"Hello", "good day" - in Arnsberg, people greet each other whether they know each other or meet each other for the first time on the premises. "That's our practical experience," says product manager Peter Röhr, who has been working at the site for 17 years. "We realized some time ago that it is very effective to look beyond one's own area and also try to understand other departments and their processes, and this is how we still work together every day today. "When I started here, everything was still produced on the multi-daylight press. All the components for a Duropal HPL are assembled by hand," explains Peter Röhr.
His department has a production capacity of 20 million m2 of Duropal HPL, some of the products are shipped directly to customers, some end up with David Senft, head of the elements plant, and are further processed. Here, high-pressure laminates and carrier plates are pressed into a finished Duropal HPL element - up to 4 million m2 can be produced here each year. Among other things, this is done in the "Presse 14" - "one of the most modern element presses in Europe," comments David. Again, this is an automatic Conti press. After that, the design of the entire package is given the finishing touch. "In the postforming line, the piece of laminate that overhangs is heated and postformed and glued to the round, pre-milled longitudinal edge. A great thing from a design point of view. These many small additional benefits make up our products and also inspire our employees: "We have an average length of service of around 20 years here - that's a good sign," says David.
The site has been committed to wood-based materials since its inception. "In the 1980s, we took over the plant from the Wrede company, which had already specialised in the production of decorative laminate panels under the product name Duropal - customers can still find this name on our products today," says plant manager Markus. "Today, the Wrede family sits directly opposite the Interprint decor printing company, which operates worldwide - we maintain a good partnership and still work very closely together. Markus Frevert has been with the company for more than seven years now, and proximity and mutual understanding have always been a matter of concern to him. "Talking more to each other and less about each other - that was our great vision. And we made it. Not only has our proximity to our customers grown, but our internal appreciation of each other has also increased considerably," he says. The topic of occupational safety has also developed considerably over the last few years. We want to establish new mechanisms between plant management, technology, product management and supply chain management to process enquiries more quickly - especially for special enquiries," he explains. "Time will tell whether we will have to react technologically, but since the team is always striving for continuous improvement, I have no reservations about this and I am already looking forward to this next phase of innovation.”