38
Böllhoff Otalu relève le défi
It might seem a little curious to speak of challenges when considering a factory that produces over three-quarters of the
staggering one billion rivet nuts supplied by Böllhoff every year. In truth, it is simply a measure of an unrelenting
commitment to strengthen the market leadership of the RIVKLE® and RIVNUT® programs - as Phil Matten discovered during
a recent visit to La Ravoire.
The Böllhoff Otalu production facility nestles
under the shadows of the French Alps at La
Ravoire, a few kilometres outside Chambery,
historic capital of the Savoie region since the
thirteenth century. The company Otalu was
founded in 1938 in Paris – the name stems
from “Outillage pour le travail des Alliages
Légers et Ultra-Légers”, revealing a heritage of
working in light and ultra-light weight alloys.
The original rivet nut was developed in
1937 by B.F. Goodrich, which established the
Rivnut Corporation. The specific application was
to secure rubber de-icing strips to the leading
wing edges of aircraft. The technology was
subsequently licensed to Kleber in France, with
the first RIVKLE® blind rivet nut produced in
1950 –The RIV came from rivet nut, the KLE
from Kleber. RIVKLE continues as the brand
name to this day, although in English speaking
markets Böllhoff has adopted the RIVNUT®
brand for the same program.
For Otalu, Böllhoff entered the frame in
1972, acquiring the business and relocating it
three years later to its current, if much expanded,
operation in La Ravoire. Today the operation is
predominantly a production facility, which
includes a very substantial research and
development resource. It also houses
management offices for Böllhoff’s south
western European operations, which includes
its distribution companies in Italy and Spain,
basis by the automotive industry, as well as highly technical products as well as on
which since their establishment in the 1980s
delivering security and productivity in any excellence in value chain management.”
have achieved combined sales of more than
number of general industrial applications, as “We intend to maintain our leadership in
25 million euros and employ over 60 people.
diverse as climbing walls, heating and the blind rivet nut market, through the
The Böllhoff plant in Wuxi, which started
ventilation, furniture and street furniture. With application of a continuous innovation policy
production of rivet nuts in 2005 and now
employs nearly 60 people, also falls under the
wing of the Otalu management.
The Otalu site itself employs around 380
“We have to concentrate on
people, contributing sales of nearly 75 million
euros – reflecting close to a four times growth
highly technical products as
since the early 1990s. The workforce includes
nearly a third of all the research and well as on excellence in
development engineers and technicians
employed in the Böllhoff Group. The strength
value chain management”
of Otalu’s automotive credentials is testified by
the achievement of QS9000 certification in 1998
and graduation to TS16949 in 2003 – with its
environmental responsibility affirmed in 2001
growth comes competition and for Böllhoff and the total service we propose to our
through ISO 14001 accreditation.
Otalu competing on standard products is never customers. That includes asserting ourselves as
So where, you might wonder do the
going to be a winning strategy in the long run. the main partner to the automotive sector for
challenges come in? The rivet nut market, of
“Occidental countries mean high costs,” reflects these technologies, as well as improving our
course, has expanded dramatically as the
sales, marketing and purchasing director, position in general industry.” To which
technology has been adopted on a wide scale
Frédéric Besse, “so we have to concentrate on can be added a phenomenal
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