On 11 May, Klingelnberg opened its doors to "Lebenshilfe Rhein-Wupper," providing an interesting behind-the-scenes look at its production processes.
Founded in 1964, Lebenshilfe Rhein-Wupper e.V., headquartered in Wermelskirchen, is a charitable organization representing the interests of mentally disabled people and their families. The organization is tasked with assisting and promoting the interests of mentally disabled individuals by providing effective support services. In particular, Lebenshilfe is committed to ensuring that everyone with a mental disability is able to live as independently as possible.
For the friendship encounter, Hückeswagen's largest employer and a leading system provider in gear engineering invited the organization to take factory tour at both its facilities in Hückeswagen, located in Peterstraße and Heinrich-Schicht-Straße. Thus the 11 invited guests, some of whom were disabled employees, had the opportunity in one morning to marvel at the broad range of applications the company is involved in, while also gaining deeper insight into the mechanical engineering company's lean production and lean management practices. The participants expressed keen interest in the manufacturing operations of the Klingelnberg Precision Measuring Center owing in particular to its early transition in 2011 from station assembly to flow assembly production. Since then, five precision measuring center series have been manufactured according to the "one piece flow" concept.
The tour at the Peterstraße plant was followed by a visit to Heinrich-Schicht-Straße, located in Industriegebiet West 2, where Klingelnberg has operated the world's most advanced large bevel gear production facility since 2008. Today, spiral bevel gears with diameters up to 3000 millimeters are manufactured there – using state-of-the art methods. With approximately 100 employees and a flexible production capacity of over 2000 bevel gear sets per year, the plant in Hückeswagen (Winterhagen) provides ideal conditions for the world's most efficient large bevel gear production line.
Following a group lunch, all participants came away with a favorable impression of this friendship encounter. "We were delighted that Klingelnberg allowed us to take a peek behind the production processes of a global corporation. We gained many interesting insights," said Nicole Best, board member of Lebenshilfe Rhein-Wupper. "We will all remember this special day fondly and would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone at Klingelnberg who helped make this great factory tour a reality."
