VCST in expansion

28 May, 2020

As a company, it’s important to keep striving for improvement and growth. Not just improvement in processes and personnel, but also the literal growth of our plants. After all, a bigger surface means more capacity to produce and more possibilities for larger projects. Recently, we have finished major expansion projects in China for IGW Rail and in Mexico for VCST.

 

A new family member in China

 

Up until a year ago, our plant in Changzhou was dedicated only to VCST. That has changed now, however as two new facilities have been added. The first is a new hall for our colleagues of IGW Rail and Industry, which will be used for production of new parts. In short, our Changzhou plant will be the first to produce for all three of BMT Drive Solutions’ divisions. The second facility is a new heat treatment room which is already in use. These two new facilities take up a total of 10,000 square metres, which is more than the 7,000 square metres that were currently occupied by the VCST facility.

 

The construction of the new halls was handled by a government firm, which is also responsible for safety checks once the halls are finished. Due to the current coronavirus pandemic, the construction has been delayed. However, we are happy to report that the finishing touches are being applied as the whole facility is being prepared for an official opening ceremony once normal service is resumed in September or October of this year.

 

 

3d construction new halls VCST China

Expansion is key in Mexico

 

Over now to VCST Mexico where one of the three production halls has been expanded by 1,600 square metres. The entire project was finished in July 2019. The reason for the expansion was the purchase of new machines to handle new projects. Together with the new machines and the added space, some new colleagues were welcomed as well, both on the production line as well as administrative personnel.

 

During the expansion, we counted on our operators’ flexibility as some of the machines had to be moved closer to one another to accommodate the building materials. Also, since work was still carried out in the hall that was expanded, a lot of plastic covers were added as well to protect our colleagues from dust. In the end, though, everyone handled the situation very well and we were able to keep our production steady and up to date.

Upon the completion of the expansion, there was widespread enthusiasm. Indeed, our operators and supportive personnel can feel the company growing both physically but also in stature, which in turn brings even more motivation. We are now able to take on even bigger projects in both our plants. As an added bonus, our colleagues also get the opportunity to work and grow in a brand new environment.