Insight

In 2016 GESIPA® launched its Evotion Project, which involved the biggest construction project in the business’ 62 year history. Editor Will Lowry visited the company’s Thal/Thuringia site in mid-September to see how the €15 million project was developing. 

GESIPA describes ‘Evotion’ as the combination of the terms ‘evolution’ and ‘motion’, which has been supplemented by a huge proportion of ‘emotion’ whilst the project has progressed. “We started the Evotion Project because we were growing very quickly both with the rivet business and tool business,” explains Patrick Schickedanz, head of global production at GESIPA. “Both production sites in Thal and Mörfelden-Walldorf were full, we had run out of space for any new machines. We needed to expand for the future.” 

GESIPA decided to build a new production hall and automatic warehouse at its Thal site, enabling it to bring together the complete rivet production in one location – as well as the knowledge and quantities for the whole of Europe. “The Thal site was already the biggest production plant at GESIPA regarding quantity produced. Now, with the new extension, the production floor space has been doubled” mentions Juliane Wehrle, project engineer for the Evotion Project at GESIPA. “Plus, the new automatic high bay warehouse, which is 22m high and situated next to logistics, will create further space as the stock from the current warehouse is moved across.”

The process of bringing the rivet machines from the Walldorf site has already started, with GESIPA introducing the machines step-by-step according to products and process. “Every time you move a machine you need to make sure it is set back up correctly and working efficiently before starting production again. By bringing the machines in stages, we can guarantee that every machine is producing the high-quality we demand,” points out Juliane.

Once the rivet production has fully moved to the Thal site, GESIPA can expand the production of its setting tools at its Walldorf site, as well as increase its capability to develop and build its own production machinery. “All of GESIPA’s tools, which are used worldwide, have been produced in the Walldorf plant since the 1960s,” mentions Patrick. “However, increasing sales numbers and a wider range of tools meant we had reached our space limits. The space created by moving the rivet production to Thal will allow us to continue to increase sales and expand our tools range even further.”

Patrick continues: “Also, some of the products we are currently developing cannot be produced on standard machinery, which is why we develop our own specially designed machines. The additional space at Walldorf means we can continue to produce both innovative products and machinery.”

Increasing automation

Increasing the automation of both the rivet and tool production processes is a key topic for GESIPA moving forward. “We will continue to focus on standard quantity production with high automation, as well as bespoke production for special product lines according to customer demands,” points out Patrick. “Being a manufacturer in Germany gives us many advantages such as being able to react very quickly to customers’ needs across Europe, as well as the unique and enviable reputation ‘Made in Germany’ quality has around the world. However, producing in Germany means there is a very high salary cost for the employees, which is why automating our processes is important to enable us to reduce production costs.”

Patrick adds: “We also believe that being able to produce a report on every production step will become essential – especially for safety parts in the automotive sector. We need to be able to control the whole value chain through the entire production process, up to the setting process with our tools, which are already process controlled. This means we can provide customers with all the information they need, as well as use this data to optimise and streamline the production process on an ongoing basis.”

GESIPA innovation

GESIPA’s ability to design its own machinery and its commitment to innovations gives it a key advantage in competitive markets. “It is only through our new products and innovations that we can enter new fields, which we are not able to currently serve,” explains Patrick. “The fact we can develop our own machinery and production processes, together with the new products we are always creating, means we can create new opportunities for customers who potentially were using a screw or bolt previously. Also, as we can develop the production process, we can introduce new products to the market very quickly.”

Patrick adds: “A key area where we are seeing an opportunity is lightweighting – especially in automotive sector where different materials are used in the car body. By using rivets customers can fix these different materials together without any problems. We also have special products that can go into plastic parts or soft parts, with an adjustable tightening force to a very narrow basis. This is only possible because of our production process control, which helps ensure the components we are fastening together are not damaged or suffering from any cracks. Our ability to control the tightening force, means we can adjust a rivet almost like a user would control the torque force on a fastener.” 

Building know-how

Along with the investment in the new extension and automatic warehouse, an important project for GESIPA is to build and retain its vast know-how and experience. “It is vital we pass on the experience and knowledge to the next generation, but learning this ‘know-how’ is a long process. That is why we have set up the GESIPA Academy, which is for new, as well as existing, employees,” mentions Juliane. “We have a dedicated building, which includes each machine from production. Employees can use the Academy to learn about every machine and understand how to produce the products effectively and efficiently – instilling best practice across all employees and enabling them to learn new ideas.”

Juliane adds: “We have a set of different modules for employees to complete – with a practical exercise at the end to show they fully understand the machines. Once they have finished a module they can use those skills on the production line. This gives us the flexibility to move employees around to different parts of the production process as demand requires.”

Working with customers

With customers situated around the world, GESIPA has dedicated business units that are customised according to the demands of the markets. “The requirements for US customers is different to a European customer,” explains Patrick. “That is why we have business units that are specialised to customer segments and markets. We work with the customers to understand their needs and we are their partner in developing new products or projects. We can create the perfect solution that is also cost-effective, as well as making processes more efficient. For customers that are active worldwide with multiple sites, we ensure there is a single point of contact and pride ourselves on delivering the same service worldwide.”

This strategy has seen GESIPA have a successful 2017 especially in China, India, the USA and Turkey. “India and Turkey are relatively new markets for us, but we have been active in China for 15 years,” explains Patrick. “It has taken us a long time to establish ourselves in the Chinese market, as it is very price competitive, but we are definitely seeing the benefits now. We often find our tools range ‘opens the door’ to a market as it is a strong brand, which is known for reliability and quality. Customers then see a value in our quality and that helps us with the rivet side of the business – resulting in us providing the whole process as a complete fastening solution.”

Post ‘Evotion’

“As we approach the end of the Evotion Project it is nice to see everything coming together. It has been a big challenge because it has involved a lot of changes,” says Juliane. “We will be supplying the whole of Europe with the products produced at both sites, so it is vital everything is optimised. Through the Evotion Project we have streamlined the production flow through the entire process for both sites, with the final goal to create smart factories that are in-line with Industry 4.0.” 

www.gesipa.com