maxit süd (south) - Franken Maxit GmbH & Co.
Azendorf factory and headquarters
In the Upper Franconian Azendorf, not far from the A70 motorway, you will find the largest production location for dry mortar in the whole of Germany. Since 1978, masonry mortar, screed and plaster have been produced at the headquarters in Azendorf under the brand name “maxit”. Three large compounding plants and compounding tower 5, which went into operation at the end of 2022, with two additional compounding lines and two bagging lines, ensure that the market in Bavaria and beyond is supplied with 225,000 tonnes of high-quality products per year.
A strong research and development department has created a technology centre here in Azendorf. The development of innovative products and constant investment in new technology guarantee products of the highest quality. This was documented with the new construction of a research and development centre a few years ago. The important contact to the customers should experience new possibilities in this building. In a modern, spacious training area, information events for construction companies, architects and planners now also take place under optimal conditions.
More than 300 employees at the site ensure that the production, transport and distribution of the products run smoothly every day. Our own transport vehicles belong likewise to the service, like order acceptance and disposition in every region.
Since 1908 the Johann Bergmann company has been extracting and processing limestone for the maxit Group in Azendorf, not far from the towns of Kulmbach, Bayreuth and Bamberg. Amid the idyllic Jurassic landscape limestone is extracted and processed into a number of products, among which are limestone grit, burnt lime, quicklime and hydrated lime. Since 1978 the Bergmann company has been under the control of the Groppweis family, co-shareholders of Franken Maxit. Hans-Dieter Groppweis is now the third generation to lead the maxit Group as managing director, and with Sebastian Groppweis, Katharina Straßburger-Groppweis and Julia Groppweis, the fourth generation is already firmly integrated into the family business and its management.
With the most modern extraction machinery and processing plants between 350,000 and 400,000 tonnes of limestone are processed a year. The products are used equally in the construction industry as in the agricultural and animal feed industry and environmental protection. On a spacious premises there are four sand grinding mills and two lime kilns alongside the primary crusher, stone breaking works and drying plants. The two multi-chamber shaft kilns, which run on environmentally friendly natural gas, can supply up to 130 tonnes of burnt lime per day, 7 days a week, 12 months a year.
A new chapter in the company's history was opened in 2016 with the construction of a high-performance OFR lime kiln (DC countercurrent regenerative kiln). An additional 220 tonnes of quicklime are now available for further processing every day. This also includes securing raw materials through extensive mining licences.
Niederwinkling factory
The first thoughts about setting up a dry mortar factory in Lower Bavaria in order to be able to supply the eastern Bavarian region were already put on paper in 1990. On 1 January 1995, six sales employees began to work the market between Ingolstadt and Passau. Despite a recessionary trend in the construction industry at the end of the 1990s, sales had stabilised to such an extent that construction of the factory in Niederwinkling began in 1997.
A milestone was reached in 2000 when the sales team from Hacker-Heiderlberger was integrated. The customers could be optimally looked after and supplied with the maxit products. The maxit brand established itself in Lower Bavaria as the market leader.
In order to inform our customers in a more targeted manner, in 2005 a property was rented in the neighbourhood surrounding the Niederwinkling factory and converted into a training centre. In 2009, we were able to extend our sales area further south and acquired three employees from the then maxit Deutschland. Silos from Niederwinkling could be seen as far as Berchtesgaden.
The growth in terms of customers, turnover and sales since the millennial also required more capacity in the office. Architectural consultation and object tracking were complimented by the classic office work duties. In order to fulfil the space requirement from the growth, at the beginning of 2015 the converted training centre was obtained as the new training and sales centre.
Nuremberg branch
The Franken Maxit branch in Nuremberg has existed for 20 years and is now an integral part of our company's sales and logistics concept. In previous years the branch developed into an important contact point for traders and processors and is often frequented by companies who operate in the metropolitan region Nuremberg - Fürth - Erlangen.
In the Nuremberg warehouse, all products of the core range of the Franken Maxit are available and thereby available at short notice where they are required. For some systems, for example for the floor, Nuremberg is the central warehouse for all sales territories of Franken Maxit. In the sales department there are four employees, who provide advice over the phone and in person, take orders, order-pick deliveries, shade soft plaster and paint, produce plaster and paint samples and where required, are also responsible for the construction-site application.
The sales of the sales territory centre also has its site at Nuremberg. Thus the employees of architectural consultation, construction consultation, area sales management, object sales, sales management and sales assistance have an office here. For customer training or information events, there is a training room with corresponding technology as well as surfaces for practical demonstrations available.
Due to the optimal accessibility by car, ICE fast train or aeroplane, the Nuremberg branch is likewise used as a central contact point for in-house or company-wide meetings.
Plattling factory
Franken Maxit's southernmost factory is located in the industrial area of the city of Plattling, in the immediate vicinity of the Deggendorf-Munich motorway. In the course of a company participation in 2001, the then HeidelbergCement plant was integrated into the maxit Group.
