Benchmark in the Industry

Efficient, flexible, incredibly fast: This is the principle that WILO SE has planned and built its new smart factory in Dortmund around.

wilopark at sunset outside view architecture

Overview

The Project at a Glance

Challenge

Wilo, one of the world’s leading premium manufacturers of pumps and pump systems for building technology, water management and industry, has built a new Group headquarters using highly efficient, intelligent production.

Implementation

Porsche Consulting was involved from the beginning, helping Wilo to create their vision for the factory of the future. In the planning stage, expertise from external specialists was combined with expertise from the colleagues themselves — to a great degree.

Result

Reduced process times and inventory, attractive workplaces, reduced energy consumption, increased production depth, a lot more flexibility, a high level of digitalization, a greater level of productivity. All of this resulted in the renowned Factory of the Year award.

Challenge

Serving End Customers Fast

Rethinking things from the ground up: a singular opportunity but also a massive challenge. Wilo has taken it on and built the Wilopark at the Group headquarters in Dortmund: a company campus with pump production structured according to new processes. Wilo has had the end customer in view since the very start of planning for the newly built factory. One of the challenges was manufacturing the distinctively broad pump program in a way that was efficient and to order. The goal was to significantly reduce process time and inventory. To achieve this, Wilo also wanted to make the production program less complex through consistent modernization. All the improvements have resulted in a significant increase in productivity.

30%

Wilo has seen productivity increase by 30 percent thanks to its smart factory.

Implementation

New Factory, Experienced People

With an average batch size of 1.8, extensive automation is not an option. That is why Wilo planned and built a smart factory where employees are comprehensively supported in attractive workplaces — in a flow production that is fully digitalized from the receipt of an order to the delivery of tailor-made pumps. For larger pumps, components are brought to workers via a driverless transport vehicle. Absolutely everything in the smart factory is new — except the experienced workforce and the products successful around the world. The significant degree of production depth also remains: Even the circuit boards for the pump controls are being built in the Wilopark, which also increases the flexibility of the smart factory.

"The smart factory at the Wilopark has become a benchmark — not just for production but also for digital transformation. Our production is much more efficient, and we can quickly adapt the factory to product and technology changes."
Georg Weber
Member of the Executive Board & CTO
Wilo Group
Portrait Georg Weber Chief Technology Officer WILO SE

Result

Factory of the Year

For the planning stage of the smart factory, the Wilo production experts took their time — time well spent, as it turned out. The production concept developed with Porsche Consulting ensured that all expectations would be fully met. The figures back this up: Wilo was able to increase productivity by 30 percent and improve quality at the same time. This has seen warranty costs sink by over 40 percent. The smart factory is also a “lean” factory that is consistently geared toward fast delivery to the end customer. One other outcome: Wilo’s smart factory won the most renowned production competition in the German-speaking world and has been crowned Factory of the Year 2024.

Contact

Consulting that works

You want to get in touch with our experts? Reach out to us.

Dirk Pfitzer, Senior Partner Construction, Energy, Industrial Goods
Dirk Pfitzer
 Industry Lead Industrial Goods
+49 711-911-12835

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