Birner Kunststofftechnik GmbH 40 years old
Increasingly wide range of products

Founded in 1966, the company has been manufacturing complex injection moulds, as well as individual technical plastic parts for the electrical, domestic appliance and automobile industries, since 1980. The end-customer is increasingly demanding complete sub-assemblies, which are then manufactured on production lines. Birner either develops the products together with the customer or in accordance with his specifications. Production is carried out in series.

Birner is not only a manufacturer, however; they also act as a future-oriented service provider. They have their own in-house logistics company for tailor-made service solutions. The demand is for sufficient transport capacity that can be exploited at any time, both for raw materials procurement and for deliveries.

In addition, one of the most important core capacities of the company is the possibility to integrate whole assembly and production lines in a customer’s own factory. Birner Kunststofftechnik GmbH is increasingly offering production solutions for incorporation into the customers’ production premises as “shop in shop” or “wall to wall”. In this way, it is usually possible to have a decisive influence over the chain of logistics and the cost structure of the end-product.

Setting priorities in production:
CEO Markus Birner

On producing cockpits in the mould shop:
“When making moulds, the most important capital we have at our disposal is the staff’s own training. The automation of operations in spark erosion and milling with high-speed milling machines is constantly progressing. CIM processes place the highest possible demands on our staff and their technical expertise. We’ll only be able to secure our jobs in Germany if we’re prepared to permanently undergo training on the job and think flexibly.”

… and on conforming to quality standards:
“Detailed measuring reports and feasibility studies are required, which we then present to the customer. For all approval procedures, a complete technical staff has been established at our headquarters in Kümmersbruck. There, we simulate all the processes, set up model production lines and test the series status in ‘run & rate’ processes.”

On extending the production of sub-assemblies:
“Increasing value-added output is of crucial importance. In one sub-assembly, various components are integrated in the plastic part. Around the nucleus of the plastic part, we complement the whole component, including functional elements. In other words: we’re continuously extending our range of products and services.”

… and on keeping close proximity to the customer:
“By means of our production, we want in effect to grow into the customer’s own factory. We produce on the spot what the customer needs for his assembly line. To take an example: for our customer Grammer we produce the large parts they require on their premises, so they have them ready for final assembly as needed; the plastic sub-assemblies for the centre console of the new Passat are produced and supplied ‘just in sequence’ to the assembly line. In this way, logistics costs and movements of goods are kept to a minimum.”