At the ribbon cutting, the company honored the Smile More, Complain Less foundation that honors a Schmalz co-worker who retained his positive nature as he fought cancer. The Raleigh-area charity helps individuals and families fighting cancer that need financial support.
Schmalz Inc. was founded in Raleigh 23 years ago and has grown rapidly ever since. The company completed the existing building in July 2016, and expanded it in 2019 and 2021, tripling the facility size. Now, the assembly warehouse and office floor expansions are being completed in phases, with the offices slated to be completed in early 2024. The current Phase II assembly warehouse expansion will extend the current footprint to 100,000 sq ft. It will be followed by a Phase III expansion of approximately 40,000 sq. ft. Upon its completion, the Schmalz U.S. headquarters will encompass a total of 140,000 sq. ft. and will continue to accommodate the company’s growth due to newly added product lines and more value-added solutions business from customers.
Schmalz’ total investment in the property will be nearly $20 million. The investments to date have already doubled existing employment and are expected to lead to an additional 85 new jobs over the next few years with average wages and benefits above the Wake County norms.
“We are excited about this expansion for our customers and for the city of Raleigh,” said Dr. Volker Schmitz, President & CEO of Schmalz Inc. “The expanded assembly warehouse will allow Schmalz Inc. to accommodate high demand products that require quick delivery to distributors and customers, as well as provide much needed additional capacity for value added assembly work. The additional office space will further aid our expansion in the North American market.”
Schmalz looks forward to providing additional job opportunities for the community. The company currently employs 118 people at the Raleigh location.
“Raleigh is a great city in which to work and live,” said John Feutz, VP of Operations at Schmalz Inc. “We have access to outstanding engineering talent from nearby universities, great support from local, regional, and state agencies, an international airport to receive product from our parent company, and easy access to ship products to our U.S. customers. We are excited to partner with and invest further in this community.”
The products that the expansion will enable include:
- Assembly of Schmalz aluminum workstation cranes; these were previously imported from overseas.
- Custom built end-of-arm robotic palletizer and de-palletizer tools used in manufacturing processes for kitchen cabinets and countertops, logistics warehouse automation, consumer packaging, metal, glass, food & beverage, and various other diverse industries.
- Newly added product lines such as collaborative robot end-of-arm tools, Binar Material Handling Servohoist systems and Palamatic Material Handling lifters for food and pharma applications.
Based in Germany, Schmalz is the global leader in vacuum automation products, robotic end of arm vacuum gripper tools, material handling vacuum lifters and CNC vacuum clamping tools. The organization is a third generation, family-owned company with a company history dating back over 109 years.
“We reinvest 8% of annual revenues every year into hiring and training apprentices, co-op students and paid interns and are a proud member of the NCTAP Apprenticeship Program here in Raleigh,” Feutz said.
Schmalz aims to maintain its double-digit growth rate in Raleigh and continue supporting the productivity and automation enhancements that drive some of the most prominent U.S. manufacturers and American e-commerce retailers.
About Schmalz
Schmalz is the global market leader in vacuum industrial automation and ergonomic material handling solutions. The wide range of products in the Vacuum Automation unit includes individual components such as suction cups and vacuum generators, as well as complete robotic gripping systems and clamping solutions for holding workpieces, for example in CNC machining centers. The Handling Systems unit offers innovative handling solutions with vacuum lifters, servo hoists and workstation crane systems for industrial material handling applications. The intelligent energy saving solutions make production and logistics processes more flexible, productive and efficient, while also preparing them for the increasing trend toward digitalization.
For more information, visit our website at www.schmalz.com.
