ROMANIA • Manufacturer and supplier to the automotive, durables and electronics industries ALT Technologies, has chosen Rotometrics as its preferred partner to supply rotary die-cutting technology to its manufacturing plant in Harghita, Romania.
The supply agreement, which was negotiated by James Wellsbury, of Rotometrics UK, is based on the die maker’s aim to meet ALT’s requirement for JIT production. In order to serve ALT and other customers in the region, Rotometrics entered a joint venture with Romanian distributor Graphic Open Systems (GOS), based in Brasov. Rotometrics South East Europe, as the facility is known, provides the company with the ability to repair and re-sharpen rotary dies on a ‘same-day’ basis, and is a good fit for ALT’s level of demand.
Headquartered in Utrecht, Netherlands, ALT Technologies has opened the plant in Romania in 2004. The facility in Harghita was established initially in 2002 as part of the Sentega Group (through a management buy out from Avery Dennison).
“Many of our dies in use at ALT are cutting metal to metal, so die life can be short. We are dealing with an industry that works in microns – we take drawings and convert them into dimensioned die lines,” explains James Wellsbury. “Today’s JIT production leaves no room for buffer inventories, so we see our investment in the Romanian facility as the type of long term commitment required to build and diversify our business.”