It is now about four and a half years since Preh GmbH commissioned a new production and office building for its subsidiary Preh IMA Automation GmbH at its headquarters in Bad Neustadt. However, due to the dynamic growth of both PIA and the entire Preh Group, the automotive supplier and automation specialist has once again reached the capacity limits at its factory site. But – at the day of commissioning the new Preh development center – the Supervisory Board of Preh GmbH set course for the next pioneering trend and gave the go ahead for an independent PIA site in Bad Neustadt. By the end of 2018, PIA is expected to move to its new headquarters at Bad Neustadt’s Altenberg industrial estate, where Preh’s automation division will have a production area of around 10,000 square meters. The new location will create state-of-the-art workplaces for the 215 people from Bad Neustadt who are currently employed at PIA. However, the new site also offers sufficient room for further growth. Preh is investing more than EUR 10 million in the new building.
Christoph Hummel, CEO of Preh GmbH, commented on the new large-scale investment in Bad Neustadt: “After just investing EUR 12.5 million in the new construction of our development center, the possibilities to expand at our factory site are limited. This move will allow Preh IMA Automation to expand much more freely at its new location. At the same time, we are creating further growth in our automotive business at our headquarters. In addition, it is more sensible to set up Preh IMA Automation, which already operates very independently, as a stand-alone unit at a new location than to outsource individual business units.”
PIA’s operational autonomy will also come more to the fore organizationally in the future. It is planned to set up the Preh-Automation Unit on an independent basis as a separate business division by the summer of this year.
PIA Managing Director Günter Brosch added: “We are already working on our markets with a high degree of independence. In view of our strong growth, it is only logical that we can tailor our processes and procedures to our needs at a separate location, while at the same time creating room for our further expansion plans. In addition, with our subsidiaries in Amberg, in the USA and China, we have now reached a size where it makes sense as a stand-alone division within the Joyson Group.”
As part of its relocation, PIA will further optimize its material supply and logistics concept. Against the backdrop of current market trends such as Industry 4.0, the automation specialist can adapt more flexibly at its new location to rapidly changing market requirements in assembly and plant engineering and continue to offer its employees improved working conditions.
