Berco transforming into a true global player on all levels

Berco strengths its activities in the areas of production, supply chain, sales and engineering to become a truly global player.

Berco, a global leader in the production and supply of undercarriage components for the world’s main manufacturers of tracked earthmoving machinery, revealed its latest business strategies at Bauma 2022. These saw the company strengthening its activities in the areas of production, supply chain, sales and engineering to become a truly global player.

As a part of thyssenkrupp’s Business Unit Forged Technologies since 2017, Berco benefits from the group’s unique global footprint, which includes more than 50 forging presses and over 150 machining and assembly lines in 15 locations worldwide. As a next step, Berco will gain additional capacity for the production of components for both Compact Track Loaders (CTL) and Berco Mini Undercarriages (BMU) at the Forged Technologies plant in Mexico from 2023 on. So far, the Mexican plant has been dedicated to manufacturing automotive components. “This localisation of production allows us not only to increase our global production capacities, but also to get closer to our customers in the North American market and their specific demands,” says Patrick Buchmann, CEO of tk Forged Technologies.

With over 100 years of manufacturing its own products – something which sets Berco apart in the market – the company is set to exploit additional synergies by producing strategically relevant components at thyssenkrupp Forged Technologies’ automotive facilities. “We will further optimise our global production footprint and complement this with parts sourced from our trusted supply base. This is just one of the steps we will be taking in the future to ensure that our products are of the highest quality, as well as to further improve our supply chain,” continues Patrick Buchmann.

Berco’s transformation is also being reflected in how its supply chain is being restructured. To this end, the company is establishing strategic local hubs and empowering them with global responsibility in order to increase efficiency and to harmonise all supply chain-related processes. In China, for example, a material management hub based in the thyssenkrupp Forged Technologies’ facility in Nanjing is
now responsible for the management and steering of all Chinese suppliers. The
knowledge gained there is being shared around the world, strengthening Berco globally.
“While Italy will always be the spiritual home and heartbeat of Berco, the creation of
strategic global hubs will be beneficial for the whole company from an international
business perspective,” says Piero Bruno, CEO of Berco S.p.A. The company’s supply chain will also be bolstered by a global purchasing team to ensure that materials can be sourced in the quickest and most cost-effective manner.

With regard to sales, Berco has devised a new common strategy in order to harmonise
supply conditions for global customers. This, for example, will see each customer assigned a global key account manager, who will be responsible for all agreements and
conditions, and will ensure that these remain consistent in any part of the world. 

Customer service, moreover, will be further boosted by the closer integration of the
company’s sales teams, with an increasing number of physical and virtual meetings
taking place to ensure that the best local practices are being disseminated more regularly. Through its Berco Academy, the company is also placing an even greater emphasis on the engineering capabilities and technical support that it offers its global customers. This involves the provision of dedicated resources for all major regions of the world, so that the specific requirements and working conditions in each geographical location are fully reflected in the Berco products. To this end, Berco will endeavour to share knowledge with its customers even more, so that they can understand the company’s products and technology better. This will be carried out through virtual and on-site trainings, as well as through field visits by technical experts who will speed up problem solving. All different activities on global level will contribute to reducing costs and complexity and improving efficiency and responsiveness towards customer needs in the long run.