Since its founding in 2001, Sonderhoff Italia has made a name for itself in Italy as a contract manufacturer for the foam sealing, gluing and potting of components from the most varied user industries from automotive, electronics and switch cabinet construction to lighting, packaging, household appliances and air conditioning technology. In these areas, Sonderhoff Italia will continue to grow in the coming years. Also in the sales of the polyurethane or silicone-based material systems for foam seals, adhesives and potting as well as the mixing and dosing systems from Sonderhoff Engineering for the FIP(F)G (Formed In-place Foam Gasket) dosing technology.
Since a year ago, Axel Erken, Managing Director of Sonderhoff Chemicals in Cologne, also took over the management of Sonderhoff Italia, many changes were made. The personnel and task organization was restructured and aligned even closer to the customer. A CRM (Customer-Relation-Management) system already implemented in the company group is to help to more efficiently coordinate the different customer processes in the group. With the introduction of SAP, Sonderhoff Italia followed the level of company software with which the Sonderhoff Group successfully organized all business processes worldwide. This enables the entire order chain to be handled in the best possible way, from the initial inquiry for various materials systems from the broad product portfolio, order processing for a custom-made order, to the delivery and commissioning of a dosing system from Sonderhoff. As a result of these measures, corporate structures and workflows will become generally slimmer and more efficient. Thus, even if the growth of Sonderhoff Italia continues, the number of employees in the administration needs not to be expanded. More than two-thirds of the 24 employees are already involved in value creation. This includes, in addition to contract manufacturing, sales and service engineering.
New ideas and more capacities for further growth
The continuous growth since the founding of the company, the good order situation of Sonderhoff Italia and the investment in new business areas make it necessary to expand the production areas.
With a new factory hall nearby, the company expanded its entire area to over 1500 square meters for further growth. The new strategy for Sonderhoff Italia provides for the further expansion of the production and the production of the self-adhesive foam seal GekoSpider. The further automation of GekoSpider production is being pushed ahead. A new business segment is the trading of used dosing systems, which are offered by Sonderhoff Italia completely overhauled for resale. The machine park for the production of custom-made products is being completely modernized by new mixing and dosing systems from Sonderhoff Engineering. In addition to the already existing systems for the processing and dosing of polyurethane and silicone-based material systems, we invested in a dispensing cell for the foam sealing, gluing and potting of small-sized components in a travel range of 500 x 600 x 250 mm. As a result, new customers from the telecommunications, medical technology and electronics industries are being developed.
The complete offer of custom manufacturing at Sonderhoff Italia extends from the production of individual sample parts to zero and small series up to serial productions. Due to the increasing diversity of variants and small numbers per order, investment in own plants often does not count, and it makes sense to outsource orders to a contractor. Sonderhoff Italia's custom-made work is flexible enough to meet the needs of its customers, while the manufacturing cap- points of the customers can be covered and missing capacities in customer production can be bridged. This is an attractive service for industrial customers. But it is also for other reasons. Some manufacturing companies prefer to outsource the sealing, gluing and potting of their parts and system components from their own production. Special working and safety regulations must be observed for the handling of chemical reaction materials. Or the companies see more advantages in going the first steps for the use of the FIP(F)G dosing technology together with Sonderhoff.
Sonderhoff Italia accompanies the growth of its contract manufacturing customers to the point where it is worthwhile for the customer to invest in own mixing and dosing systems from Sonderhoff Engineering. The company carries out commissioning of the plants on site and also offers technical service, sales of spare parts as well as application-specific training courses for customer employees. The new SAP software ensures the fast and timely delivery of the sealing, adhesive and potting products as well as the mixing and dosing systems to customers all over Italy. The further development of Sonderhoff Italia is also ensured for the future with the renewal of the machine park in the contract manufacturing, the expansion of the production capacities and the investment in new business areas.
