Alstef Group will equip the new Mexico City Airport

Planes land, international traffic slows down… In this difficult context, Steve groupIts headquarters in Boigny-sur-Bionne (Loiret), near Orléans, is escaping the gloom hitting the airport sector.

This medium-sized logistics automation company and French leader in baggage handling has just won the largest contract in its history in Mexico: €50 million for the supply of an automated baggage handling system for the new terminal at Mexico City International Airport.

Stop maintenance operations

This will allow the group's activity to be supported by reducing the shortage associated with stopping maintenance operations on baggage handling systems in closed stations. “Airports are operating slowly, for at least twelve months, or even more, which will affect our turnover by about 15%. But we are lucky that infrastructure projects are continuing.” Welcomes President Pierre Maroll.

Alsteve Group (turnover 125 million in 2019) is reaping the fruits of the strategy it started three years ago. Created in 2018, this holding company, originally called “B2A Technology”, led to the merger between two large SMEs, Alstef in Orleans, and BA Robotic Systems Group in Mordilis (Ille-et-Vilaine).

Last year, it acquired Glidepath, a New Zealand company that also specializes in automated baggage handling, and this acquisition now gives it additional resources to ensure this new order is delivered on time, here at the end of 2021. “Thanks to our size, we can now win contracts that we could not claim before.” The president adds.

Logistics is little affected by the crisis

The Alstef Group (850 people, including 520 in France) is also performing well thanks to its second main activity sector, in-house logistics, which has not been greatly affected by the crisis. “Customers are also accelerating their projects, because robots make it easier for them to manage load fluctuations and staffing issues.” Points out Director of Operations Nicholas Britton.

I got the group “About ten applications worth between 1 and 15 million euros.” It supplies customers with industrial and mass distribution, and has also equipped the state-of-the-art credit center of the Bank of France. From now on, it has set itself a new axis of development, namely e-commerce, a sector in which it is still not very present but which it considers “strategic” For the coming years.