The Italian gear-maker Brevini Power Transmission has invested almost €25m in new headquarters in Via dei Gonzaga, Northern Italy, which consolidate all of its manufacturing activities under one roof. The 83,000m² facility will allow Brevini to adopt lean manufacturing practices across its entire product range, cutting lead times throughout Europe.

Before moving to the new headquarters, Brevini’s manufacturing operations were spread across several production sites in Italy. This made production levels inflexible in relation to demand.

The new facilities (below) incorporate lean manufacture principles on every production line, allowing Brevini to respond rapidly to market trends and to cut delivery times, even for non-standard products.

The custom-built manufacturing centre took almost three years to complete. There is a total of 15,000m² of production space which has the manufacturing capacity to meet global demand.

It will also allow further expansion of Brevini’s product portfolio and cut delivery times for its entire range of medium-to-high torque gearboxes and winches.

♦  Dave Brown, Brevini’s UK sales manager says that, for UK customers, the changes in Italy mean will mean more flexibility and shorter times-to-market for both standard and special products. “Quality standards were already very high, so there isn’t a huge leap-forward possible there,” he adds. “What we are expecting is increased modularity in gearbox component products − and, again, reduced time-to-market for new products.”