INTERNATIONALISATION – THE NEXT STEPS
“Going International” is an enormous challenge for German SMEs in the manufacturing sector – in terms of finance, personnel, structure and organisation.
Nevertheless, BIW is increasingly facing up to this challenge, because customers from large-scale industry. in particular, who have been operating globally for years, are increasingly demanding that their suppliers are local to them. The pioneer in this is the automotive industry, which prescribes “localisation” to ensure the “local content” frequently demanded by the state – as in the USA and China. BIW has now been operating for three years in the German Industrial Park in Kunshan under the umbrella of the Start-up Factory. This year, production capacities will be expanded in a separate new manufacturing unit together with a partner company to quickly maximise the use of the very large production buildings usually provided by Chinese investors. The focus is thus on cable protection systems for the automotive and electrical industries, as well as for wind turbines and the railway industry, in line with the markets. Investment will be made in new production facilities, the expansion of the product range, which can be produced and offered locally, and maximising in-house production with the networking of all production steps in Kunshan in the Greater Shanghai area. At the same time, Hans Jörg Oberberg is in charge of the exploratory phase for the “Americas” in the Business Development division, although due to current economic policy and the shortage of skilled workers, no decision has yet been made on the location – USA or Mexico. In Europe, BIW is also offering an ever-growing product range and breadth of in-house production with an increasing range of ready-made systems. A large number of these intermediate steps in the process chain have already been undertaken for some years at the Polish plant in Wrocław (Breslau), with the addition now of a second plant in Głogów (Glogau), enabling a faster and more flexible response to customer requests. The two sites in neighbouring Poland are playing an increasingly important role as subcontractors and the provision of 100% manual final inspections. You will also continue to enjoy unique value for money in the
market for high-quality, customised product solutions in cable protection systems based on technical textiles, silicone moulded parts (seals, hose bends, grommets) and silicone extruded components (profiles, hoses and fabric-reinforced hose systems).
