With the right tools you can do anything. Seidel is continuously investing to always be one step ahead and at the forefront of technology, with an ever more flexible and competitive production tool, or in the words of Andreas Ritzenhoff: “to make this rigid industry a flexible one”. By always playing the innovation card, the German firm has managed the staggering feat of doubling its sales in ten years while increasing its workforce by 20%. “There is no secret to such an achievement,” adds Ritzenhoff, who is also the owner of this family company employing 600 people and situated an hour’s drive from Frankfurt. “We can and must respond to the demands of an increasingly hard-to-please market, but our customers have to also accept our need to invest. It is the only way to continue producing in Europe.”
Seidel reinvests a significant portion of its annual turnover each year. A good example is the impressive transfer press (sixteen stations) that has just arrived at Fronhausen with settings that can be changed in just thirty minutes, a technological break-through.
Production and supply chain optimization
Not to mention the new Fronhausen plant. In this new building - awarded for its low energy consumption - injection moulding equipment and automated assembly lines are installed, in additional there is significant warehousing space that will allow the company to respond more quickly to the demands of both internal and external customers.
There are practically no obstacles to hinder production flow. “The design of this facility allows us to reorganize quickly and in a very flexible way the various production activities, according to the requirements of our customers’ projects. Furthermore, with our land and the possibility to construct new buildings we are able to meet needs arising from the company’s future growth,” says Ritzenhoff. The whole facility was built in eight months only.
Other areas of development pinpointed by Seidel’s manager include the rapid introduction of automated machines. To the several robots currently positioned throughout the assembly lines will soon be added many more, beginning early next year. Already installed are high-speed decorating machines, some capable of embossing on metal, screen printing and in-line pad printing, and a pilot anodisation line allowing for in-depth research into new surface finishes. “Production line control and environment protection,” are the watchwords of Seidel’s CEO, whose production plants are ISO 50001 certified for energy management; 80% of whose energy needs are provided by renewable sources, certified by the German TÜV.
Seidel’s original 20,000 m² plant located in Marburg, about fifteen kilometres from the new site, employs half the group’s staff and has three automatic anodising lines. The Fronhausen plant houses the fourth.
Developing new technologies!
“We are also developing new technologies,” says Ritzenhoff, whose senses seem to be permanently on the alert for developing new markets. “All I can say is we’re currently working on new developments involving the transformation of our material that will change in depth both the company and the market in the months to come. These developments aren’t necessarily related directly to the perfumery and cosmetics industry, but they will greatly benefit them.”
Another important objective is Ritzenhoff’s desire to improve and increase logistic information flow with Seidel’s customers. “It’s a bit difficult right now,” he says, “because we’re right in the middle of an industrial relocation, but this is essential and we fully intend to succeed. This also requires great mutual trust with our customers, so that we can act as a partner to support their growth.”
And we have just been told that Seidel, 80% of whose sales are generated by export activities, will be opening a subsidiary in Brazil early 2014...
