consumption,” says Charrier, highlighting the importance of energy-efficient pumps.
These measures will strengthen the competitiveness of the Eta location in Frankenthal. According to Timmermann, competitiveness is not something that can be taken for granted. “We will only be successful if we make new investments. KSB must keep evolving, adapt and embrace change.”
Photo: (from left) Hannes Kopf (Head of the Structural and Planning Directorate South), Simon Charrier (Head of Standard Production, Frankenthal), Bernd Knöppel (Mayor of Frankenthal), Marcel Guthor (ETA production worker), Simone Schneider (State Secretary at the Rhineland-Palatinate Ministry of Economic Affairs), Stephan Timmermann (Spokesperson for the KSB Executive Board), Jens Hüttebräucker (Managing Director of Freyler), Nicolas Meyer (Lord Mayor of Frankenthal), Björn Külzer (Project Manager, ETA Next Level), Marco Godenschwege (Head of KSB’s Central Europe Region) and Harald Hofmann (Production Manager, KSB’s Central Europe Region) at the ground-breaking ceremony for the extension and modernisation of the ETA production facility at KSB’s headquarters in Frankenthal on 9 June. © KSB SE & Co. KGaA
KSB is a leading international manufacturer of pumps and valves. The Frankenthal-based Group has a presence on five continents with its own sales and marketing organisations, manufacturing facilities and service operations. With a workforce of around 16,800, the KSB Group generated sales revenue of more than € 3 billion in the 2025 financial year.
About Eta pumps
The origins of Eta pumps can be traced back to 1935/36. According to KSB, the young engineer Fritz Krisam, who later went on to head Design/Engineering at KSB, reorganised the company's various single-stage centrifugal pumps and combined them into a single type series. He called them Eta pumps after the Greek letter that signifies efficiency in engineering. The Eta pump is the world’s most successful standardised water pump on the market; it is even regarded as “the mother of all standardised pumps” – and as a product that has shaped KSB’s identity for decades. “Eta is not just a product, it is the heart of KSB,” says Stephan Timmermann.
