Belgian agricultural machinery manufacturer Joskin is set to open a new factory in Luxembourg next month after several delays, the company has said.
The factory, operated by Belgium’s Joskin Group, will be located between Sanem and Esch-sur-Alzette and promises to create around 100 jobs.
“The construction of the new production facility in the municipalities of Sanem and Esch-sur-Alzette is entering its final phase,” the company said.
Farming machinery factory in Luxembourg’s south to open in 2025
“The industrial halls are now fully constructed and the teams are hard at work in the administrative and social buildings,” said company spokesperson Nicolas Detry. The site’s outdoor facilities are nearing completion, and the installation of photovoltaic panels is also progressing rapidly.
The construction work for the new national highway directly adjacent to the site has recently delayed the construction work, as well as the connection to the power grid and thus the complete testing of the paint shop.
The Luxembourg plant will assemble large monocoque tippers and a range of manure spreaders. Joskin also has factories in Belgium, France and Poland and supplies over 60 countries on five continents.
The 15,800 square metre facility in Luxembourg, stretching across more than six hectares of land, is located on the site of the former Twinerg steam and gas power plant. The opening of the factory is now scheduled for January.
The start of construction was previously delayed by the pandemic – and because the site is located in two different municipalities, Sanem and Esch-sur-Alzette.
“As the land selected for the project is located in two municipalities, the number of building permits to be obtained was doubled,” the company said, “which postponed the start of the project and only allowed it to begin in December 2023, almost a year later than originally planned.”
Both municipalities benefit from the company’s tax payments, which were split with a convention: 11% of Joskin’s municipal business tax goes to the municipality of Sanem, 89% to the city of Esch.
Four to five trailers per day
The factory is designed to be able to manufacture five new trailers per day, with the business plan assuming an average of just over four trailers per day. The aim is to have 2,500 ‘Made in Luxembourg’ Joskin trailers on the roads – and fields – of Europe by 2027.
The investment costs are expected to amount to around €22 million. The location fulfils all the criteria required for the feasibility of such a project, says Joskin, explaining its choice of Luxembourg. “We have not yet found another one in Europe.”
The availability of skilled labour was also one of the key parameters in the choice of location, with the company hoping that a workplace just ten minutes by bus from Esch railway station will prove attractive to many a welder, fitter or painter.
As a first step, the business plan envisages the short-term creation of around 40 jobs. This will be followed by the gradual recruitment of up to 100 employees, mainly fitters, welders and painters, as the factory ramps up production.
Around 80% of Joskin’s annual €140 million turnover is generated from the production and sale of machines such as slurry tankers, manure spreaders and tippers.
(This article was originally published by the Luxemburger Wort. Machine translated, with editing and adaptation by Alex Stevensson.)
