Shooting a film for our manufacturing worlds

The starting signal for the film series was sounded back in late January 2019, when the commissioned production company LAUFBILD WERKSTATT staged two clips relating to aluminium expertise in our Norwegian plant in the snow-covered Raufoss. We followed this up in late June/early July with a further six clips focussing on both the development expertise in Tamm and the production technologies in steering columns, steering spindles and cardan shafts in Pfedelbach, Rippershausen and Tamm together with our Bulgarian plant in Kuklen.

Even though the films do not reveal every single production secret, the clips still portray complete value-added steps, and the high level of automation involved in our manufacturing cells serves as proof of our core competencies when it comes to product and process development for premium products in steering and drive technology. Those areas with a high relevance for the precision and production speed of our products are also addressed on a regular basis.

All the films start with a general impression of the surroundings. Snowy landscapes for Norway, Plovdiv as the 2019 European Capital of Culture for Bulgaria, Landsberg Castle for Ripperhausen, the flourishing baroque-style Ludwigsburg for Tamm, and the Fürst Hohenlohe winery in Oehringen for Pfedelbach.

The films also presented a challenge for the LAUFBILD WERKSTATT team led by Managing Director Christian Schmelcher, as they had to be successfully produced under tight budgets, reduced travel equipment and with some flights having been cancelled due to weather conditions. “We succeeded in cooperation with people from all over Europe - the support for the project and motivation towards perfection and automation was simply outstanding”, said Schmelcher, thanking the Elbe employees. He is also impressed by the production sites: “Even temperature differences of 60° C - from the Norwegian January at -24° to the Bulgarian high summer with +36° - had no impact at all on production routine in the Elbe plants”.