Production facility

Introduction

The town of Hengelo in Twente, in the eastern part of the Netherlands, is Stork’s birthplace. The ‘Verenigde Machine Fabrieken Stork NV’, (VMF Stork), had its head office in this town until 1927. Stork Thermeq produces boiler pressure parts, deaerators and burners for the energy, industry and processing markets. The core production activities are extended with specialized engineered solutions, boiler services and energy efficiency solutions.

Relocation

Stork continues its relationship with Hengelo for the future by underlining the beginning of a new chapter in its history on the first of January 2015. At that time all activities were relocated to a brand-new factory in Hengelo close to the Twente Canal. From a logistical point of view, this move is a great leap forward compared to its old operations near the Hengelo town center.

Lean manufacturing

Lean manufacturing concepts have been applied to reduce the production area from its old sqm to its new 16.000 sqm. According the members of the Project Team: “The new location gives us the perfect opportunity to optimize the factory set-up. We have shortened the supply lines, reduced the transport lines and introduced lean concepts for production efficiency. Furthermore, a clean and tidy work area will improve safety and productivity as well as working conditions”.

IT-policy

These new concepts weren’t only limited to Stork Thermeq’s production process. The movement of the office environment was also tackled. The IT-policy focusses on reducing paperwork by using digital workstations for individual working areas as well as for meeting rooms.

Customer focus

The members of the Project Team summarize: “With the relocation we now have an optimal production and office area. This will also benefit our customers!”

Some key-figures, (break-down total area and crane capacity), about the new Stork Thermeq workshops and offices:

	Size (qm)
Total area	25.000
Workshop	16.000
*Manufacturing	10.000
*NDT	550
*Material handling	2.700
*Main logistics	1.400
*Spares service & repair	1.400
*Testfacility	300
Offices	3.000

 

	Crane capacity (tons)
Hall 1 and 2	220
Hall 2	100
Hall 3 and 4	10
Hall 5 and 6	25
Hall 6 and 7	10

Basic features and improvements new Stork Thermeq factory:

• Less basic steel inventory laying outside
  • Reduced handling & logistics
  • Inside stock storage for pipe material and sheet metal
  • Areas for project based stock lorries
• Separate closed warehouse
• Main logistics area for moving (heavy) components
• Supply of membrane walls without lorry systems
• Separate hall for heat and surface treatment of products
• Testfacilities for deaerators
  • Improved safety
  • Simpler internal logistics
• Work platforms for personnel around work in production
  • Improved safety
  • Improved lifting equipment methods
• Underfloor central heating system
• Extraction system for welding fumes