Heidenhain Opens New Building In Germany
SCHAUMBURG, IL (February 1, 2007) - As 2006 closes as a record-breaking year for unit sales of HEIDENHAIN encoders, the company begins the new year supported by the opening of a recently completed new state-of-the-art building at its world headquarters in Traunreut, Germany. This new approximately 135,000 square foot facility is now in use for the purpose of encoder assembly and R&D, and is the largest single investment in the history of DR. JOHANNES HEIDENHAIN GmbH.
The construction of HEIDENHAIN's new building began in July of 2004. Prior to that, many of the encoder assembly operations in Traunreut had reached the limits of their capacity. The production volumes of several product groups had doubled in the years prior, and some had even tripled. The automatic assembly systems for rotary encoders were running in three shifts, often in six-day weeks.
The new building, designated A30, has five floors each with approximately 27,000 square feet, and currently holds about 600 employees. The basement is divided into three approximately equal areas: the assembly area for high-accuracy encoders, primarily for OEMs in the electronics industry; the long-term testing for product qualification during the development process; and the technical facilities. The ground floor and 2nd floor (see figure) houses the assembly area for linear encoders, rotary encoders and angle encoders. Large parts of the 1st floor are used for air recirculation of the production level below it; the remaining spaces provide break rooms for the production employees and offices for production planning and production engineering. The 3rd and 4th floor of the new building offer space for the offices and labs of the R&D for encoder mechanics, R&D for encoder electronics, and encoder quality assurance.
The complete process of encoder assembly and packing takes place on the same floor. This makes it possible to improve both productivity and logistics, and eliminates unproductive transports and storage that require additional accounting work. In several areas the door-to-door times can be reduced. A larger column interval and large ceiling height enhances the existing the areas for more flexible use, enabling engineers to react more quickly to changes in the product program and more easily adapt their manufacturing processes. It becomes much simpler to plan, set up and operate assembly systems. The controlled room climate improves process stability and quality, particularly in adhesive and joining processes.
For more information, contact HEIDENHAIN at (847) 490-1191 or HEIDENHAIN CORPORATION, 333 E. State Parkway, Schaumburg, IL 60173. HEIDENHAIN can also be accessed directly via the web site at www.heidenhain.com or e-mail at info@heidenhain.com.
HEIDENHAIN CORPORATION is the North American subsidiary of DR. JOHANNES
HEIDENHAIN GmbH, a leading international manufacturer of precision measurement and control equipment. Our product line includes linear scales, rotary and angular encoders, digital readouts, digital length gages, CNC controls and machine inspection equipment.
