Torrington, Conn. — Wittmann Battenfeld Inc. has purchased a 50,000-square-foot building next to its Torrington headquarters.
The new building will be totally occupied by Wittmann Battenfeld's Material Handling and Auxiliaries Division, headed by division manager Michael Stark. The plant includes 7,000 square feet of dedicated space for sales, engineering while the remaining 43,000 square feet will be used for production and warehouse space for the division and for occasions when the current plant requires additional staged storage space.
Work at the building has started, and company officials hope to move in by February.
David Preusse, president of the Wittmann Battenfeld operations in Torrington, said the firm will make more than 500 robots a year, so the company is adding more painting, welding and machining centers. Production requirements also are increasing for material handling and auxiliary equipment.
Preusse said the company also needs to consolidate what is a growing inventory, which has been housed in the main plant and office. The building, dubbed Plant 2, can handle fluctuations in storage space demands.
In 2014, Wittmann Battenfeld built a 20,200-square-foot expansion at the main plant in Torrington, to handle larger tonnage machines from its Austrian parent company, and to add space to set up turnkey production systems for customers. That building also is getting some renovations, officials said.
“The beauty is, this property acquisition is right beside us, already built, so we can build a roadway and still have a common on-site campus now for us and visitors,” Preusse said in a prepared statement.