Bühler Braunschweig
Bühler Braunschweig is emblematic of quality, reliability, and German ingenuity. More than 200 employees design and produce conches for cocoa processing, plansifters for milling, and offer services such as regrinding and reconditioning of rolls. In addition, Bühler Braunschweig has worked its way up to become the top partner of stainless steel production with a great deal of expertise and commitment – and intends to make this market advantage available to everyone at Bühler.
Lukas Hofstetter, November 30, 2021
The factory building in Braunschweig is the perfect metaphor for the fusion of traditional craftsmanship and state-of-the-art production methods. The massive old brick walls are a reminder of Braunschweig’s deeply-rooted industrial history, and upon entering the production facility, a mixture of smells and sounds from welding, grinding, and coating immediately immerses visitors in the world of industrial manufacturing. Those who look behind the large machines and long production lines will recognize a finely tuned high-tech operation in which equipment for food processing of highest quality is manufactured and delivered all over the world.
Our goal is to achieve the same high quality standards in stainless steel welding at Bühler worldwide.
Serdar Erdogan,
Head of Value Stream Stainless Steel
“In the 2010s, there was some restructuring in terms of our focus and competencies. Today, we have a fantastic, highly motivated team of colleagues who are proud to continue the success story of Bühler Braunschweig as a hub for industrial manufacturing at the highest level,” says Production Manager Iryna Bolotina. She has just come from a meeting with her two Value Stream managers Serdar Erdogan and Albert Habicht. The team is well-coordinated and efficient – a basic requirement when leading a group of around 200 employees, where each process step must be perfectly aligned with the next one to achieve the common goal.
Every product begins its journey at the Trumpf laser, which cuts stainless steel to nanometer precision. Serdar Erdogan manages the stainless steel value stream and is fascinated every time by the custom work that his colleagues perform along the value chain. “We have a fantastic working relationship with our partners from the Bakery, Chocolate, and Milling business units. Above all, they appreciate our full-service approach. Our specialized team of technical designers, locksmiths, welders, and coaters the entire spectrum of stainless steel processing – from the first laser cut to the final polish.”
The quality level and distinctive in-house expertise in Braunschweig have attracted the interest of other Bühler sites. “Our goal is to achieve the same high quality standards in stainless steel welding at Bühler worldwide. That is why we constantly exchange know-how and conduct training courses with Bühler Žamberk and Uzwil,” Says Serdar. “We have also sent experts to China to train our colleagues, and we want to build an internal network of highly qualified welders so that we no longer have to outsource this process step at Bühler.”
To this end, Bühler Braunschweig has created a standard guide that can be applied globally so that every site masters the same basics. This means that the respective sites will then only have to acquire further plant- and cipher-related qualifications. The major drawback is that Bühler still outsources some of its stainless steel production worldwide to external suppliers. As a result, business units not only have to spend more money than with in-house manufacturing – there’s also a missed opportunity to build up more in-house skills.
Serdar would like to see his team become much more involved in the future. “We really have top equipment here and dedicated specialists to work with the business units to produce new prototypes or transfer entire machines from other sites.” Two transfers that stand out are Consumer Foods’ TCM pressure vessels from Leobendorf and MSDN scales from Uzwil.
The work of the production team of almost 200 colleagues corresponds to the common image of a German industrial company: every little detail is important, quality is paramount, and the drive to constantly improve technologies and process steps is omnipresent. Nevertheless, there is a time each week when the welding equipment rests, the hammering falls silent for a few minutes, and the workers gather to socialize in Braunschweig: the traditional ‘sausage at 9’ at the end of the week.
“Every Friday at 8 am, I fire up the stove and put the sausages in for an hour. I then serve them at 9 o’clock when my colleagues come in for their 15-minute break, and we all enjoy Lower Saxony sausage specialties together,” says Marco Lewe, technical employee at Bühler Braunschweig. This culinary tradition runs like a thread through the production facility and the offices and is firmly anchored in the company DNA.
“It’s a great way for employees to come together, enjoy the meal and ring in the weekend a bit. The awareness of traditions and the simultaneous drive to modernize make Bühler Braunschweig a fascinating place to work for me. Let’s find out together how we can support your progress and how we can make Bühler even more successful,” summarizes Iryna. Thanks to its modern production facility, broad expertise, and innovative team, Bühler Braunschweig is well equipped to assume an even more important role in manufacturing.
Gupfenstrasse 5
Uzwil
9240
Switzerland
