One of Europe’s most modern production plants for racking

BITO remains committed to Germany as a production site

At their headquarters in Meisenheim, BITO set up a plant to manufacture and finish uprights, beams and other components of their new PRO pallet racking family.

As almost no other company in the industry, the family owned single source
supplier of racking and shelving as well as plastic bins and containers, the German
based company BITO-Lagertechnik Bittmann GmbH in Meisenheim opted for
Germany as location for their entire production process. In 2007, BITO established
a metal manufacturing plant in India, however this plant only produces shelving
and racking for the regional South East Asian markets.

The fact that even today, it is possible to manufacture metal and plastic products in a high income country such as Germany without compromising on efficiency and cost-effectiveness is proven day in, day out by the BITO staff in both plants, in Meisenheim (metal
processing) as well as in Lauterecken (plastic processing). Constant investment
into production facilities and methods did not only result in a higher productivity.
Just as important for BITO is to observe the requirements of up-to-date conditions
of work and environmental protection. BITO’s commitment in these fields proves that efficiency, productivity, profitability and environmentally sound production methods agree with social responsibility.

Quality products made by BITO
BITO’s latest investment into a new production plant in Meisenheim is In line with
their commitment to quality and modernisation. The plant was purpose-built and
equipped for manufacturing the PRO pallet racking system. The new hall complete
with its special equipment also reflects BITO’s development from a supplier of
systems and components to a full service provider with integrated and most
comprehensive production capacities. With the exception of some few purchased
parts, everthing is produced by BITO. It is the combination of creativity, innovation,
in-house production and customer proximity which accounts for the bigger part of
BITO’s success. Not only does this combination offer economic advantages for
BITO and their customers. Equally important is the consistently high product
quality and reliably high levels of performance, delivery and service quality. The
new production plant for heavy duty PRO racking components is representative of
BITO’s allround capability: PRO racking components pass through all production
stages, from their origin as a coil to the finished product ready for assembly,
which, after order-related collation, immediately leaves the plant at Meisenheim.
Fully automated production lines for PRO racking uprights and beams

At the heart of the new production centre are the bending facilities and the
punching/metal forming machines for racking uprights, beams and assorted
components such as hook connectors. In a largely automated process, the PRO
components are produced in order-related batch sizes. The state-of-the-art
production process of the pallet racking components starts with coil storage and
preparation and continues with strip steel in-feeding onto the production lines
either for uprights or for beams or onto the punching/metal forming line for hook
connectors.

The PRO uprights and beams are each worked in a bending facility of the Italian
mechanical engineering specialist Gasparini. In a continuous process, the coils are
lifted onto turn-around decoilers and decoiled successively. In order to allow a
continuous work flow, the decoilers are equipped with a welding unit to link a strip
end with the strip beginning of a new coil. After passing a trueing device, the metal
strip now moves to a punching robot which can be activated according to order
and also punches additional slots according to customer requirement. In a next
step, the metal profile passes the bending station. The uprights and beams are
then cut to the required length by downstream overhung saws moving at
workpiece feed speed with automatic reset to the starting point. In a further step,
the hook connectors are welded to the beams.

Product and customer specific production
In the finishing area, the beams are either directed to a buffer stock or they are
immediately cleaned, epoxy-coated, stoved, cooled down and finally palletised. At
the assembly station, the bended uprights are mounted to frames. The bending
stations for both components, beams and uprights, are designed to take account
of specific requirements without the necessity of making time consuming or
expensive changeovers. Order specific upright and beam lengths, slot patterns or
epoxy coating in a colour to choice can be easily handled.

The new production hall produces PRO pallet racking components. This means fast order processing, limited and above all cost reduced supply and intermediate storage quantities of materials and immediate availability to ensure fast delivery.

Construction works for what is now BITO hall 7 began in March 2006 and in March
2007 the facility went into operation. The start-up period is finished and production
is in full swing. Backed by state-of-the-art technologies, a high degree of
automation and enlarged production capacities, the BITO group is well on the way
to increase their market share in the pallet racking segment, to push their major
project business and to strengthen their competitivity as a full service provider of
storage and order picking solutions.

For reader enquiries:
BITO-Lagertechnik Bittmann GmbH
Monday-Thursday from 7 am to 6 pm
Friday from 7 am to 4.30 pm
Tel.: +49/6753/122-0
Fax: +49/6753/122-399

For journalist enquiries:
BITO-Lagertechnik Bittmann GmbH
Silvia Feder
Tel.: +49/6753/122-217
Fax: +49/6753/122-5840
Email: fes@bito.de

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