Wittmann Battenfeld Italia inaugurates its new headquarters

Over 250 people - customers, industry professionals and members of the specialised press - recently gathered for the official opening of the new Wittmann Battenfeld Italia headquarters in Ceriano Laghetto (near Monza), and for two days (May 9th and 10th) given over to presentations and an open house event.

“For us, moving to this new Ceriano Laghetto headquarters is a very important step, prompted by logistic and organisational needs, but above all by the desire to offer ever greater efficiency and innovative, expert and timely services. It is a key moment in the story of our firm, which we wish to share with our longstanding customers. They are the ones who have really given us the impetus to grow, constantly placing their valuable trust in us and thus supporting us in what we do”, said Luciano Arreghini, CEO of Wittmann Battenfeld Italia. After welcoming the participants, he went on to outline the programme of the first day, Thursday May 9th, which got under way at around 3 p.m. with presentations of the Austrian manufacturer’s main activities and explanations of the features and advantages of its technologies.

Next up was Michael Wittmann, general manager of the Wittmann Group and CEO of Wittmann Battenfeld, appearing, perhaps for the first time, at an Italian branch alongside the group’s founder and chairman Werner Wittmann (picture on the right).

“As plastics industry insiders are already well aware, the Wittmann Group is a global manufacturer of injection moulding machines, robots and automation systems, peripheral equipment responsible for temperature control, drying, conveying, dosing and granulating, as well as turnkey solutions”, Michael Wittmann began. “It operates worldwide through eight production sites distributed across five different countries, 34 branches and 27 sales offices. It now has 2,415 employees and in 2018 recorded a turnover of 425 million euros (+6.7% on the 2017 figure), the culmination of a growth trend that started in 2013. The group’s strength and stability are attributable largely to the way it has diversified its business, both in geographical and in application terms. Indeed, it operates in the automotive (35% of turnover), packaging (13%), medical (10%) and electronics (21%) sectors, as well as in consumer and white goods (12%), and in the toys, sport and leisure (9%) sector.

At its general headquarters in Kottingbrunn, near Vienna, the group has three production plants covering a total surface area of around 20 thousand square metres, given over, respectively, to the production of robots, temperature control devices and plastic material handling systems. The French site in La Buisse (near Grenoble), which just last April saw the addition of a new building, constitutes the global hub for the production of granulators, of any size and for any application, whereas the Austrian sites together represent Wittmann Battenfeld’s global centre for the production of injection moulding machines with an aggregated area of 28,500 square metres.

Hungary, specifically a location that is actually only just over an hour’s drive from Vienna, has for several years been home to an important production plant that turns out small linear robots (payloads up to 12-15 kg measured at the wrist). More recently, this plant introduced a line for the production of standard SmartPower hydraulic injection machines, with clamping forces of between 55 and 180 tons, and machine beds for the EcoPower and SmartPower series”.

Michael Wittmann then moved on to the event’s key topic: “Several years ago, we decided to move the headquarters of Wittmann Battenfeld Italia in order to have more space and allow a better customer service. Today, here in Ceriano Laghetto, we employ 25 people in a facility covering a surface area of around 1,200 square metres, which is efficiently divided into offices, a warehouse and a showroom. Once we have opened the door leading into the showroom, you will be able to visit our offices, but also, among other things, see for yourselves exactly how Wittmann’s 4.0 technology actually works. This technology was launched before the Industry 4.0 concept even reached Italy. As a result of the connection between all the peripheral equipment and Wittmann injection moulding machines, the plug & produce technology allows each machine to recognise the auxiliary equipment connected to it and to program this according to ‘recipes’ that are either pre-set or entered directly by the operator. Simply plug in and you are already connected with the entire production cell. After that, you’re ready to mould, in complete safety”.

Technical presentations and live demos

The general manager’s speech was followed by the presentations of the various Wittmann technologies, given by various Italian staff members: Domenico Mastrangelo (for the robot range), Paolo Girola (for cooling and temperature control, drying and conveying systems), Edoardo Ciocca (for the granulator range) and, last but not least, Gianmarco Braga, sales manager of Wittmann Battenfeld injection moulding machines in Italy.

The theoretical part of the day closed with fascinating talks by Wolfgang Roth (head of application technology at Wittmann Battenfeld) and Giorgio Pigozzo (consultant for an associated company), who spoke, respectively, about special injection moulding technologies (Combimould, Airmould, Cellmould, IML, LIM, PIM, IMWood etc.) and the digital solutions adopted by the group.

There then followed the ribbon cutting ceremony, which marked the actual opening of the new Italian headquarters and kicked off the session of live demonstrations in the showroom. Here, in addition to various auxiliary systems and the Wittmann 4.0 production cell connected with a SmartPower 120 moulding machine (which will remain in place here for use in tests with customers), the following injection moulding machines were also installed: an electric EcoPower 110 machine with degassing system, a SmartPower 240 featuring bi-injection feature and retractable tie-bars, and a VPower 160R with rotary table.

At the end of the event, all the participants were invited to enjoy an aperitif in the beautiful gardens of Villa Erba, on Lake Como, and a classical music concert entitled “A Musical Journey between Italy and Austria”, which was intended to celebrate the long and fruitful collaboration between the group’s Viennese headquarters and the Italian branch. The day ended with a gala dinner, also held at Villa Erba.

For the benefit of those unable to be present on Thursday, May 9, the presentations and open house were repeated the next day, following exactly the same programme.