Successful relocation of works in Göppingen
Kleemann starts series production for mobile crushers and screens
Upheld by 4,000 tonnes of steel, 20,000 tonnes of concrete and the energy of 266 motivated Kleemann employees, an exemplary facility for the series production of mobile crushers and screens has been erected in east Göppingen. The Wirtgen Group is committed to consistently optimizing its headquarters and does not shy away from investments of this order of magnitude, even in a difficult economic climate.
Everything under a single roof
Kleemann’s new manufacturing facility covers 26,000 m² and has been perfectly designed to cater to the gigantic dimensions of its crushers and screens. “Our total site covers 125,000 m². Because of the size of our plants, we’ve naturally also planned sufficient outdoor storage areas. The 4,000 m² administration building has all new, generously dimensioned offices and several conference rooms, as well as a training center and a cafeteria," says Berthold Grießhaber, Production Manager at Kleemann GmbH, with a certain amount of pride. Grießhaber and his team of external architects, construction engineers and specialist planners, as well as in-house representatives of the specialist departments, required just one year to consolidate the three production facilities under a single roof – and they even pulled off the feat without jeopardizing ongoing production. “A key priority was of course to keep to the delivery deadlines for our customers,” notes Grießhaber.
Enhanced product quality, higher annual production volume
“The efforts of the past year have really paid off in full. By consolidating the entire production operations at one location, we’ve taken a crucial step towards optimization of the processes and material flows,” explains Assembly Manager Michael German. “The short distances from pre-production to final assembly make the assembly process far more efficient,” says German, reporting on his first production experiences in the new headquarters in Stauferpark Industrial Area. The mobile crushers and screens are built on four assembly lines in a flow assembly process. “This allows us to significantly reduce the throughput time,” states German. The assembly lines are flexible and can be adapted to the individual product lines depending on the order situation. “An assembly line that was producing our Mobiscreen series screens one week can be used to produce impact crushers from our Mobirex series the next,” adds German.
Large main warehouse, efficient spare parts shipping
Materials provisioning for final assembly and customer supply with spare parts are handled by the large 2,600 m² central warehouse. There are two storage zones, in which some 10,000 items are stocked. “On average, 200 items with a total weight of eight tonnes are handled here each day,” explains the central warehouse manager, Martin Zemmel. “We really benefited from the know-how of the other Wirtgen Group headquarters when building our new facility. We basically picked all of the best ideas,” adds Grießhaber with a grin.
Energy-saving powder-coating of large parts
Another example of the successful use of synergistic effects between the main Wirtgen Group works is the new painting facility for large parts. This is one of the largest such facilities in Germany with a tremendous load-bearing capacity of 30 tonnes and around 2,000 m² of floor space. “The system is from the same company that previously constructed the large part painting facility for Wirtgen GmbH. For instance, the transport crossbeams at Wirtgen and Kleemann are virtually identical,” says Helge Borsody, Head of the Steel Engineering Department, describing the facility. Switching over from wet spray painting to powder-coating not only marks a major step towards boosting surface quality, but also has far less of an environmental impact. “Our system far exceeds the requirements of the EU environmental guidelines,” asserts Borsody.
Sales organization ensures increasing demand
The development of additional markets will progress in the coming years through the ongoing integration of Kleemann in the sales structures of the Wirtgen Group. “The four Wirtgen Group subsidiaries in Germany will also start selling Kleemann products from 1 January 2010. Wirtgen Augsburg, Wirtgen Hamburg, Wirtgen Windhagen and Wirtgen Zwickau will then replace our German dealers, allowing us to reach a larger customer base in the German market,” explains Markus Wörner, General Sales Manager at Kleemann GmbH.
At the same time, the sale of Kleemann products will start in Italy, Turkey and South America via the Wirtgen Group sales network. “The new facility provides us with the production capacities necessary to cater to the additional demand from newly developed markets,” says Wörner enthusiastically.
The location of facilities in Germany, coupled with the wealth of know-how of the Kleemann workforce, is an invariable factor that will continue to ensure the high quality and fast availability of Kleemann machines in the future – our customers can count on that.
