RATIONAL has officially opened the expansion of its plant in Wittenheim, France. With production space now doubled, the “RATIONAL iVario Business Center” has increased capacity for the iVario Pro intelligent tilt skillet and now offers modern workspaces and a spacious Customer Experience Center for customers and partners.
The iVario Pro and its predecessor models have been developed and produced at the Wittenheim site for more than 20 years. From Wittenheim, RATIONAL supplies appliances and accessories to more than 120 countries worldwide with strong results: while around 500 cooking systems were produced in 2005, that figure climbed to more than 10,000 by 2025.
“With the new building, we are laying the foundation to meet growing global demand over the long term,” says Thomas Hoch, Chief Product Officer, iVario.
The new plant will increase potential production capacity to 25,000 units per year, and the building’s design allows for future expansion to more than 75,000 units per year.
While the iCombi Classic, iCombi Pro, and iHexagon are manufactured at RATIONAL’s main site in southern Germany, Wittenheim serves as the company’s center of expertise for contact heat technology. The new building and the €35 million investment underscore the growing strategic importance of the iVario Pro and create the structural foundation to support it.
With the expansion, the Wittenheim site now houses the entire iVario value chain, from market and customer development through production and worldwide delivery. Alongside roughly 108,000 square feet of production space, the new building features a spacious Customer Experience Center with three training centers for cooking demonstrations, training courses, and customer and partner events. The site also includes a modern staff restaurant and approximately 16,000 square feet of office space with bright, ergonomic workstations.
Wittenheim is also home to the headquarters of RATIONAL’s French sales subsidiary. Around 270 people from 11 countries work at the site, reflecting the company’s international focus.
RATIONAL placed significant emphasis on energy efficiency and sustainable design in the new building. A highly insulated, material-efficient steel structure forms the basis for energy-optimized operation. A heat pump handles heating and cooling, while an intelligent, daylight-responsive LED lighting control system with separate lighting zones further reduces energy use. A photovoltaic system designed to cover 25 percent of the building’s current annual electricity consumption rounds out the package.
“The new building is an important milestone for the team in Wittenheim,” Hoch adds. “It creates modern working conditions and underscores the importance of the iVario within the RATIONAL product portfolio. It also lays the foundation for us to continue supplying professional kitchens with the best possible solutions well into the future.”
