Lisec and Lumon: In touch with the customer

05/18/2020 | Print view

Lumon and Lisec have been cooperating since 2007. At that time, the challenge was converting the production from manual to automated. - © Lisec — © Lisec

Lumon and Lisec have been cooperating since 2007. At that time, the challenge was converting the production from manual to automated.

The Finland-based company Lumon was founded in 1978, and sets new benchmarks with balcony and terrace glazing systems, as well as, balcony facades well beyond the borders of their home country. The international company is active in over 20 countries and can draw on more than 40 years of experience. With sales of EUR 138 million in 2018 and over 1,000 employees, 2019 was the company’s year of investments. The primary focus here was placed on expansion in the form of a new production hall, to create additional space and added capacity for glass processing.

Lumon has firm values: To the company the phrase “in touch with the customer” is more than just empty words, and it is closely linked to upholding the promises made to customers, in particular with regard to agreed deadlines. This pledge to be dependable requires an equally dependable and also competent partner.

With its own in-house R&D department, Lumon detects current trends and converts these into high quality products for its customers. In order to keep up with the times with its products and new developments, the company needed to expand its machine suite and production space. An additional 4,600 square meters of production area offers sufficient space not only to produce existing products and new developments, but also to establish further workstations for 40 new production employees and 7 new permanent staff when working at full capacity.

Long-term partnership

The cooperation between Lisec and Lumon initially began in 2007. At that time, this first project was also the first major challenge for Pekka Oikarinen in his new role as investment manager at Lumon. “That was a huge project back then – changing over from manual to automated”, he recalls. At that time, the Lisec employees were at hand with their expertise and supported the process from the planning stage right through to final realisation.

The Lumon suite of machinery consists of the glass store, which is equipped not only with fixed glass storage racks, but also with 13 additional storage spaces for internal loader frames. Following delivery by the glass supplier, the raw glass sheets can be collected directly and fully automatically from these frames by the gantry loading system and fed to the glass cutting systems.

Two sorting systems are fed by highly automated glass cutting and breaking lines. These sorting systems offer the advantage that glass is stored in a manner that is optimised for wasting as little material as possible, and feeding the downstream machines can take place on the other side in the required sequence. At the time, this particular sorting system was the first of its kind to be installed at a customer outside of Austria. In 2015/2016, a new Lisec lamination system followed.

The glass warehouse, equipped not only with fixed glass storage racks, but also with 13 additional storage spaces for internal loader frames.

2019 marked the start for the new project with an overall investment volume of EUR 16 million, which included not only the construction of a new hall and its equipment with machinery, but also investments in the remaining machine suite and the software systems. The most recently completed investment project consisted of a second new gantry loading system and a further automatic cutting line with automatic X and Y break-out devices. A second sorting system was also installed, which is integrated in the system line on both the inlet and outlet side by shuttles. Vertical transport sections and a tilting table perform the automatic loading of a 'double-edger'. Furthermore, the sorting system also facilitates the individual discharging and feeding of production runs for both manual and semi-automatic processing steps with a separate inlet and outlet.

Did you know? When expanding your operations,
it does not always have to be a completely new line

Despite certain challenges with respect to the different floor levels in the new and old sections of the hall, commissioning and start-up of the sorting system went faultlessly, providing a further indication of competent and reliable project execution. “From the outset of our cooperation in 2007, we have developed a very good mutual understanding with Lisec. And that was why we got in contact with them once again for this new project. The bottom line is that Lisec, as a company, does the same as us: it seeks close proximity to the customer, and it attempts to listen and understand the customer, and to find a solution. The collaboration with the project management team went well with us throughout this recent project,” Pekka Oikarinen, the manager responsible for investments at Lumon enthuses. The project also brings back positive memories for the colleagues at Lisec. “The optimum progression of the project – on time and in budget – can be clearly attributed in this case to very good technical preparation by the customer and the great cooperation between both project teams,” Stefan Putschögl, the responsible Lisec project manager explains. During this project, he was confronted not only with a very tight schedule but also with challenges arising due to the delayed completion of the new production hall.

Two sorting systems in the workshop of Lumon feed the highly automated glass cutting lines. These sorting systems offer the advantage that glass is stored in a manner that is optimised for wasting as little material as possible.

The successful collaboration between the Lisec project management and the company’s own project management was based in particular on close coordination, as well as regular meetings and consultations – directly on the construction site and also via digital media. With this project, Lisec also assessed the technical requirements of the customer and provided solution-oriented proposals, which led not only to an optimised solution following the final decision of the customer, but also formed the basis for an efficient and optimally planned mutual project.

Service as a factor for success

Lumon has a clear attitude towards the service it delivers to its customers. “The reason we go to work every day is to create better 'homes' for our customers. And because we also wish to maintain this over the course of time,” explains Pekka Oikarinen. With a small service team, Lumon also continues to support its customers long after the completion of their new balcony or facade. And Pekka Oikarinen is also able to draw parallels with the cooperation with Lisec here. “With regards to the service provided by Lisec, we are not simply satisfied with the ongoing servicing. Moreover it begins with the training of our personnel on the new machines and is confirmed with the rapid response times in case any problems arise.”

The visits to Austria have also left a lasting impression. The discussions during planning and the visits to reference customers, as well as the insights into production with Lisec machines at the GlassForum.

In the end, the collaboration is in the service of one thing: the final product. And Stefan Putschögl of Lisec and Pekka Oikarinen of Lumon are clearly proud of what they have achieved together.

And Lumon is also ideally equipped when it comes to software. The range of Lisec machines is further supplemented, for example, by autofab, gps.order, gps.prod and asset check: “Alongside the high level of professionalism that Lisec has demonstrated throughout our cooperation, in my opinion one of the greatest advantages of working with Lisec is the software, which is optimally tailored to the customer’s needs. autofab continues to delight me – this program is individually customised to us and our work procedures”, says Oikarinen.