Altendorf Group receives Productivity Award

The Altendorf Group was the winner of a Productivity Award for its efforts to expand and improve its plant in Hebrock.

Photo By Altendorf Group

The Altendorf Group in Minden, Germany, a world market leader in the manufacture of premium-class sliding table saws and edgebanding machines, has succeeded in almost doubling output at its Hebrock brand plant - in just four months. The company said that this was achieved through a line concept, digital support and employees who are open to new ideas. For this achievement, the machine manufacturer received the Productivity Award from the Concept AG.

With the support of the Concept AG, a team from HProeductivity Award ebrock developed a line production with defined work contents for 14 stations and implemented the new structure in a short time. For this purpose, the factory hall was converted and equipped so that the machines can move continuously from station to station with a cycle time of 105 minutes. 

The time target is monitored as part of digital store floor management and accompanied by a continuous improvement process (CIP). "We have completely turned our production around and, as a result, increased the weekly output of edge banding machines by around 67 percent," said Hebrock Managing Director Roman Kühnlein. "Today, we work many times more efficiently, because the digital support and the CIP accelerate our internal control processes enormously."

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Larry Adams | Editor

Larry Adams is a Chicago-based writer and editor who writes about how things get done. A former wire service and community newspaper reporter, Larry is an award-winning writer with more than three decades of experience. In addition to writing about woodworking, he has covered science, metrology, metalworking, industrial design, quality control, imaging, Swiss and micromanufacturing . He was previously a Tabbie Award winner for his coverage of nano-based coatings technology for the automotive industry. Larry volunteers for the historic preservation group, the Kalo Foundation/Ianelli Studios, and the science-based group, Chicago Council on Science and Technology (C2ST).