Festo AG continues to expand their US business and is investing $40 million into a new production, service, and logistics centre in Ohio. The facility will measure 161,500 sq ft, and will open in 2015. The new regional service center (RSC) will provide space for additional growth in the US, Canada, and Mexico.
Due to the central location of the RSC, Festo will be able to supply its North American customers in a more flexible manner with its innovative, customer-specific, and tailor-made solutions, and provide an even better service in terms of engineering and consulting.
The stated aim is to further strengthen its position in the American market. For this new facility, Festo, the worldwide operating market leader for control and automation technology headquartered in Esslingen, has once again opted for Witron's logistics capabilities.
As a general contractor, Witron is responsible for the entire development and start-up of all IT, control engineering, and mechanical components.
"Since 1994, both companies have been successfully working together in the warehouse logistics area," explains Andreas Wiebe, project coordinator at FESTO. "So far, Witron successively expanded our central warehouse in St. Ingbert, Germany in four construction phases and pro-actively adapted the material flows to our dynamic business. In consequence, we are able to provide an optimal delivery service to more than 300,000 customers in 176 countries of the world. Nevertheless, Witron had to face a tough competition during the bidding process for the project".
In addition to a cost-efficient concept, Witron's activity on the US market (including their US subsidiary, which has been successfully running for almost 20 years) contributed to the positive decision in favour of Witron. The US subsidiary, Witrn Integrated Logistics, headquartered in Chicago, currently employs more than 400 people.
