What do BMW, Borussia Dortmund, Bugatti and Zara have in common? They all rely on the same interior designer: The Dula Group. Animated presentation of high-quality products and transport of brand identities – these are the company tasks of the Dula Group. In the field of integral shop design and exclusive interior decoration the company group belongs to the leading companies in this industry in Europe. With their headquarters and three production sites in Germany – among others in Vreden near the border to the Netherlands – and further ones in Spain and Russia the company plans, develops and produces for brands around the world. The sales department is operating on a worldwide basis, for example also in exclusive sales offices in London or Dubai. All over the world about 1000 employees belong to the Dula team with headquarters in Dortmund.

The customer list is long – and remarkable

Quiet different customers rely on the competence, the know-how and the enormous flexibility of the Dula Group. Companies such as BMW, Selfridges, H&M, C&A, Estée Lauder, Bugatti or Zara rely on the high-quality and attractive shop design. Thus, brands become real adventure worlds. In addition to this main field of activity Dula is also active in shipbuilding sector. The German dockyard Meyer-Werft also confers the precious interior decoration of their ships to these professionals.

Adventure worlds for all senses

If you ask Dula to furnish your shop, you get the guarantee for quality and individual concepts – from the first project discussion up to the rollout at the point of sale. In the company group the complete process chain is arranged in-house, starting from planning via development, production, logistics and assembly of furniture. In this context, Dula is far ahead of other shop designers. “We are fast and provide an absolutely flexible reaction to requirements. And in terms of design and atmosphere in shops – there is nearly nothing what is infeasible,” said Frank Kottbus, plant manager of the production site in Vreden.

With “design and atmosphere” Kottbus means, apart from furnishing a shop, the interior of the complete sales room according to the model of the integral shop decoration. The perfect use of elements such as light and sound design as well as digital media, in harmonious combination of odors or furnishing according to the Feng Shui rules is integrated. Architects, interior designers, light planners and designers from Dula provide for this integration. It is not a usual shop what is created in the end. The employees leave adventure worlds in a completely harmonious total concept in which all elements are on synergetic terms with each other.

An own store

The world has never seen something like that before: shopfitting professionals run their own high-quality branded store. The Managing Director Heinz-Herbert Dustmann has always dreamed of renting the surface of his own store to high-quality brands and to furnish these stores with interior decoration from his own company. 10 years ago, this dream became reality. The store “DUSTMANN”.

It is situated in Dortmund and accommodates boutiques, a perfumery, shops with accessories and home furnishings and even a BVB fan-shop. The advantage for Dula: the direct contact to customers and immediate feedback from practice. New ideas are put into practice, new materials, forms, colors and odors. The result: an evidence for their own decision-making and responsibility and a maximum reference to practice.

25 % time saving in production

In order to produce high-exclusive products, the Dula plants depend on innovative and reliable machinery. If you cast a glance into the production at the Vreden site, the first impression confirms what Dula communicates via their shopfitting products: an integrated concept, care and quality. On the second glance this also becomes obvious for the woodworking machinery – nearly all machines show the blue wave of the HOMAG Group. This is based on a trustful and co-operative cooperation between Dula, Kuper company in Rietberg and the HOMAG Group with their production companies.

In Vreden the focus is on customized serial production. It starts in the Dula plants with a quantity of nine identical workpieces. On approx. 19,000 m² production surface about 150 employees with several CNC-machines from HOMAG and WEEKE, a saw-storage combination from HOLZMA and BARGSTEDT, an Edge Bander for batch size 1 production from HOMAG, robot technology from LIGMATECH and a new sanding machine from BÜTFERING. Due to perfectly matched machinery, Dula is working much more efficiently today than in the past: time saving in the production process amounts to approx. 25 %.

Sensitive sanding

The process “Sanding” actually provided the challenge. It was the aim to achieve a more efficient process, to save time and, at the same time, to improve the surface quality. The decision was made: the existing sanding machine was replaced. The ProfiLine SWT 755 from BÜTFERING was chosen. This wide-belt sanding machine is equipped with five sanding heads, the magnetic pad system mps and the special cleaning units for the sanding and transport belts.

Finish sanding in just one passage

The trick: a special constellation of processing heads. The sanding machine was specially equipped for Dula. Due to the head sequence as well as to the head technology, which has been specially customized, efficient processing of mineral materials with very fine sanding belt grit sizes as well as of veneer surfaces length- and crosswise to the throughfeed direction is possible today.

The result: Where you needed four passages to achieve finish sanding in the past, a single pass is sufficient today. And all that even with a considerably improved surface quality.

Amortization in just a year

Instead of after three to four years on average, the machine has already amortized after just one year. “We are very satisfied with the machine regarding quality, performance and availability and can confirm that the decision for BÜTFERING was absolutely right,” said Kottbus.

A reliable logistics network

In order to ensure a punctual arrival of the shop equipment at the customers, Dula invests a lot of energy into a sophisticated, worldwide logistics concept. An excellent structure guarantees the international customers an absolute adherence to the delivery dates – including installation at site. The international high-end logistics with transports via land, sea and air provide that orders which required four to six weeks until completion in the past are nowadays carried out much faster.

A fascinating company with fascinating products and highest quality: Those are the highlights of the Dula Group. And they are provided by individual concepts, innovative ideas, integral solutions and exclusive and reliable machinery from the HOMAG Group. This is also confirmed by Kottbus: “It is really fun to work in this company and to meet the daily challenges by know-how and experiences.

Source: Dula Group