Plattling is specialised in pluscalc and gypsum bound products, as the size of the mixer of 4,500 l is optimal for the manufacture of large batches in this production sector. Six employees produce over 40,000 tonnes of material per year. The main share of which is silo goods, which is supplied to customers in the main delivery area of the factory in the south-east region of Bavaria.
The location has been additionally reinforced over the last few years. In 2014, interior construction took place in the office and social spaces. The factory was furthermore technically optimised through the assembly of a modern 4-nozzle Roto Packer as well as a palletiser and stretcher.
maxit nord (north) - maxit Baustoffwerke GmbH
Krölpa factory
In 1990 after the reunification of the former DDR and the Federal Republic of Germany, the gypsum factory in Krölpa was taken over in trust by Franken Maxit. Since then an almost completely new factory has been erected on the “old ground and floor”, with some employees who have been there a great many years and a vast number of new employees.
With the highest degree of commitment, motivation and an investment of several millions of D-Mark and/or euros for modernisation and new construction, a modern factory has arisen, which supplies the “hungry” market of the then new federal states with innovative and high-quality products within construction. The operational location of Krölpa is characterised by gypsum extraction and the refinement of gypsum raw materials. The Krölpa location is further characterised particularly by the production of mineral finishing plasters, fillers, adhesives for thermal insulation systems, thin-layered flooring-levelling coatings, gypsum plasters and anhydrite floating screed.
At the Krölpa location, alongside the classic products of the dry mortar industry, soft products are produced for the sales area of the maxit Group. Paints, primers and soft plasters are developed here in our own laboratories and produced in the modern finishing plants. The innovative products for the “maxit solar programme” and the IR reflecting façade paints “maxit intense” both originated here. A highly motivated, visibly rejuvenating team is challenged every day to meet the qualitative demands of our customers.
For over 150 years the local gypsum deposits near to the factory location at Krölpa have been extracted. Today maxit facilitates gypsum by opencast mining and anhydrite by underground mining. In doing so, a team of experienced miners ensure the careful extraction of natural resources. The raw materials are loosened through drilling and blasting operations from the groundmass and crushed by crushers. Over many years the maxit Group “mountain” will be available as an important supplier of high-quality raw materials for the further processing to professional building materials.
Leupahn factory
The factory in Leupahn was erected within six months of construction (February to mid-July) in 1992. The location is positioned conveniently between Chemnitz and Leipzig (15 km exit Geithain until the A72 and only 25 km until the A14 exit Grimma).
The annual tonnage is 135,000 tonnes as part of a flexible double-shift system. The entire production from 1992 until the middle of 2015 was 4.15 million tonnes. Specific products of the Leupahn factory are restoration plaster, cement and calcium sulphate flowing screed, SLK products and coloured masonry mortar for listed buildings.
Thörey factory
Only 15 km from the state capital Erfurt in Thuringia, in the industrial area "Erfurter Kreuz", where the A4 and A71 motorways intersect, the maxit plant Thörey is located. After only a few months of construction, the factory was able to produce its first tonne of dry mortar in November 1994.
Around 30 employees ensure the production of maxit products in bags and silos every day. In 2014, the factory had a general overhaul with an investment of approx. 1.2 million euros and the Roto packer, palletiser, in-house sand dryer and both of the bucket conveyors were renewed.
In the last five years, the Thörey factory has specialised in the production of tile adhesives and the related coloured grouting materials. Day-to-day the factory produces 350-400 tonnes of screed, plaster and masonry mortar in the two-shift operation. The annual tonnage nowadays is approx. 65,000 tonnes.
Dresden factory
The Dresden dry mortar factory was inaugurated in July 1992 as a production facility of the Baustoffwerke Dresden GmbH & Co. KG. Its location, in close proximity to the city of Dresden and the A4 federal motorway with the “Dresden-Hellerau” junction, enables particularly short delivery times to our customers.
The high demand of the production raw material “quartz sand” is sufficiently covered by the corresponding mines in the immediate catchment area. The plants of the Dresden factory are optimised for the production of base coats, mineral finishing coats, specialist products for the restoration and renovation areas as well as for products surrounding the area of thermal insulation systems. In order to guarantee this variety of products, three mixing plants and a sand processing plant were installed in a mixing building with which about 75,000 tonnes of material was produced into 2001.
In 2000, Franken Maxit took over the Dresden factory from Heidelberg Cement. Since then the Dresden factory, as a component of the maxit Baustoffwerke, has been supplying the market in eastern Saxony. With around 85,000 tonnes of produced dry mortar product per year, the maxit Dresden factory has a significant share of the economical success of the consortium.
maxit ost (east)
Beroun factory, Czech Republic
Since 1993, the Franken Maxit Group has expanded to Czech Republic and supplies the Karlsbad, Marienbad and Franzensbad region, the greater area of Pilsen right through to the capital city. In Beroun, almost 20 kilometres west of Prague, in March 2013, a new dry mortar factory was inaugurated. Since then the Beroun factory, with more than 60 employees and over 400 mobile dry mortar silos, supplies the market in the Czech Republic day-to-day with high-quality building products by the bag and silo.