SKF recently announced that it will invest approximately $48 million to improve the competitiveness of its deep-groove ball bearing (DGBB) offering. This will include shifting production from Bari, Italy, to Asia and Eastern Europe. The company¡¯s DGBB manufacturing in China will also be consolidated into a new factory, and an automated production channel will be implemented in Italy.
The new DGBB factory in Xinchang, China, will require an investment of approximately $39 million and is expected to be fully operational during the first half of 2020.
¡°Through this investment, we will increase our competitiveness in Asia,¡± said Patrick Tong, SKF¡¯s president of industrial sales in Asia. ¡°Having already moved the group¡¯s global product development for DGBB from Europe to China, we will now be able to step up our full-value chain approach to serve local customer and application needs.¡±
The investment in the Italian factory totals approximately $5.3 million and will lead to the automation of manual operations and a flexible and more competitive manufacturing process. Associated staff reductions will result in restructuring costs of approximately $14.9 million. The automated production channel in Italy is expected to be completed during the second half of 2020.
In addition, more than $3 million is being invested in technology and capacity upgrades in existing factories in Asia and Eastern Europe.
¡°We are deploying one of the world¡¯s most advanced, flexible and fully automated assembly lines of its kind in Bari,¡± said Kent Viitanen, president of SKF¡¯s bearing operations. ¡°This enables a reduction in resetting time from hours to minutes, meaning much greater flexibility and improved customer-service levels. The investment will also contribute to improved quality and allow us to develop the technical competence of our staff.¡±
