🎧 Ceratizit – building a sustainable benchmark 

New factories, a new logistics facility, a new sustainability initiative, a new management board, a new tech centre, company acquisitions and a host of new products planned for launch at the AMB show in September – the recent Ceratizit press conference was a real eye-opener. The manufacturer has invested hundreds of millions of Euros in its infrastructure since MTD magazine last visited its European facilities in 2019 and the transformation has been truly remarkable. By Rhys Williams

As one of the world’s leading cutting tool manufacturers, you would expect a level of re-investment to maintain a robust growth trajectory and industry-leading position, but what we found at Ceratizit last month was a seismic shift with new factories popping up at pace. Starting our whistle-stop tour across the German border in Reutte, the Austrian birthplace of the Plansee Group back in 1921, the rate of evolution was evident. 

Kicking off the event with a presentation was Melissa Albeck; one of the three members of the ‘all-new’ executive board. Setting the tone for things to come, Melissa informed the press of the 14 company acquisitions since 2002, an overview of the new board structure and the new production site in Kreckelmoos on the outskirts of Reutte. It was evident the change was rapid and there was more to come….There are also two new buildings in Kempten, Southern Germany, a new production site in Bulgaria and another in Poland, the introduction of additively manufactured carbide grades, the arrival of connACT – the new sustainability strategy with a roadmap to carbon neutrality, the Product Carbon Footprint and the upGRADE range of recycled carbide grades that includes the CT-GS20Y grade that will be presented at AMB in September. As a journalist with massive overwhelm and too many exciting things to cover, there’s only one place to start – at the beginning…

Following the presentation that whetted the appetite for what was to come, we toured the Reutte carbide manufacturing plant partially flattened by a catastrophic fire in 1996. From this disaster rose opportunity, a chance for Ceratizit to switch from acetone to water for its carbide manufacturing process – and the group is the only manufacturer in the world that applies this environmentally beneficial process to its 75 different grades of carbide produced at this site. With more than 2,800 different types of carbide tools and 6,800 different insert designations manufactured at Reutte, the company produces more than 80,000 carbide inserts every day from this one production site. Even in this longstanding facility, investment has been significant in new tungsten processing silos, pressure sintering plants as well as CVD and PVD coating technology and furnaces with specialist chemical processes for breaking down used carbide for recycling. 

Much of the technology on show in Reutte was explained in more detail through afternoon presentations that were broken down into sustainability, innovation and additive manufacturing updates – all supplemented by live demonstrations. 

Leading the Sustainability Drive

Sustainability has become interwoven into the fabric of manufacturing and a push towards carbon neutrality is a long-term aim for most companies. The foresight Ceratizit applies to its growth strategy also incorporates its green credentials. The company has acquired Tikomet, GTP and Stadler in recent years – companies located in the US and Europe that recycle tungsten carbide. These businesses are foundation blocks in the company’s drive to create a circular economy model for carbide. Subsidiaries across both continents are collecting cutting tools from customers with incentivised discounting that is claimed to see upwards of 87% of Ceratizit’s carbide now entering the recycling chain. Ceratizit is continually reducing its mining of raw materials. The aim is to increase its share of raw materials remaining in the carbide production chain to over 95% by 2030 – a figure based on scrap recycling of sintered products.  

The recycling model is proving a huge success with the company already ahead of its target to reduce CO2 emissions from the 2020 baseline figure of 191,000 tonnes by 35% by 2025. With targets to reduce this by 60% by 2030 and 90% by 2040, Ceratizit isn’t only leading the way with this drive, it is setting new standards. This was presented with the company’s new ‘Product Carbon Footprint’ (PCF) – the first VDMA-verified standard for calculating and classifying the carbon footprint of carbide products. The new classification will provide customers with the carbon footprint journey and impact of their cutting tools, something that Ceratizit is tirelessly calculating for all its 64,000+ standard product lines. This information for all standard products is expected to be completed and available for presentation at the AMB show in September. Furthermore, as the company continues its sustainability drive, the PCF of each product will constantly be reclassified to demonstrate the ever-diminishing impact of products on the environment. 

Pivotal to hitting its aggressive targets in the sustainability journey is a strategy to target every aspect of the business. This includes a switch to green energy, the introduction of green hydrogen, recycled packaging with 60% less CO2, solar parks introduced in India and Luxembourg, the 3D printing of carbide grades and much more.

Investment Drive

With fascinating insights into the transformation at the Reutte plant and a glimpse at everything from new products, sustainability, additive manufacturing and R&D; our afternoon trip consisted of a visit to the new Kreckelmoos facility in Tyrol on the outskirts of Reutte. This put the scale of the investment strategy into perspective.

