“We see demand for more technologically complex and larger machinery projects, especially from customers in the agricultural, industrial and military sectors. The new facility will allow us to adapt to these market trends, and we often hear from our customers that it is increasingly important for them to find partners closer to home – in Europe rather than somewhere in Asia, for example – so this investment will help strengthen our competitive position. This type of equipment is rare in the Baltic States, and with our configuration this will be the only one,” says Ritvars Višs, Technical Director of RK Machinery.
The biggest investment of the decade
The UPB Group has been working on machinery projects for more than 10 years, during which RK Machinery has grown steadily to reach a stable annual turnover of more than 10 million euro. Targeted investments of several hundred thousand euro have also been made each year to modernise the plant: the production area has been expanded with new stainless steel assembly and processing shops, a welding robot and other technological equipment have been purchased.
“The new large milling machine was a logical continuation of the further development of the machinery division. This will give us the opportunity to work with a much higher level of automation, increase production capacity and further develop the company,” R. Višs adds. For the purchase of the new equipment, a 32% grant of the European Union’s Recovery and Resilience Facility to support digital transformation in enterprises was received from ALTUM.
The work surface of the milling machine is 2x8 metres and it can process elements weighing up to 80 tonnes with extremely high precision. The size of the machine itself is an impressive 13x8 metres.
These investments will improve working conditions for production workers, while engineering and project management teams will be able to demonstrate their expertise on increasingly challenging and global projects.
Growth for export to the USA
RK Machinery specialises in complex machinery projects involving full product development – producing both series products and complex systems for customers in various industries around the world. In recent years, exports to countries such as the USA and Great Britain have expanded significantly, where customers include manufacturing companies interested in high-precision, higher value-added products.
Market trends and the team’s experience show that RK Machinery’s customers are faced with increasing environmental and efficiency demands, resulting in the need to improve or even change production technologies. Applying the experience gained, the Grobiņa plant creates innovative solutions that allow RK Machinery to support its partners in achieving these goals.
RK Machinery currently employs around 80 people, and the team is part of one of the leading metal construction manufacturing companies in Latvia – RK Metāls. The total production area of RK Metāls in Grobiņa amounts to 20,000 m2. The company is part of the UPB Group.
