The Production division, which includes machine assembly, shipping, procurement, work preparation and warehousing, has moved to Traismauer (Austria), about 60 km from Vienna. For this purpose, more than 5 million Euros were invested in the expansion of the Traismauer site and approximately 40 new employees were hired.
Andreas Kandt, CEO of BEKUM Maschinenfabriken GmbH in Berlin: “The reorganization provided us with the basis for excellent market positioning. From our perspective, the reorganization results in considerable synergies not only on the cost side but by pooling expertise and experience. As a pioneer and technology leader, we have repositioned ourselves to continue shaping extrusion blow moulding through innovation and high-end products for the future.”
BEKUM-Traismauer expanded
The aim was to consolidate the European manufacturing of extrusion blow moulding machines at a single site. While previously only large blow moulding machines were built at Traismauer (established since 1968), now smaller packaging machines will be built in the 16,000-square-meter space. Through consolidation of the processes at a single site, significant synergies have already been achieved. For this, BEKUM invested more than 5 million Euros in the expansion of the site, particularly by adding assembly and office space, as well as in the construction of a new central warehouse. At the same time, approximately 40 new employees were hired. It was also possible to persuade key production employees to move from Berlin to Traismauer. Andreas Kandt: “Experienced and knowledgeable employees remained loyal to us and went to Traismauer to ensure continuity and knowledge transfer.”
New Headquarters in Berlin
In Berlin, the company moved into new headquarters in mid-April 2016, not far from the previous headquarters. In contemporary offices, worldwide operations come together in the areas of sales and marketing, development and design, as well as technical service and spare parts distribution. These areas were purposely kept in Berlin to ensure continuity of customer service and technical development of individual customer solutions via the highly experienced Berlin-based staff. Andreas Kandt: “With approximately 16,000 BEKUM machines blow moulding machines delivered worldwide, we have a great responsibility to support our customers in their production tasks competently and, above all, quickly.”
Sales Success is evident
New orders were received in Eastern Europe and the Middle East for mostly small and medium-sized machines for the packaging industry. These have been delivered as the first packaging machines out of the Traismauer factory. The automotive segment was also extremely successful over the past year. Large orders for VW in Wolfsburg (Germany), as well as for production facilities of Fiat in Italy and Brazil, were gained against the competition, underscoring BEKUM’s high level of expertise in this market segment. Several single-station and double-station tank blow moulding machines for producing coextruded 6-layer or 7-layer fuel tanks with IMD (in-mould deflashing) and SIB (ship in the bottle) technology are involved. Andreas Kandt: “In this market segment, we can demonstrate our natural strengths: Uncompromising product quality with high production output and machine uptime. Our special strength is offering customers complete production cells. In this area, we serve most major car manufacturers in Europe.”
Summary
These were essential milestones for strategic reorganization, defined by a dedicated BEKUM management team in Berlin and Traismauer, for achieving simultaneous aims of stability and continuity, as well as progress and innovation. The successful consolidation of production departments prepares BEKUM for the future in the area of packaging machines. At the same time, major commercial success in automotive machines proves BEKUM to be the “all-around” technology leader in blow moulding machines.
