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ARaymond Completing “Biggest” Expansion

ARaymond Network new offices in Grenoble (France)

The 150th anniversary of the ARaymond Network in 2015 will also mark the completion of the “largest and most ambitious industrial expansion in its history,” according to CEO Antoine Raymond.

Over a three-year period the fastener network will have invested more than €350 million building or extending 14 plants around the world and purchasing new machinery and equipment.

“Our investment has been spread across both developing countries and emerging markets,” Raymond stated. “I don’t believe any of our competitors in the fastener industry has expanded and modernized as much as we have in the last few years.”

The Network has opened new plants in Japan, India, Germany, France and China, and doubled the size of our sites in the U.S., Brazil and the Czech Republic. Those facilities utilize state-of-the art stamping machines, injection-molding equipment and assembly technology. 

“In addition, the layouts of all our plants have been carefully designed to incorporate the latest lean manufacturing methods.”

Raymond said the new and upgraded facilities give “significant added capacity and eliminate bottlenecks in production,” reducing delivery leadtimes and improving distribution in many markets.

Expansions include a EUR 6 million (US$7.6m) investment in its new headquarters in France. Now 200 employees are based in the four-story, 3,000 sq meter building that is the new home for Raygroup, which provides corporate functions of finance, HR, procurement, logistics, and sales and marketing, and Raynet, which provides IT services.

Since 2009, ARaymond Network turnover has more than doubled, rising from €440 million to €930 million, while the size of its workforce has increased 57% — from 3,500 to 5,500. Mr Raymond said: “

The ARaymond Network is made up of 34 independent companies on four continents, with 11 design offices and 22 production sites. To enhance cooperation between the companies, ARaymond has developed common tools and interfaces such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software, computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) systems, a global Customer Relationship Management (CRM) program and a technical database. 

In the coming years, Raymond — great-great-grandson of Albert-Pierre Raymond who founded the firm in 1865 — hopes to develop a new generation of smart connectors and fastener systems to meet OEM demands for improved safety and reliability, lower costs and better environmental performance.

“Automotive has traditionally been our main market but our goal is also to increase our market share in the health, agriculture, industrial and renewable energy sectors,” he added. 

Raymond attributes the Network’s success in recent years to being a “family-owned business.”

“Unlike listed companies that are focused on making short-term profits to pay back their shareholders, we have always been able to take a long-term view and invest for the future.”

Those investments include earmarking six percent of annual revenue for R&D each year.

The ARaymond Network supplies fastening and assembly solutions for the automotive, truck, industrial, energy, agriculture industries. Web: araymond.com

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