Allit AG Kunststofftechnik

8 From 13 employees to 13 buildings. And now we are over 50 years old. Back in 1960, Allit was founded on the site of a leather factory, and it is now being run by the sixth generation of the same family. Today the Allit site around Rotlay Mill is an impressive facility spread over 100,000 m², but the early days back in the 1960s were anything but easy. The transition from a leather-processing business into a plastics processor had to be successfully achieved, and together with a small band of employees we faced an uncertain future. Around the family home, which to this day remains on the site, Allit grew organically along with its customers, who placed their trust in the company in ever-growing numbers. It was a time of new beginnings, of courage and some- times audacity, a time when the world was full of possibilities. We focused on a group of materials that was to prove our central theme as that exciting future unfolded: thermoplastics, and everything you can make with them. And that proved to be a great deal. So much that we grew steadily, not just in terms of business activities but also spatially. Today there are 13 warehouses and industrial buildings (and Building 14 is under construction), with 40,000 m² under cover and 45,000 m² of paved surface area.The 70 injection moulding machines are arrayed there, with a clamping force of 1,000 metric tons (this means that for an injection mould in one of these machines it feels roughly as if 250 full-grown elephants were trampling on it simultaneously). At Allit time never stands still. We have only been able to achieve these figures because at Allit time never stands still. Our machines operate for up to 8,500 hours a year. For comparison, a calendar year has 8,760 hours. Every day we set ourselves the challenge of not allowing any downtime and continuously optimising all processes. We inte- grate our four business segments and their activities as closely as possible, for example with our location in China, thus allowing us to achieve 14 to 16 hours of production time a day, something made possible by the time difference. Data is exchanged, and no time is lost. However close to our hearts plastic as a material has become, our love of optimised operations and the continuous improvement process has come to rival it. Hans Kallinowksy with employees. The fact that the image is black and white gives an idea of this photo’s age. However, we won’t reveal the exact date it was taken.