Why will the USP be built at KOCH in future and not at Uhlmann?

The relo­ca­tion is intended to be tempo­rary. KOCH currently has few orders and the colleagues there would there­fore have to go on short-time working. To avert this, the manage­ment gave me and my team the task of checking which machines we could relo­cate assembly to Pfalz­grafen­weiler. We looked at various options and the USP as a modular plat­form for seri­al­iza­tion was a good fit.

How does knowl­edge transfer work?

In the first three months of 2025, some of KOCH’s fitters, elec­tri­cians and tech­ni­cians worked here at Uhlmann and built the first two systems. This meant we were always able to support them if they had any ques­tions. They pass this knowl­edge on to the assembly team at KOCH and train their colleagues there. In the future, they will produce 10 to 15 systems per year. If neces­sary, we will of course support them on site, but I don’t think they will need that much. As expected, the induc­tion went smoothly. It was clear to us from the start that the KOCH people would do a good job.

Where does the confi­dence come from?

We’ve had this issue before, but the other way around. Back then, KOCH had a huge order, we supported them with the assembly and worked closely together. That’s how we knew: You can do busi­ness with them – as the Swabians say. So, the trust was there right from the start. That was also impor­tant, because we had very little time.

Why was time so short?

The deci­sion to relo­cate USP was made in December 2024, and we had to deliver the first machine at the end of March. So, we went from zero to one hundred in just four months. That was quite a feat! But we managed to do it all in such a short time. It was only possible because everyone really did a great job. The purchasing and IT depart­ments at KOCH and Uhlmann worked closely together, as did the logis­tics experts. Koch had to set up the supply chain in the shortest possible time and create the right tech­nical infra­struc­ture. But together we found very quick, lean and good solu­tions. Deci­sions were always made imme­di­ately and never post­poned. Because one thing was clear: customer dead­lines and quality must not suffer, that is our top priority. And you could tell that everyone involved took this seri­ously. This worked very well at all levels: from manage­ment to the assembly hall.

What happens next?

Our colleagues build the third USP inde­pen­dently at KOCH. From this point onwards, we also intro­duce addi­tional, new quality steps to increase the machine’s appli­ca­tion readi­ness and thus reduce throughput times. In other words, we are going one better in terms of quality. When the USP is finished, it comes back to Uhlmann, where it is inte­grated into the line, synchro­nized and handed over to the customer. As before, our customers buy the complete line from Uhlmann.

What are your key learn­ings from the project?

It shows that we Group Compa­nies can achieve an incred­ible amount together within the Uhlmann Group. We are fast and adapt flex­ibly to changing condi­tions. This makes us more agile than a large corpo­ra­tion. What we have achieved here cannot be valued highly enough and the fact that we are helping our colleagues at KOCH is all the better.