Wilken GmbH - Elemente & Wintergartenbau

Wilken shows growth with conservatory construction and elumatec

The East Frisian company “Wilken GmbH - Elemente & Wintergartenbau” is on the top rung in Germany – geographically and businesswise. Their recipe for success? Versatile and flexible production that offers customers everything they need for PVC and aluminium from a single source – and with the very best in technology.

Wilken GmbH situated in the city of Wiesmoor near the Lower Saxon North Sea coast specializes in conservatory construction and has an unparalleled history. The 40-man operation offers their own systems, such as roofs, doors and windows: “The sum total of our know-how gained over 18 years in the business is poured into these products,” says managing director Klaus Wilken.

This market advantage is complemented by versatile and flexible production which is able to implement challenging, individual customer requirements as well as the high-quality system portfolio with bravura. “We provide our customers with everything they need from a single source, whether in PVC or aluminium,” says Mr. Wilken, explaining the consistent growth over recent years. Undoubtedly, this is also due to the high technical standards employed in production: For years, the company has sworn by the machining centres of the Swabian world market leader, elumatec. “We always rely on the latest technology from elumatec because it is always one step ahead of the rest of the market,” reports Mr. Wilken.

When the company came up against their capacity limits and enlarged the production floor space with the construction of an additional building, the businessman took advantage of the opportunity to update the machine park and equipment. The PVC sector now makes use of the SBZ 616 and the new SBZ 617, which replaces the SBZ 607. The SBZ 616 is an automatic saw optimized for window, door and curtain wall manufacturing. The SBZ 617, as a downstream centre, rounds out the automated complete machining, which ranges from PVC length cutting to PVC machining with or without reinforcement steel and reinforcement screw placement as well as with or without transom notches, right on to weldready profile bars.

Both of these machining centres are characterized by a high degree of flexibility. For example, the SBZ 616 can perform saw cuts at continuously adjustable angles of from -22.5° to +22.5°. With the high volume of custom and angled elements amounting to around 50 percent, this allows parts to be produced considerably more rapidly.

“We can increase our throughput with the same level of personnel, enabling us to react quickly during peak times,” says Mr. Wilken.

All drilled holes and routed features fit together with precision, thereby guaranteeing the consistent, high quality of Wilken products. “The diverse range of options for tool use is a great advantage. Having this high level of flexibility with an automated system is truly unique. It shows that machines from elumatec AG are the right choice time and again,” states Mr. Wilken. And in keeping with this, the businessman also invested in a new pass-through centre from elumatec for the aluminium sector as well.

Here, an SBZ 628 is replacing an SBZ 630. Just like the SBZ 617 in the PVC area, it has a rotation module for flexible tool usage. What’s more, it is versatility with no need to modify the setup sets new standards in aluminium machining.

All elumatec machines are supplied with the machining data such as dimensions and technical details via the LogiKal® software from Orgadata AG. Based on this information, they carry out saw cuts and machining tasks fully automatically. This means that Wilken is already in a position today to utilize the efficiency advantages of networked production. An even more comprehensive melding of automated manufacturing with the digital world: That is one of the goals that motivates the far-sighted businessman Mr. Wilken – and which he intends to attain by employing technology “made by elumatec.”

www.wilken-wiesmoor.de