New Facility to Help Strengthen Röhm’s U.S. Presence

German workholding technology provider Röhm has opened its new 32,000-square-foot North American headquarters in Suwanee, Georgia. The facility is three times larger than its previous one, enabling the company to manufacture in the United States for the first time as well as expand the service and support it provides. 

During the recent grand opening event, Dr. Joachim Hümmler, CEO of the Röhm Group, said being a local partner will enable the company to meet its customers’ needs faster. For example, instead of waiting 8 to 10 weeks to ship jaws from Germany, they can be delivered in as little as 2 to 4 weeks, depending on the jaw size and configuration. Having better control over the manufacturing process will enable the company to improve its price points and become more competitive.

This is important as the manufacturing sector has been showing signs of softening for the past 6 months. Matthew Mayer, CEO of Röhm Products of America says Rohm needs to be fast and flexible enough to react to the market. “As you know, oil and gas was like a light switch. It’s not easy to plan for, and it’s not easy to ramp up production.”

Yet this is what the company has already done. Last year, its primary focus was on oil and gas products, and this year it’s automotive. In fact, Sven Haag, CMO of the Röhm Group and member of the board, said 30 percent of the company’s revenue currently comes from this sector.

However, Rohm isn’t throwing in the towel on oil and gas quite yet. “We aren’t stopping development of products for this area because it will come back, and we want to be prepared for it,” Mr. Hümmler said.

It’s more important now more than ever for oil-pipe producers to run more efficiently, he says. When the oil and gas sector ramps back up, these producers need to be able to do more with less. For example, Röhm makes a six-jaw, oil-pipe chuck that eliminates 10 minutes of setup time. It also makes a swivel chuck for threading couplets that eliminates two handling operations. Payback on these investments would be realized very quickly, Mr. Hümmler said.

Rohm’s strength lies in its large product line, which encompasses virtually every sector in the industry. Given this diversity, Mr. Hümmler said the company plans to triple its sales volumes in the next 5 years.