Production sites

In the financial year that just ended, capital expenditures were primarily earmarked for the expansion of production capacity. Construction work on a new plant for manufacturing battery-powered low-platform trucks in Landsberg near Halle (Saxony-Anhalt) continued as planned. This factory is to reduce the workload of the Norderstedt plant. We will complete this project in 2009.

In addition, a fundamental decision was taken to expand the Moosburg (Bavaria) manufacturing site by adding a new warehousing and system equipment factory. Plans for the new production facility in Degernpoint in the vicinity of Moosburg (Bavaria) envisage a substantial increase in production capacity as well as a further rise in productivity. However, the rollout of this project has been postponed due to the significant clouding of the market for the time being and will be implemented once the economy has experienced a marked recovery.

Located in the immediate vicinity, the main Moosburg plant benefited substantially from the expansion of the mast centre as manufacturing processes were automated further, in order to make the powder unit more environmentally friendly and improve the ergonomics of the assembly lines.

Production of reach truck masts at the Norderstedt site was refined in a similar manner. Commissioning an automated welding unit led to a significant improvement of both productivity and quality. Expansion of powder coating reduced manufacturing throughput times.