Allit group is optimising processes in production and logistics – sustainable energy management

BAD KREUZNACH. In its 53th financial year ended 31 March 2013, the Allit AG group headquartered in Bad Kreuznach, Germany, has achieved a turnover of 57.5 million euros. “We have really made a spot landing on our target figures“, says Jochen Kallinowsky, member of the Board of Directors, who last spring took over the responsibility for the family-owned enterprise from his father Jochen Kallinowsky together with his brother Karsten.

Over the past three years, the total turnover of the Allit group has increased by a total of nine million euros. Turnover is expected to slightly decline in the current financial year because the insolvency of the Praktiker group has led to a loss in turnover in the “Storage” business field that cannot be recovered in the short time remaining until the close of the financial year. 

Until the end of the current financial year (running from April 2013 through March 2014), the Allit group will have made investments of around 12 million euros with a view to safeguarding the performance of its Bad Kreuznach site. 80 percent of the amount is financed by the family-owned enterprise Carl Ackva Photovoltaik GmbH & Co. KG. 

The 18-month investment programme – the biggest ever in the company’s history – is geared to optimising processes and the flow of materials at Rotlay-Mühle, a location that has over time developed into a small industrial park. One of the two new production halls now accommodates nine new injection moulding machines having a total value of 2.4 million euros – an investment providing a capacity increase of 15 percent.  This enables the company to bring previously outsourced orders back in-house to Bad Kreuznach. In addition, a new customer engaged in the field of food purity has been won who has certified Allit’s production facilities in accordance with the customer’s own quality standards. The concentration of the components manufacture for Pall Modultechnik GmbH (mainly filters for the pharma and biopharma industries), in which Allit holds an interest, has proved to be a powerful approach that is now bearing fruit.  

On the premises of the former rail freight station, whose handling terminal is currently being renovated, two new warehouses each offering 2,100 square metres of usable floor space, eleven lorry docking bays as well as 300 square metres of office space for the logistics management department are in the process of construction. From January 2014, the former rail freight station will serve as an entry hub for goods to and from the whole Allit group. Both products supplied to the group and products manufactured by the group can then be stored in this location without the need to have recourse to external storage services in peak periods. 

With the introduction of new computer programmes for warehouse management, all previous material flow and warehousing processes will be adjusted to suit the new approach. The use of modern software is also intended to facilitate the storage of all customer relationship data in a transparent and easily accessible manner in the framework of a computer-assisted “Customer Relation Management” system. The new CRM programme will first be launched at subsidiary Dr. Heinrich Schneider Messtechnik GmbH and will then be expanded to Allit AG. The purchase and implementation of the logistics and CRM software are alone expected to absorb almost 500,000 euros. As a matter of course, it will take a few months until all innovations and adjusted processes have become familiar to the staff – the Board of Directors counts on the full participation and concerted commitment of all stakeholders. Despite the described investments, Allit’s equity ratio has risen to a solid 55 percent of the balance sheet total of 38 million euros.  

The positive development of the Allit group is also reflected in the size of the workforce: Compared with the previous year, the number of employees has risen by 24 to a total of now 385 staff members, 60 of whom are employed at Schneider Messtechnik. 33 young people are trained as apprentices in seven different professions so as to ensure the continued availability of qualified staff – a new record in the company’s history. “We have again been able to offer all apprentices permanent contracts”, says Jochen Kallinowsky, who, like his father before him, attaches great importance to maintaining a trustful working relationship with all employees. 

The group’s management gives special attention to saving energy: Thanks to the installation of new machinery and the streamlined modification of existing equipment, the group’s overall energy efficiency has been greatly and sustainably enhanced. Allit will seek certification to standard DIN ISO 50001 for its conscientious energy management. The cost increases experienced in this and in other areas can no longer be passed on to customers. “We are committed to investing in environmental initiatives because many of our customers attach considerable importance to sustainability”, remarks senior partner Hans Kallinowsky. Allit intends to fulfil the voluntary pledge made by the German economy to reduce annual energy consumption by 1.3 percent. The photovoltaic systems installed on the roofs of the factory halls contribute to attaining this environmental goal: With an annual generation of approx. one million kilowatt-hours, they supply an amount of energy corresponding to the energy needs of 250 to 300 three-person households. Allit is thus able to meet nearly eight percent of its own energy consumption. 

Allit’s subsidiary Plastic-Metal Technology Co. Ltd. in Qingdao (China) now generates 50 percent of its turnover in China, mainly with the manufacture of components for the aviation industry. 

In 2014, Allit will run a long “trade fair marathon”: In February, the national logistics trade fair “LogiMAT” will take place in Stuttgart, followed in March by the international hardware trade fair in Cologne and by the Hanover “CeMAT” trade fair in May. In addition, Dr. Heinrich Schneider Messtechnik will showcase its products at the leading national trade fair “Control” scheduled to take place in Stuttgart in May, as well as at various other trade fairs. “Schneider’s recent award of the technology prize conferred by the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Land of Rhineland-Palatinate and the ISB bank has given fresh impetus to the company and has attracted the interest of potential customers“, states Hans Kallinowsky, Managing Director of Dr. Heinrich Schneider Messtechnik, who shares Schneider’s hope for further stimulation of the German mechanical engineering sector.