SMB Industrieanlagenbau specializes in the planning and building of turnkey industrial plants and plant components for a wide range of industries including the automotive, paper and pulp, pharmaceuticals, semi-conductors, and food and beverages sectors.
Besides plant construction, its work includes factory relocation projects, heating and cooling systems, production line assembly, pipework and steel construction and engineering and commission work. SMB Industrieanlagenbau prides itself on the quality of its processes and workmanship. It has held the ISO 9001 certification for over 20 years, and its quality and safety management system drives process and safety control across the organization, in particular at every step connected to project handling.
Projects also depend on the company’s incredibly high level of technical competence in the field of welding. SMB’s welding teams are certified to the highest industry standards in respect of specialisms such as WIG orbital and manual welding, together with infra-red welding and gluing.
“We can undertake a whole array of connecting procedures which are used in pipework construction,” explains COO Reinhard Rinofner. “The pressure on welded joints is incredibly high, particularly in the pharmaceutical and semi-conductor industries. This has made it necessary to invest in orbital welding technology for stainless steel pipe systems, and infra-red technology for plastic pipe systems. We now have an extensive in-house machine park and, thanks to our expert personnel, we are able to meet the highest purity standards in terms of the particle-free and corrosion-resistant conditions required in the pharmaceutical and semi-conductor industries.”
SMB also has a whole range of tools and testing methodology at its disposal, including video endoscopes, and ferrite, surface roughness and residual oxygen measuring units. Some testing is carried out by third parties, which are all accredited to the relevant standards.
“We believe that flexibility, professional competence and commitment, combined with strong teamwork lead to optimal economical and ecological solutions for the most diverse tasks,” notes Mr. Rinofner.
SMB has a number of long-standing clients from diverse industries. Pharmaceuticals accounts for 25% of the company’s 45 million EUR annual turnover, and the automotive, energy and petrochemical sectors are also significant.
“We have a lot of regular clients, mostly in Austria and southern Germany,” says the COO. “We work for such prestigious companies as BMW, Magna, Mondi, Linde, Agrana, and Voest, as well as pharmaceutical concerns Roche, Sandoz and Boehringer Ingelheim where we recently won a big construction project. We recently won the bid for a project to expand and modernize the refrigeration and air conditioning system for a new hall at the Munich Exhibition Center.”
Up to 15% of SMB’s projects are overseas. SMB was founded in Vienna in 1968 as a subsidiary of the DSD Corporation. The company gained experience through its involvement in projects for DSD. Its personnel were involved in work on many of DSD’s international sites.
Over time, SMB’s activities were expanded to include large-scale industrial projects, both in Austria and abroad. In 2004, SMB became independent through a management buyout. Its ongoing success and full order book resulted in the establishment of subsidiaries in Slovakia and Serbia. Due to the strong economic situation in Austria and Germany in particular, the outlook for SMB is very positive.
“Due to our good relationships with long-standing clients, we continually receive new orders for construction projects,” underlines Mr. Rinofner. “Our challenge is to find sufficiently educated and trained personnel, a situation we are actively trying to improve by extending our apprenticeship scheme and the ongoing training of our employees.”
SMB’s motto is ‘You set the task, we have the technical know-how and the perfect solution’. “We are enthusiastic about building functioning technical systems, and meeting all the challenges with which we are presented,” summarizes the COO. “We are not the cheapest supplier. We offer top quality work, and our expert team are able to solve the most complex of problems. We are also proud that we have managed to created a wonderful, family working atmosphere here at SMB.”
