When growth meets trust

Anyone who steps inside the factory premises of WEIMA Maschinenbau in Annaburg will initially see what you would expect to find at any medium-sized production site: Halls in which the company manufactures shredders that are both powerful and energy-efficient and are intended to be used to process and dispose of all kinds of waste. But if you take a closer look, you will also see a service container in the typical HANSA‑FLEX colours. It is permanently installed, directly at the company’s premises. It symbolises a partnership that has grown ever closer over the years and is the epitome of customer closeness.

Ever since it was founded more than 46 years ago, WEIMA has been writing an ongoing story of success: The machine manufacturer has continuously expanded its product portfolio, developed international markets and increased its volume of orders significantly. As a result, WEIMA is now the world market leader for shredders and compaction machines. The company currently employs 320 people who work at its German sites in Ilsfeld, Abstatt and Annaburg, and in Fort Mill, South Carolina, USA. Every year, more than 1,000 machines are delivered to customers in Germany and other countries around the world. “As this growth has taken place, the requirements placed on the hydraulics have also risen. On the one hand in terms of volume, but on the other also in relation to aspects such as safety or energy efficiency. HANSA‑FLEX has been supporting our growth for many years. This well-established partnership reduces the amount of coordination work required, with the many years of experience flowing directly into new projects,” emphasises Oliver-Werner Sadrinna, Chief Supply Chain Officer (CSCO) and authorised signatory at WEIMA. 

This close cooperation is particularly evident from the service container. This is where HANSA‑FLEX produces hose lines directly on site and also keeps all the components that are regularly required in stock at all times. The idea for this service container at WEIMA’s premises arose from a practical need: In the past, hose lines and components were supplied from the nearby Torgau branch. This took time, which became an increasingly scarce commodity as the volume of orders continued to grow. “When WEIMA came up with the idea of having a dedicated branch, half as a joke and half seriously, we accepted the challenge and set up a workshop that was designed precisely to meet the customer’s requirements and is managed by two HANSA‑FLEX employees,” recalls Patrick Engelmann, who looks after the customer as Area Sales Manager. From WEIMA’s perspective, this is a real win-win situation: “Not only do we benefit from shorter distances and faster response times, which helps us make more of our deliveries on time. We also get comprehensive hydraulics support in our daily production,” adds Sadrinna.

However, cooperation does not just start with the finished machine, but actually begins as early as the design phase. “The close dialogue with HANSA‑FLEX gives us valuable impetus and ideas, for example for optimum routing of hose lines and pipelines or for drawing up installation plans,” reports Sadrinna. It means that problems are detected at an early stage, designs are easier to assemble and WEIMA benefits from external hydraulics expertise without having to maintain all this expertise itself within the company. Sadrinna particularly values the smooth coordination with the dedicated hydraulics specialists and receiving regular updates about new products and services: “As our hydraulics partner has a deep understanding of the way our machines work, we can exchange ideas in equal partnership.”

The EU Machinery Regulation obliges WEIMA to consider machine safety in everything it does. In hydraulics especially, hose lines that have the potential to burst in combination with high pressures present a real source of danger. Pressure and lowering brake valves, pull-out protections, kink protection and abrasion protection, or the deliberate switch from hose lines to pipelines are therefore an established part of the repertoire of this cooperation. Safety also plays a key role in the company’s further development: “The two parameters that offer the most scope for optimisation are throughput and energy. For example, if we increase the quantity of raw material we process each hour, this will automatically also increase the safety requirements for the hydraulics if the cylinders are moving faster or we work with more pressure,” explains Sadrinna.

To make sure that production at WEIMA does not grind to a halt because of a lack of hydraulic components, HANSA‑FLEX is also involved in the process of stocking the warehouse and monitoring stock levels. Based on machine data, HANSA‑FLEX also creates machine-specific packing lists and prepares the material in advance on trolleys. This is no easy task because the vast majority of machines are built exactly to the customer’s specifications. Nevertheless, the many years of working together ensure a high level of accuracy, a point that Sadrinna is also keen to emphasise: “Our colleagues from HANSA‑FLEX now know our machines just as well as we do and know exactly which hose line is needed where.”

HANSA‑FLEX not only supplies the material, but also handles the process of fitting hose lines between the supplied hydraulic unit and the body of the machine manufactured by WEIMA. Outsourcing this task, which can sometimes be very time-consuming, enables WEIMA to deploy its internal resources in a more targeted way. For Sadrinna, the use of X-CODE and the international branch network were an important selection criterion: “We export more than 85% of our products. Using the X-Code, our customer can go to a HANSA‑FLEX branch or an authorised partner anywhere in the world and get exactly the right hose line – without needing to measure anything.”

From the first engineering design to assembly and the digital hose history, from the local workshop container to the refurbishment of used machines: HANSA‑FLEX now supports WEIMA through practically every stage of the machine life cycle. What makes this partnership so special is the willingness to keep pace with the growth of the customer – physically, technically and at a human level. Sadrinna describes the partnership as follows: “When we set about doing something together, it isn’t just for a year but for decades. That’s exactly how I live and exactly the experience I have with HANSA‑FLEX as well.” From Engelmann’s perspective, this partnership is also much more than just a relationship with a supplier: “When I think of the container at the WEIMA site, what I really see is the best embodiment of what we understand customer closeness to mean: it’s not just about being available when you’re needed, but simply being there at all times.”