Unlike most companies in the sector, which outsource much of their manufacturing to external suppliers, Astro is vertically integrated: all production takes place at the Baldichieri d’Asti site.
This is a strategic choice that translates into significant advantages for our customers:
TOTAL SUPPLY CHAIN MONITORING TO BE MORE EFFICIENT AND FLEXIBLE
We manage a large part of the supply chain in-house. All plastic inserts are printed in our dedicated unit in Baldichieri and supply 100% of the aluminium closure production in the adjacent factory. Likewise, the lithographic printing systems are also made in-house, guaranteeing superior accuracy and timeliness.
ECONOMIES OF SCALE AND COST CONTROL TO OFFER BETTER PRICES FOR OUR CUSTOMERS
We can enjoy the economic benefits of economy of scale, resulting in lower unit cost. This enables us to offer our customers the highest possible quality closure systems at prices that are absolutely competitive with benchmark leaders.
CENTRALISED QUALITY CONTROL OVER THE ENTIRE PROCESS MEANS MORE RELIABILITY AND TRACEABILITY
Our Quality Control department controls the entire supply chain instead of just one phase of it, as is normally the case in outsourcing. This allows us to apply our strict quality standards to every step of the process, giving our customers greater end value for the higher reliability of our products.
STATE-OF-THE-ART MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE TO INTEGRATE ALL PROCESSES
A sophisticated ERP application manages and integrates all production steps, from design to various manufacturing processes to the storage and shipment of finished products, making order progress information available in real time.
PLASTIC COMPONENT MOULDING UNIT
This department handles the moulding of all the plastic parts used in Astro closures such as liners, pourers, caps and overcaps, meeting 100% of the company’s requirements.
It consists of 34 fully electric, environmentally friendly injection moulding machines, 8 stainless steel silos for moulding the raw material and a state-of-the-art, fully automatic, PLC-controlled press feeding system according to Industry 4.0 logic.
ALUMINUM CLOSURES PRODUCTION UNIT
It is divided into the departments of lithography, aluminum foil cutting, deep drawing, spray painting, offset and hot-foil, edging, assembly, and maintenance. Production, managed by advanced ERP software, is carried out by next-generation intelligent machinery equipped with advanced self-control functions and cameras to monitor each process.
FLAT LITHOGRAPHY PRINTING AND OFFSET PRINTING
New flat lithography lines equipped with drying with special UV-Led lamps to reduce atmospheric emissions to zero, and finishing machines with overhead and wall punching and spray painting, with offset printing, hotfoil, pad printing or screen printing to increase the production of long capsules for the wine and spirits industries have recently been started.
IN-HOUSE GRAPHIC STUDIO
An Astro exclusive, the in-house graphic studio designs and produces sketches according to customer requirements in full compliance with the bottle and label layout.
In addition, there is a prepress and photogravure laboratory with state-of-the-art techniques to support the lithographic and offset department, which allows for immediate in-house printing.
FINISHED PRODUCT STORAGE WAREHOUSE
Recently modernised and tripled in surface area for the storage of 4,000 pallets of finished products only awaiting shipment: Astro operates, in fact, according to the ‘just in time‘ principle and exclusively on order, minimising, if not eliminating, stocks.
The warehouse is equipped with:
- Automatic pallet wrapping, weighing and labelling line
- No. 2 AGVs, without man on board, for warehouse management
