A milestone for strong cooperation

Together for the customers: Rittal and Eplan, two companies of the Friedhelm Loh Group, officially inaugurated their new location in Pioltello, northern Italy, on 17 May 2019. This way, the two affiliated companies are supporting their cooperation in Italy so that they can increasingly offer their solutions along the entire value chain of panel building and switchgear manufacturing. The state-of-the-art new building with an investment sum of €7.2 million euros is marked by its low energy consumption in accordance with the NZEB (Nearly Zero Energy Building) criteria.

Herborn, 18 June 2019 – “The joint headquarters of Rittal and Eplan in Italy opens up completely new options for giving our customers in panel building and switchgear manufacturing even more comprehensive support in their value-added processes,” said Marco Villa, Managing Director of Rittal Italy, who was delighted at the opening of Rittal and Eplan’s new headquarters in Northern Italy’s Pioltello. Prof. Friedhelm Loh, owner and CEO of the Friedhelm Loh Group, as well as representatives of the German and Italian management team inaugurated the joint location of the Friedhelm Loh Group’s sister companies. As early as January, more than 100 employees of the two companies had moved to the new building near Milan, which replaces the former Rittal location in Vignate and the Eplan headquarters in Vimodrone.

The family-owned and -operated business is setting the course for Rittal and Eplan in Italy with this new HQ for its Italian subsidiaries: “This inauguration is an extraordinary success for us. At the same time, it represents a starting point for the future. I am honoured to share this moment with the people who work together every day to achieve the company’s objectives. I am also very pleased to welcome representatives of our community, the media, our owner Prof. Friedhelm Loh and members of Rittal’s senior management," Mr. Villa added.

End-to-end solutions for Industry 4.0

Thanks to this cooperation under one roof, Rittal and Eplan can expand their expertise in the interaction of engineering, enclosure solutions, automation and service in the Italian market even further. This way, the two companies are increasing added value for customers on their route to Industry 4.0. That is because end-to-end solutions with consistent data, state-of-the-art software tools and automation technology are enabling productivity and efficiency to be increased throughout the entire process. This also involves shorter planning cycles and faster manufacturing and assembly processes.

Innovative “green building”

The two companies’ new headquarters in Pioltello has been designed according to the NZEB (“Nearly Zero Energy Building”) criteria, which guarantees a particularly low level of energy consumption combined with high sustainability. The building also features an innovative data centre “made by Rittal” and a 23.4 kWp photovoltaic system. Besides all this, it has been equipped with an automated irradiation control system in the indoor area, as well as an external sun protection solution. The location offers space for offices, a showroom, technical training, as well as interactive demonstrations of Rittal configurations or Eplan planning software over a total area of 4,800 square metres.

“2019 will be a historic year for both our companies. It will be a year marked by innovation and modernity: and from today there will a special date in the calendar: 17 May”, Mr. Villa announced, concluding the event in Pioltello.