New milestone: mass production has arrived

2014 saw a huge increase in the number of pieces manufactured by Rädlinger Maschinenbau. The serial production of several product lines was deemed in this respect to be not only useful, but also essential in order to deal with the volume of orders. The vision for the conversion of the production process was provided by a large order from Kubota, the construction machinery manufacturer. In mid-2012, the German market leader for compact and short-tail excavators was looking for a strong partner to equip the planned new wheel-loader models. Impressed with Rädlinger Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH's many years of experience in the development and manufacture of attachments, the construction machinery manufacturer instigated collaboration with the company. As OEM, Rädlinger has now supplied over 300 standard loading shovels and over 300 4-in-1 multi-purpose shovels to the client based in Zweibrücken.

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With regard to mini buckets, demand also rose in 2104, by about 50% compared to the previous year. Therefore the manufacturing process was particularly taken into account in their design overhaul. Unlike in the past, the individual components are now manufactured in large quantities and assembled using a modular system. This means that the installation of all individual parts is done not only at the end of the production process – they are instead assembled in advance into a smaller number of modules, wherever possible. In this way, the processing time can be reduced, the number of pieces increased and the effectiveness of quality management improved.

The introduction of a mass production process is a great opportunity and an important milestone for the mechanical engineering division, though it does not mean the abandonment of individual and customer-specific solutions. It has already become clear, however, that it can be difficult to integrate a mass-production logistics flow into the current manufacturing chain and that, given the increased demand for storage capacity, the boundaries have been reached. In addition, it should be noted that the maximum possible number of pieces was already exceeded in 2014. In order to meet the intended quantity and satisfy customer requirements as well as promising enquiries in 2015, a small team launched mass-production in a hall on the BBZ site in Schwandorf.