On the 6th and 7th of March, a workshop titled W4 took place at the Penta Hotel in Gera. W4 stands for the questions Who are we? – Where are we? – What are we able to do? – and where do we want to be? Only those who are aware of the strengths and weaknesses of their environment are also in a position to act optimally. Our employees in the field of production, technology and project management, as well as colleagues from the sales organization, can only develop and implement viable concepts and processes if they have a thorough and comprehensive knowledge of the performance of the company group. Thus, the objectives of the workshop were clearly defined.
At four half-days the participants were introduced to the engineering as well as to the production works in the entire complexity. On the first half day, the colleagues from the Central Engineering department presented their methods and possibilities as well as procedures from the preparation of the offer to the way of working within projects. An important component was the explanation of the interfaces to the production plants, the presentation of existing communication tools and the integration of the plants into the production process of production processes. In return, on the second half of the day, the production plants reported their performance in the press and joining areas as well as special processes. Apart from their possibilities, all four locations also included conceptual restrictions for process design and thus provided the engineering with important information for future projects.
In order to be able to experience what was heard and discussed, the opportunity to visit the production plant Gera was given at the end of the first lecture. This gave rise to further constructive suggestions and findings for future process design.
The second seminar day took place in the plants Bernsbach and Lößnitz. At the beginning of the third half day, participants were presented with the area of plastic part production. Afterwards a very intensive work of the plants Bernsbach and Lößnitz took place in small groups. The difference between the plants Gera, Wilnsdorf and the special features of the location of Bernsbach and Lößnitz was shown. Due to the fact that Meleghy Automotive Bernsbach was only part of the group, this part of the conference was of particular importance to a large number of participants. The two factories in the Erzgebirge have possibilities in the field of sheet metal forming which have not been covered by Meleghy Automotive’s existing sites, which results in a synergetic effect in process design.
The fourth half-day of the conference was devoted to the topic of plastic processing in the company group as well as the welding of aluminum. The participants were shown the state of the art as well as the potential for future projects and products. This topic also attracted a great deal of interest as the majority of participants came from the field of sheet metal forming and the lectures developed a good understanding of the possibilities of future projects and products.
All tours and lectures were accompanied by intensive discussions. It became clear that the expansion of the group of companies with Meleghy Automotive Bernsbach of the Group made additional know-how available through highly motivated employees of the company group. All participants were enthusiastic about the possibilities of our company group. With the conference not only our skills were shown, also what is important and personal contacts are built up. During a dinner with the next casual meeting, the colleagues between the two seminars offered the opportunity to get to know each other.
