CSR Bradford Insulation Manufacturing Facility

Glasswool Manufacturing Facility
Location: Ingleburn, NSW

Company history and description

CSR - the parent company of Bradford Insulation was founded in 1855 in Sydney, Australia. Today it is the largest insulation company in the Asia Pacific with operations throughout Australia as well as in Asia and New Zealand. Bradford Insulation was established in 1935 based on rockwool technology. CSR acquired the business in the 1950's. In the 1960's glasswool was introduced and business extended into Asia. Now CSR Bradford Insulation has nine plants in Australia China, Malaysia and Thailand. Three of these facilities are in Australia. Rockwool is manufactured at the Clayton plant in Victoria and the Dandenong plant, also in Victoria, manufactures reflective foil and other products. CSR Bradford exports its insulation products to New Zealand.

Plant description

The Ingleburn expansion, which took 12 months to complete, saw the addition of a second production line increasing the glasswool production capacity by 50 per cent up to 28,000 tonnes per year. This allows for increased manufacturing volumes and greater flexibility as one line can be dedicated to the production of batts, and the other to the production of blanket and board products. For Bradford's customers, this means a quicker turnaround of orders and improved response times for the commercial and industrial markets. Eighty per cent of Ingleburn's raw material is recycled glass. The Ingleburn plant also has emissions control equipment resulting in the plant producing less than ten per cent of the EPA's required emissions levels.

Recent investments in the Dandenong and Clayton facilities have also been made. CSR Bradford are now introducing recycling at their rockwool facility at Clayton and this will increase recycling to around 70 per cent, minimising the use of new raw materials and reducing energy consumption.