Urbana remains the state-of-the-art
manufacturing hub of the domestic
organization, and also has distribution
centers in Houston, Atlanta and Sparks,
Nev., as well as a sales office in Irvine, Calif.
The Urbana manufacturing center of
excellence is home to a 105-acre campus
with more than 500,000 square feet of
production and storage space that allows
the company to service the U.S., Canada,
Mexico andLatinAmerica.
About 700 combined employees are on staff
across those facilities, with about 500
working inUrbana.
Rittal produces products that are targeted
to industrial and information technology
customers. Their flagship products are
metallic enclosures that serve to protect and
also have the capability to cool internal
electrical systems and components. Many
of the products sold by Rittal can be seen
right on the factory floor and data centers,
and offer protection for the electronics that
residewithin the enclosures.
This broad base industrial customer base
includes oil/gas, automotive, and food and
beverage industries.
Some clients have special applications that
call for Rittal to produce customized work
to meet their needs, but Benson said the
company also produces “a large amount” of
standard business via thousands of products
that are kept in stock on a regular basis.
Those items run the gamut from metal
enclosures and IT racks for servers to
climate-control products that are paired
with a rack or an enclosure to help a
customer ’s equipment stay properly
maintained inharsh environments.
Other Rittal subsidiaries are strategically
placed worldwide, which allows them to
provide product on a regional basis. The
U.S. location is responsible for maintaining
the supply for their customers across North
America and into Latin America, where
Ri t ta l ha s warehous ing and sma l l
modification capabilities.
“We’re across many different industries and
many different manufacturing sectors,”
Benson says.
“That diversity enables us to more
appropriately optimize our facilities. It
allows us to get exposure to new technology
May 2014
| BusinessWorld | 161
