The Niederau Industrial Park is situated in the industrial zone of Düren-Niederau directly on the Rur and comprises an area of approx. 11 ha. About 430 employees work here in production, administration and research. In addition, about ten apprentices are trained in a variety of jobs (e.g. as chemical technicians, industrial business people).
The Industrial Park Niederau was created over the past five years: the location, originally a site of Akzo Nobel Chemicals was transformed into an industrial park with four independent chemical companies.
- Akzo Nobel Chemicals GmbH produces aluminium sulphate for the paper industry and specialty chemicals for the manufacture of skin care products. The Akzo Nobel facilities also include the R&D, Administration and Central Sales departments of Akzo Nobel Chemicals in Germany.
- Hansa Group AG, Duisburg, took over the production of anionic tensides in 2000.
- Grace Silica GmbH bought the activities of the former Akzo PQ-Silica in 2001
- Chemson GmbH took over the production of stabilisers in 2004
These companies are supported by three industrial service providers: R&M HIMA GmbH, which is in charge of the maintenance operations of the industrial park, NUON IP Düren GmbH, which runs the energy and media supplies, as well as Atos Origin GmbH, an IT and e-business service provider. Fire prevention is the responsibility of a separate plant fire brigade.
Organisation
Site companies have a joint responsibility for the management systems run at the location. In order to allow for fast, informal communication between all companies, a ‘Site Co-ordination Meeting’ brings together representatives from all areas and companies at the site four times per year. This body can quickly come to a view on outstanding problems and support the necessary common investments in the field of security, health and environmental protection.
In addition, a ‘Security, Health and Environment’ body has been set up for the whole of the industrial park in which specialists from the individual companies discuss subjects such as safety at work and health protection.