From boiler production to international competence centre for hot water storage units

Bergheim, June 2006

The Vaillant Group plant in Bergheim, near Cologne, will mark its 25th birthday this year. On Saturday June 24 employees and their families, business partners and guests from the local town and region, including Bergheim Mayoress Maria Pfordt, will celebrate the anniversary at the plant. The entire hot water storage unit production of Vaillant Group is concentrated at the plant, in which today about 210 people work. Over an area of 28,000 sq. metres the factory produces annually more than 280,000 storage units – from a small 5-litre model to a 500-litre type – which enable the company's many end-customers worldwide to enjoy comfortable baths and showers.

In 1981, the Management Board of Vaillant GmbH, based in Remscheid, decided to establish a third production location in Germany in addition to its plants in Bad Kreuznach, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Roding, Bavaria. The company chose the site in the Bergheim-Zieverich business park. In the early years the plant focused on manufacture of gas automatic heaters and gas-fired hot water storage units. Storage unit production began in 1982, and the then total of 80 employees produced more than 16,000 units in the first manufacturing year.

In 1985 an important corner stone was added to the plant with an enamelling line in which casing parts were powder coated. In 1987 the plant began producing a coiled-pipe unit as a new storage type. In addition, manufacture of floor-standing boilers was set up at the location in Erftkreis in 1998.

Bergheim – an important hub in the Vaillant manufacturing network
The continual growth of Vaillant in the European market and the company's takeover of the British Hepworth heating technology group in 2001 resulted in changes at all plants of the new Vaillant Group. The now eight heating technology brands of the Group were realigned strategically and at the same time the production at the Group's 14 locations in seven European countries was reorganised. As a competence centre for storage unit manufacture, the Bergheim location took on a special role.

"We are now the only storage unit manufacturing plant in the Vaillant Group network," explains Factory Manager Franz Kleinschnittger. "We produce not only components but also complete appliances. We manufacture enamel and high-grade steel units from five to 500-litre capacities for our Vaillant, Saunier Duval and Protherm brands, as well as for third-party customers. The Glow-worm brand, which is sold mainly on the UK market, receives high-grade steel units from us. An important customer is also our plant in Nantes, western France, to which alone we supply 120,000 5-litre units and 30,000 40-litre models a year. Our plant in Skalica, Slovakia, draws 40,000 storage units from Bergheim."

The Bergheim factory has a unique position not only in the Vaillant Group. It is the only storage unit production plant throughout Europe at which enamel, which is used to coat the units, can be processed both dry and wet. Depending on the type of unit, one or the other process is used. Kleinschnittger is pleased with this flexibility, but he also knows that the pressure of competition is very great. "We must assert ourselves by technical progress, automation and process optimisation against competitors that manufacture in low-wage countries. We benefit from the fact that our team has many years of experience and excellent process know-how."

Prize-winning stainless steel storage unit
Since 2005 Bergheim has manufactured a newly developed stainless steel storage unit for the UK market, which is sold under the Vaillant, Glow-worm and Saunier Duval brand names. In each case the unit has different product and design features. "It was a special challenge to optimise the production flows in such a way that we could manufacture the various versions of a unit efficiently and at the same time take account of the characteristics of each brand and the product line in the best possible way," says Kleinschnittger. The new stainless steel unit is in great demand by British installers and also has won various prizes, including the ISH Design Plus Award.

High-tech welding robots in action
The current highlight of production in Bergheim is a new welding line that has been in operation since April this year. On the high-tech line, in which Vaillant invested €850,000, sheet metal is formed automatically and then welded into cylinders by robots. "The new installation is the ideal complement to our older welding lines," says Kleinschnittger. "Here we can weld storage units with a diameter of 280mm to 650mm, enabling a throughput of very different cylinders in high unit batches."

Oil-fired condensing boilers from Bergheim
The new Vaillant brand icoVIT oil-fired condensing boiler is another innovative appliance made in Bergheim. The icoVIT exclusiv system, offered since March this year, provides particularly economic operation thanks to an energy efficiency of up to 105 per cent. This saves the customer costs in buying ever more expensive heating oil and reduces the burden on the environment. "We here in Bergheim take an optimistic view of the future," says Franz Kleinschnittger. "We have an important role in the Vaillant Group thanks to high investment, state-of-the-art technical equipment and first-class qualified employees who constantly make a great effort to achieve further improvements."

Vaillant Group, based in Remscheid, is an internationally successful concern in the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning technology industry. As one of the market and technology leaders worldwide, the family-owned company develops and produces innovative products and services for customers in more than 100 countries. In financial year 2005, Vaillant Group achieved with about 8,600 employees sales revenue of €1.8 billion.



Contacts
Vaillant Group Plant Bergheim
Franz Kleinschnittger
Factory Manager
Heisenbergstrasse 2 - 6
D-50126 Bergheim
Phone: +49 (0)2271 609 112
Fax: +49 (0)2271 609 190
e-mail: franz.kleinschnittger@vaillant.de


Vaillant Group Corporate Communications
Stefan Jakubik
Press Officer
Vaillant Group
D-42850 Remscheid
Phone: +49 (0)2191 - 18 3731
Mobile: +49 (0)171 - 9763231
Fax: +49 (0)2191 - 18 2895
e-mail: stefan.jakubik@vaillant.de