RT&S On-Site Visit: Plasser American’s New Manufacturing Facility
Written by Jennifer McLawhorn, Managing Editor
RT&S Managing Editor Jennifer McLawhorn had the opportunity to visit Plasser American’s new office building and expanded warehousing facilities.
Jennifer McLawhorn
CHESAPEAKE, Va. – RT&S Managing Editor Jennifer McLawhorn had the opportunity to visit Plasser American’s new office building and expanded warehousing facilities.
On October 11, 2023, RT&S reported on Plasser American’s opening of its new manufacturing facility in Chesapeake, Virginia. The ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on October 5th at 2428 Josef Theurer Lane with Plasser American CEO Thomas Blechinger, Plasser & Theurer CEO Johannes Max-Theurer, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin, and Austrian Ambassador to the U.S., her excellency, Dr. Petra Scheebauer in attendance.
The 82,000 sq. ft new manufacturing building has “four interior/exterior rail tracks to increase production capability and efficiency,” and the “manufacturing, warehousing, and engineering workspace houses four 50-ton overhead cranes and four new tracks tied into the existing network to allow for increased material movement and streamlined manufacturing processing.”
I had the fortunate opportunity to visit Plasser American’s new office building and expanded warehousing facilities. On November 30th, I met with James Jones, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Plasser American. Jones took me around the 3-story office building prior to touring the manufacturing facilities.
The first stop was the frame shop, where frames for the maintenance machines are welded and assembled before heading to the paint shop.
The paint shop held smaller painting booths as well as a large cordoned off painting area. During the visit, painting was currently in process in said area. Below shows one of the machines on the track ready to be painted.
Next, we headed to where pre-assembly takes place.
Photos below show assembled and painted frames in the stage area.
While indicating the shelves in the photograph above, Jones mentioned that the enhanced facilities are designed to optimize the production process’s flow. This enables a more efficient means of manufacturing machines and boosting overall throughput within the facility.
Rounding off the tour, Jones led me outdoors where finished tamping machines and ballast distribution systems were sitting, ready for customers.
According to Plasser American, the BDS100 is “equipped with a hopper for ballast storage, conveyors to distribute ballast, and a fully adjustable x-type ballast plow and unique shoulder plow to profile the ballast.”
What is not pictured is a rehabbing facility I was able to tour. Jones said while some customers place orders for brand-new machines, Plasser American also completes rehabbing jobs for some of its other customers, whether it’s simply a part or an entire machine that needs to be taken apart, rehabbed, and re-assembled.
I’d also like to extend my gratitude to Plasser American for inviting me on a tour of their manufacturing facility.
