2012-124

Press Release
2012-124

Schmitz Cargobull AG
At the forefront of the trailer and commercial vehicle industry with semi-trailers every few seconds

Schmitz Cargobull placed directly behind the winner, BMW, in the award for “Best Factory” in the 2012 WirtschaftsWoche awards programme.

Hortsmar, May 2012 – Schmitz Cargobull’s Vreden plant has been recognised in the German rounds of business magazine WirtschaftsWoche’s 2012 award scheme, along with praise from representatives of prestigious business schools including WHU (Germany), Insead (France), IESE (Spain), Judge (England), and RSM Reasmus (Netherlands). Teamtechnik was also placed joint second in the award scheme.

Financial factors taken into account as part of the assessment process, alongside Schmitz Cargobull’s business model, included the implementation of strategies, added value opportunities, product and process development, integration of customers and services and continuous improvement methods.

Recognising the importance placed on customer service by Schmitz Cargobull, Business Division Director, Michael Timmernann, extended special thanks to the staff at the Vreden plant where the company’s temperature-controlled semi-trailers are manufactured: “It is only thanks to the strong integration of all employees into the production process, and their continuous suggestions for improvements, that Schmitz Cargobull was able to give such an outstanding performance in this competition.”

Traffic light system supports production planning

In 2011 there were circa 1,700 employees at the Vreden facility where more than 15,000 trailers were produced. A productivity increase of 300 per cent – compared with the previous year – was achievable due to the Schmitz Cargobull Production System (SPS), which enables advanced planning, flexible cycle times and efficient use of workspace.

Each workstation in the factory has a clock allowing staff to see how much time they have remaining for the assembly process. If further time is required, support can be requested using a light signal. The system works like a traffic light; green signals that production is flowing normally, while red indicates that the assembly process is stalled at a particular work station. Bottlenecks and free capacity can be quickly identified using this process, allowing for greater efficiency to be achieved in overall production.

Additional video analysis of the production line also highlights unnecessary paths or movements, and by using the results of this, staff have developed ideas for further improvement. “As a result, our staff have much more motivation to organise their work themselves and to get involved in the determination of cycle times,” added Timmermann.

The creativity and self-organisation of each employee is Timmermann’s prime objective and, in his experience, this has a significant impact on individual performance levels. He has made a reduction in cycle times the yardstick by which to measure progress in productivity.

According to judging panel member Prof. Dr. Arnd Huchzermeier, WHU, Schmitz Cargobull has an “impressive system” in place.

Over the past year, employees have analysed the knowledge gained from this system in a total of 350 workshops. Consequently, staff have developed models in which production costs can be reduced and quality levels increased. The results have been encouraging; in 2000 components for a refrigerated semi-trailer took an average of 120 minutes to travel through all individual assembly stations. Today, this takes only 13 minutes – meaning a semi-trailer can be produced and dispatched seven days after receipt of the order. This compares to a previous build-time of six weeks.

The judging panel assessed the performance of award entrants both in theory and practice. Following a written submission – in which companies made statements relating to performance capabilities in response to 100 questions – the final stage included a one-day visit by panel members to the frontrunners. A practical test then determined overall placing in the awards structure.

The European award for “Best Factory 2012” will be announced at the end of October.

Two awards

Recognition received as part of the WirtschaftsWoche award for “Best Factory 2012” is not the first award bestowed upon the Vreden plant. In 2010, the business division won the “Automotive Lean Production Award”, presented by Automobilproduktion magazine in the

category of ‘International Middle-Sized Company’, for its production capabilities, high level of employee integration and comprehensive training of apprentices.

Schmitz Cargobull AG is Europe’s leading manufacturer of semi-trailers and trailers with an annual production of more than 45,000. The company believes that the high-market share of box semi-trailers in Germany and Europe, coupled with the awards from internationally recognised expert judging panels in the field of quality assurance, clearly demonstrate its long-term strategy as a market leader.

The Schmitz Cargobull Press Team:
Gerd Rohrsen:Tel. : +49/2558/ 81-1323 Number of words: 725
Andrea Ewering: -1321 Number of characters (including spaces) : 4,933
Silke Hesener -1501
Fax: +49/2558/ 81-1287

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