When you see the building from the outside, you might think it is a new hotel at first glance. A beautifully designed wooden facade, large windows reflecting the surrounding mountain landscape and lots of greenery. But what at first appears to be a wellness resort is a production facility built for the future.

Ceratizit started construction on the site in 2019 and this was completed just over a year ago. With a gross floor area of 45,000sq/m and an overall manufacturing site of 370,000m³, the new facility won the German Design Award 2024 for ‘Excellent Architecture’, an award that that recognises innovative and sustainable design developments. With its innovative energy concept, it sets an important foundation for a more sustainable future – in line with Ceratizit’s corporate sustainability strategy. Comprising production halls, storage and logistics areas, offices and social rooms for over 300 employees, the site manufactures carbide tools, coating materials for displays, electrodes for glass melting and components for the semiconductor industry and medical technology. 

The story of the new building began more than six years ago under the premise of growing further at the location in Reutte. But where? After an intensive search, a suitable building site was found on a former landfill site. The Breitenwang neighbourhood of Kreckelmoos is only one kilometre away from the main site in Reutte. The planning and concept phase was followed by the tendering process and finally the start of construction in March 2019. The moving-in process began in January 2023 and is expected to continue until the second half of 2024. This was evident with large areas of the facility still awaiting production equipment installation during the tour.

Winning the German Design Award 2024, the site has an energy-efficient concept brought to reality with the use of thermal groundwater, heat pumps and photovoltaic systems. The 15,000sq/m extensively greened roof of the production hall also contributes to low energy consumption. This modern three-story building is also visually impressive. The visible timber supporting structure made of local spruce is particularly eye-catching. Using this naturally renewable building material has enabled low-emission construction, which perfectly fits in with the sustainability strategy.

Supply Chain

After a visit to a brand-new manufacturing facility, you’d typically think that you have seen the highlight of the trip, but in true Ceratizit fashion, the company raised the bar by organising a visit to the new logistics, distribution and supply chain centre in Kempten. Across the border in Southern Germany, MTD magazine visited the Kempten distribution centre in 2019 where plans were afoot for a new facility. Five years later, MTD magazine returned to see the new state-of-the-art logistics centre that was opened on Valentines Day 2021. 

In the aftermath of Brexit, many UK manufacturers had valid concerns over supply chain continuity – an issue that never really surfaced for businesses working with Ceratizit. Credit to its slick supply-chain strategy and huge investment in the new site, over 65% of Ceratizit’s European manufacturing output is delivered to more than 74 countries via the Kempten facility with 99% next-day delivery. Fundamentally quashing supply chain concerns.

Whilst the previous site was a sight to behold and akin to an Amazon warehouse, the new facility takes automation to a new plateau. The new building has a footprint of around 17,000sq/m, which is similar to the previous site. However, with 99% automation, the new facility currently ships more products with less staff than the previous site – despite running at just 60% capacity. In numbers, the new site ships more than 24,000kg of products every day. This equates to upward of 90,000 product parcels being shipped to more than 4,000 customers with an average order value of over €500. 

The level of automation at the new facility now sees 125 staff pick over 400 product parcels per hour compared to the previous 60 picks per hour, demonstrating the efficiency of the new site. With over 3500 boxes leaving the facility daily, it has a shuttle system that collects, stores and sorts more than 700 parcels that are delivered to the site daily from production sites around Europe. Undertaking this mammoth task, products are automatically added to and then collected from a 31-level holding area – each level is 60m in length with room for significant expansion to add to its current 400,000 storage spaces. From the colossal shuttle system, products are automatically delivered to specific picking locations where the staff operate under completely ‘fail-safe’ parameters and where quality checks, as well as packaging, labelling and shipping tasks are undertaken.

Dovetailing into this facility are standard and special products from the unfathomably diverse product portfolio and brands within the group as well as carbide products manufactured by Ceratizit for many of its competitors across Europe. Upstream from the slick logistics centre, Ceratizit has continually enhanced its customer-centric position with advanced technology that identifies customer behaviour and purchasing patterns. This ranges from the 24/7 tool supply via vending machines to complete e-commerce solutions that connect directly to customer ERP systems to expedite the procurement process – a behind-the-scenes investment that now sees special products manufactured and delivered in less than 3 weeks. 

In the next issue of MTD magazine, we’ll continue our insightful look behind the scenes of Ceratizit and its activities in Europe. We will also take a closer look at some of the exciting new product lines that will be arriving in the autumn. There are a multitude of product launches planned for the AMB show in September, so make sure you pick up our July issue to find out more.