Something is happening again on the site of MWH Möbelwerke Helmstadt, which went bankrupt in 2010. Dekoback GmbH, now the main tenant of the 40,000 square meter industrial park, is moving into larger halls within the area and is preparing for new growth with extensive investments in the site.
Fourth move since its founding in 2009
"We have invested over a million euros in the renovation of the warehouse and the restructuring of logistics alone ," explains Sascha Hohl, co-founder and co-owner of Dekoback. The company's ongoing growth - from just under 13.8 million euros in 2017 to around 24 million euros in 2020 - requires more and more space. Since it was founded in 2009, the company has moved four times. The last move was just three years ago. At the beginning of 2018, Dekoback moved into part of the halls and the former sales and administration building of the former MWH Möbelwerke Helmstadt-Bargen.
Almost 12,000 square meters of storage space
The baking decoration specialist has now expanded the storage capacity in the industrial park by another 50 percent. The company has moved all of its logistics into a larger hall within the site and renovated it together with the landlord Zapf Projects. Around 12,000 square meters are now available for handling goods, assembly and packaging, plus around 2,000 square meters for administration, which is housed in the former furniture factory sales building.
Efficient work processes
In addition to structural necessities, such as a new heating and ventilation system in the former cold storage hall and the construction of sanitary and office space, the main focus was on designing efficient logistics processes. "We are planning for the future. In order to be able to continue to grow in the coming years, we have not only invested in the building, but also in an efficient design of the work processes," explains Hohl. The company brought in experts for this purpose. Together with the consulting engineers Bross & Partner, a new warehouse concept was developed and tailored exactly to the structural conditions. The room layout, shelving and material flow were designed in such a way that, among other things, walking distances could be significantly shortened and a lot of working time saved. At the same time, storage capacity was almost doubled. Instead of the previous 2,800 pallets, up to 4,800 pallets can now be aligned and prepared for transport at the same time. Six trucks can be loaded in parallel at the loading ramps. During the season, around 15 trucks drive to the farm every day and deliver the baking decorations and baking ingredients or take them to a central warehouse or to one of the approximately 30,000 sales outlets in Germany and Europe.
Helmstadt-Bargen, August 4, 2021
