"The new building was urgently needed. There was so little space in the old hall that it was difficult to build our bikes and trikes without getting in each other's way," said company founder and owner Marec Hase. "Now, we have enough space to completely reorganise the assembl process." Hall 4 – as its names implies – is HASE BIKES fourth building on the historical grounds of the former coal mine in Waltrop.
And it's also now the largest, with a total floor space of 3,000 m². The production area occupies 2,260 m² of this space, representing a major increase over the 420 m²that were available for the assembly crew in the former production hall. Marec Hase: "Previously, all of our production work was organised around eight carousels."
"At each carousel, an employee, together with a assistant or two, was able to assemble eight bikes per work week. With our new aaembly system, we are currently able to buils up to 26 bikes and trikes a day, depending on the model, and we're getting more efficient every week." This means that the company's 2022 production goal of 5,000 bikes is realistic. The lead times for models like the PINO and KETTIWIESEL EVO Steps have already been shortened by a whole six months.
The enormous increase in output was made possible by the "Airliner", a kind of suspension railway for linear production: "At the beginning of the line, we hang up a frame, and at the end, we take off a finished, quality – tested bike or trike:" Mehmet Salman, one of the Airliner system coordinators, summarised the advantages of the new production system: "An assembly team is spread out along the entire production line, working on 14 bikes and trikes simultaneously. Each of the colleagues is specialised in certain tasks, which shortens the assembly and adjustment time considerably. In addition, we've modernised the warehouse logistics to make the distances shorter. Now, the materials are stored directly adjacent to the sites where they fit into the assembly process, and the material flow has been optimised using a Kanban system."
Allthough HASE BIKES generally assembles its bikes and trikes from bought-in parts, its in-house production has now been expanded. "We've always built certain accessoiries in-house, like our Special Pedals and Crank Shorteners," explained Marec Hase. "What's new is that we're now also building our own wheels. This makes us a bit less dependet on external suppliers. The individual wheel components are much easier to get than pre-built wheels. And it's easier to switch to comparable if one company is having difficulty filling its orders."
A key factor for HASE BIKES in the desgn of their new building was creating a comfortable working enviroment for their employyees. Marex Hase: "Our colleagues spend eight hours of theier day here, so we wanted it to be a nice place." The architectural showpiece in Hall 4 is the Zeche Wall ("Colliery wall"), which reaches almost up to the ceiling. The elaborately hand-masondes wall gives the modern building an element of historical charm reminiscent of the old colliery hall where the production processes were originally carried out. "It's important to us that it feels nice to spend time here. That's why we gave the building large windows and special desgin elements like the Zeche Wall. The break area is so spacious that it almost feels like a restarant. We wanted to give the space a warm, welcoming quality," said Marec Hase. "I believe that this is the working culture of the future and that it will also help us keep he wonderful, dedicated employees who build Hase Bikes."
REHACARE.com; Source: HASE BIKES
