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Welzow holds its own against China
The Vollmann Group, based in North Rhine-Westphalia Germany, continues to keep employment in the Niederlausitz area with its lighting assembly plant
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Quality inspector Nicole Biermann has everything under control at LU Leuchtenumformtechnik GmbH in Welzow. The photo shows her testing mounted light fittings. She inspects the surface quality and checks that the labelling is correct. The labelling provides the end user with information on the manufacturer and contains installation instructions.
© Kurtas
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At the precise place in Welzow (Spree-Neiße)
where lighting glass was manufactured before the "Wende" (German
reunification), everything is once again revolving around the world
of lighting - including lampholders, lighting technology, together
with assembly and logistics services. The Vollmann Group, based
in Westphalia, certainly has confidence in its motivated team and
the infrastructure in the Niederlausitz area. The location provides
an important link for the lighting specialist and automotive supplier,
who has three production sites in the new German Länder. The Westphalians
believe that Welzow can, on a long term basis, remain competitive
in face of pressure from Poland and China.
By Beate Möschl
The LU Leuchtenumformtechnik GmbH in Welzow, may
well be one of smallest companies in the Vollmann Group, but it
secures employment for 23 permanent members of staff and around
300 workers with handicaps in the workshops for the disabled in
the Lausitz area. In addition to this, depending on the level of
order-take, it also provides between 30 to 40 temporary workers
with the opportunity of earning a bit extra - including recipients
of the "Hartz-IV" allowance and the unemployed without making any
demands on the state. These workers assemble lampholders, electrification
sets, as well as mounted light fittings and ceiling lighting. They
label, commission and package the goods. Each week they fill four
to five articulated lorry trailers with these products.
Since 1998, Vollmann has concentrated its entire
lighting assembly activities in Welzow. "Today, anyone who has a
job directly on the doorstep, can consider themselves to be extremely
lucky," says Rita Gregor. The 51-year-old works in the final inspection
department checking plug connections that have been assembled in
the workshops for the disabled.
A perfectly coordinated
team
Moving into the next room, the packaging department, Petra Schärer
is engrossed in carrying out inspection work. Petra was the cook
at the former central workshop of Baumaschinen Welzow and belongs
to the team of 23 permanent employees. Time after time, she reaches
into a crate to her left, takes out a small cardboard box, checks
to see if all the lamp rings for the mounted light fittings are
there, closes the box, places it on a conveyor belt and picks up
another one. The 43-year-old assures us that she does not regard
this to be a menial task.
At the end of the packaging belt, Angelika Kaps
stacks small cartons containing mounted light fittings into large
boxes for dispatch. Kaps has been a permanent member of staff at
the company for three years and is able to be deployed at every
station - in assembly, final inspection, packaging or dispatch -
just like the others. "We are a perfectly coordinated team. We understand
each other and that makes work fun", says the 47-year-old. She too
doesn't lift very far away. This offsets the comparatively low wages
which are paid for this work.
It is the overall low costs that have made the location
of interest to the Vollmann Group and have created long-term competitive
advantages. However, Thomas Erdelt, who is part of the management
team at the Vollmann Group, also emphasizes "the excellent infrastructure
and the reliable workforce, who always face new challenges with
a positive attitude and organize their work in a very independent
manner." "Our costs in the Niederlausitz area are extremely competitive,
so we do not need to relocate to Poland and we are also able to
compete with China," he adds.
"For many years we have worked closely with the
workshops for the disabled in the region." This helps both parties
involved and the manual work remains affordable," explains works
manager Frank Pruska with regard to the favourable cost structure.
Around 20 to 30 percent of lighting assembly is carried out purely
by hand.
The Welzow concept and the Vollmann products have
certainly proved to be a success. Pruska mentions a Dutch company
which moved its production from Indonesia to Welzow. A German manufacturer
of ceiling lights moved from Latvia to Welzow. "The short distances
involved, and the favourable prices, are making people rethink their
approach."
In the meantime, Erdelt is thinking about getting
the Welzow workforce more closely involved in the automotive supply
industry. This sector also includes many manual tasks. He believes
that these tasks do not need to farmed out to the Middle East or
the Far East. We would be delighted, and very capable, of carrying
out some of this work in Welzow," enthuses Erdelt. The Vollmann
Group achieves 50 percent of its turnover by supplying the automotive
industry. In the field of mounted lighting and spotlights for domestic
use, the family-owned company, which is now under the leadership
of Managing Partner Axel Vollmann - the third generation of the
family to run the business - is the only large-scale manufacturer
in Germany.
Location is better than
its reputation
"The location of Germany offers outstanding opportunities," emphasizes
Erdelt. "There are low wage areas, which make it possible to remain
competitive in niche markets, even in comparison to Asia, if intelligent
systems are implemented." Welzow is a low wage area. One niche market
is the production of mounted light fittings and the Vollmann plants
manufacture the majority of the parts for these fittings. The intelligent
approach implemented here was the dovetailing of East and West German
factories, to such a successful extent that they complement each
other and weaknesses of the individual locations are overcome by
the strengths of the whole group. "If we all enjoy success, then
this helps the region and allows us to withstand the competitive
pressure from China."
BACKGROUND
The light of success shines on
Up until the "Wende" (the end of political
division between East and West Germany), 300 men and women had been
involved in the production of lighting glass at the site on Jahnstraße
in the town of Welzow. Production primarily involved glass shades
for petroleum lights for the USSR, as it was known at that time.
In 1991, the company was transferred to the private ownership of
domestic lighting manufacturer Walter Hustadt Leuchten. Hustadt
sold the works to the Vollmann Group in November 1998. Vollmann
produces high quality components and assemblies for automotive suppliers,
lighting manufacturers and the telecommunications industry.
The products manufactured in Welzow include
mounted light fittings, assemblies for plant lighting systems, electrification
sets, spotlights and contemporary lighting such as salt crystal
lamps and lava lamps.
The Vollmann Group is responsible for securing
around 323 jobs across four sites. At its headquarters in Gevelsberg,
the company employs 80 staff, 185 in Scheibenberg in Saxony, 23
in Welzow and 85 in Seebach near Eisenach. The annual turnover is
25 million euro and the group achieves another 25 million euro from
its investments in other companies. A further 230 employees work
in these companies.
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