RKB - A Passion for Bearings for over 70 Years0 pages

For over seventy years, RKB
group has been manufacturing
rolling bearings for the heavy
industry. Besides the high-tech profile
of their products, the company stands
out for a flexible and efficient organization,
and for direct control on all
manufacturing stages. The group has
a turnover of 20 million Euros
approximately for technological
bearings only and a staff of six hundred
people. Based in Balerna,
Switzerland (Ticino Canton), RKB
group has close to 90,000 square
meter facilities in total, including
13,500 in the European headquarters
and 65,000 in three production sites
in China, directly controlled by the
company. Another key strength and
peculiarity of RKB is large availability
from stock, offering one of the best
product ranges in Europe in terms of
variety and quantity. The warehouse,
with a financial value of 35 million
Euro approximately, is managed
using a proprietary software (ASSM -
Active Strategic Stock Management),
designed to deliver competitive benefits
in terms of global time-to-market
reduction. RKB operations are not
limited to Switzerland, as they involve
Italy, Ireland, China, Japan, The
Netherlands, Belgium, Vietnam and
Mexico, with a distribution network
covering all continents.
Capital-intensive operations
are carried out
in the Swiss headquarters
By virtue of the engineering and
managing know-how acquired
through many years of experience
“in the field” and a vertically integrated
production system, RKB
solutions meet the requirements of
a more and more demanding market,
where bearings must ensure
high reliability standards. RKB’s
organization and production
approach, based on the consistency
and solidity of all activities, was analyzed
in 2004 by the Tokyo Institute
of Technology and the Switzerland
Economy Business School, two of
the most prestigious institutes in
the technical and economic
domain. All capital-intensive activities
(including concept, design,
engineering, fine-tuning, R&D, laboratories,
quality control, guideline
creation, protocols and procedures,
sales, logistics and after-sales operations)
were kept in the Balerna
headquarters, in order to guarantee
consistency and reliability in the
long term, as well competitive
prices, flexibility, quality and fast
Profile 2
PubliTec
by Laura Alberelli
The industrial community is well aware of the critical
role of rolling bearings as connecting elements between
the static and dynamic worlds. In this domain, RKB solutions
meet the strictest market specifications, with
a unique range in terms of variety and quantity, available
from stock.
Overview of RKB rolling
bearings.
A passion
for bearings
for over
70 years