Hymer opens its own chassis production facility in Bad Waldsee
Following roughly two years of construction work, the time has come. Hymer is opening the newly built Super Light Chassis (SLC) production hall at its Bad Waldsee site, making it the first bodywork manufacturer to start mass-producing its very own chassis. As a result, the company will not only represent virtually every crucial part of the value creation chain, but the centralised production will also enable it to respond even more flexibly to the current market situation and the needs of its customers in future. “Hymer has been known as a pioneer in the motorhome and caravanning industry for more than 60 years. By opening the SLC hall, we’re proud that we’ll become the first bodywork manufacturer to start actively producing its own chassis, which will enable us to take a truly pioneering step forwards,” says Christian Bauer, President of Hymer GmbH & Co. KG. The production line will make the transition to mass production as early as June.
Cutting-edge production technology covering 3,100 square metres
By opening its own chassis production hall, Hymer will be able to supply leisure vehicles that come from a single source – with the exception of the drive unit – for the very first time. Covering an area of 3,100 square metres, the newly built production facility combines a modern production line with adjoining logistics areas. “We’ve opted to build our own SLC production hall at our Bad Waldsee site to make us less dependent on suppliers and enable us to react more flexibly to emerging technology trends in the future”, says Hans-Georg Rauh, Technical Managing Director of Hymer GmbH & Co. KG. “In-house production also gives us the opportunity to fine-tune the chassis to the bodywork, and to further develop them both as a single unit.”
Tried-and-tested LEAN methods and the latest production and assembly concepts were applied in the production planning process, which will further optimise leisure vehicle production at the Bad Waldsee site. In future, customers will therefore receive a complete solution that is of even higher quality, as it will be possible to finely tune, optimise and further develop the chassis to the bodywork much more quickly.
In the course of process development, the company is also working on automated solutions for safety-related activities. This is the reason why investments have been made in assembly technologies, which will meet the exacting requirements in terms of process speed and safety, for example. The ergonomics of the individual work steps also played a key role in production planning. Another addition to the traditional manufacturer’s existing production processes includes the various test rigs at the end of the main chassis assembly line, where the quality control and quality assurance of in-house chassis production will be carried out in future.
To begin with, Hymer will use the production facility to produce the SLC chassis with five different wheelbases – starting with the short versions from 3.90 metres through to the tandem axle model for the B-Class MasterLine I 890, for example.
