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(Wedemark, Germany) With its new Production and Technology Centre, one of the most modern assembly plants in Northern Germany, audio specialist Sennheiser has completed the largest construction project in its 65-year history. The project, which began in November 2008, reaffirms Sennheiser’s commitment to Germany as its manufacturing and engineering headquarters.

The new Production and Technology Centre houses mechanical manufacturing, production equipment construction, assembly stations, manual assembly, test areas and offices. Approximately 440 people work in the building. The center also accommodates a production technology lab, where the engineering and production departments work closely together to develop, test and optimize workstations, machinery and inspection equipment.

“By building this Production and Technology Centre at our German headquarters we have invested in the future,” said Volker Bartels, president of manufacturing and logistics, Sennheiser. “We will be able to use it to further increase our technical edge when it comes to advances in products and product processes.”

Sennheiser spent approximately 15 million euros on the new Production and Technology Centre, not including the costs involved in moving production from Burgdorf and transferring the engineering department. As part of the construction of the new building, all manufacturing processes were reorganized to create increased efficiencies for the future. “The meticulous planning and the intensive consultation process with ergonomists and manufacturing experts has paid off,” Bartels said. “From the beginning of this year our production and engineering staff have been working in a superbly well-organized and motivating environment.” Since that time, Sennheiser has been enjoying the benefits of a highly modern production system concentrated on one site with optimum material flows and work processes.

The technical edge in products and production processes “We have to ensure that our processes are flexible enough to adapt to changing market demands. That’s why one of our key priorities was the versatility of the building,” Bartels explained. This has been achieved – the building covers around 4,200 square meters; the two floors, complete with two galleries, provide ample space with a total of 13,500 square meters. The structure has a vast span width and there is plenty of space between floors. The workstations can be rearranged as necessary to cope with periods of high demand.

From test pit to high-tech production – a review After the geological test pits had been completed, the first symbolic spade-full of earth was dug on November 24, 2008 in an official opening ceremony that marked the start of construction on the Production and Technology Centre. The topping-out ceremony was celebrated on May 18, 2009 and the building was completed at the end of 2009.

The move from Burgdorf to Wennebostel took eight weeks, and involved moving 230 machines – the heaviest of which weighed around 10 tons. Two pick-and-place machines for electronics production were lifted into the building by crane through an opening in the roof. The new Production and Technology Centre was built right next to the existing production building and the two sites linked together.

In addition to its headquarters and assembly plant in Germany, Sennheiser owns two other manufacturing sites. One is in Tullamore, Ireland, which specializes in manufacturing headphones, headphone capsules, monitor loudspeakers and installed sound products and the other is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which specializes in manufacturing wireless microphone and monitoring systems.

Resources:

www.sennheiserusa.com