In time with the press brakes

It is therefore a success story that Broki has written over the years, and one that is as highly modern as it is regional: as an outstanding German medium-sized company, the company still realizes almost the entire value chain domestically - from the initial cutting of the raw sheet metal to the ready-to-assemble result. The entry into laser technology in particular was a game changer: "Of course, this has also opened up opportunities for us in other areas. For example, we make parts for door fittings, the rail vehicle industry, lights and agricultural machinery. And furniture and furniture parts."

What leaves the production halls in the small industrial estate on the outskirts of the city is sometimes just a few centimetres in size, sometimes up to 5 meters long. Sometimes a single piece is produced, sometimes a series of several thousand. Some things are invisible to the end customer because they are installed by another company - especially in shopfitting - while others are the product itself. 130 employees ensure that everything runs smoothly: They laser sheet metal, bend pipes, coat surfaces or weld. Others sit at a computer screen, translating customer requests into a design or controlling the individual stages of production from the office. Broki generates the energy required for this with a photovoltaic system and its own combined heat and power plant. The electricity that still has to be purchased is green electricity. The next generation is secured with apprentices in five professions - such as technical product designers, process engineers for coating technology or assembly technology specialists.

Broki has been working with MAGAZIN since 2016. Some products, such as the elegant, slender BOKS steel shelving unit, the minimalist KARLA wardrobe or the self-confident, sulphur-yellow ERIK table frame, are manufactured entirely in Menden. For others, such as the HANS bed, the FIP shelving unit or the P100 wardrobe family, it is the metal parts that are worked on here. These then set off on their journey, some to a woodworking company, some to the MAGAZIN central warehouse.

Back to the production halls. We now walk past the Broki cycle generators: press brakes! Bending machines! Turret punching machines! New is the edge rounder, which ensures that the micro burrs that automatically occur when cutting steel disappear - this is particularly important in furniture production. Sometimes in seconds, sometimes in minutes, the impressive machine park spits out its metal parts. The degree of automation varies, but all the machines have two things in common: first of all, they generate a noise that, taken together, sounds like an industrial symphony. The pipes, which tumble out of the pipe cutter, which also works with a laser, at regular intervals, set the beat. Cutting, milling and grinding provide the soundscape.

And as with any orchestra, these instruments cannot do without people to operate them. After all, we are not dealing with a production line in which one work step automatically leads to the next: Rather, there are individual stations where work is sometimes done with more, sometimes with less machine support. "Our level of automation is not as high as you might think. On the contrary, the human factor plays a very important role," explains Bronold.

Humans are particularly indispensable where flexibility is required. For example, when it comes to drilling threaded holes, but also for powder coating. The paints are stored in a separate room. Large buckets full of powder in all facets; from RAL to special colors, everything is possible. Once the exact shade has been determined, the sheets or pipes to be coated are hung on a kind of chain. This pulls them through the system at roughly walking pace. First it goes to the degreasing zone, spray nozzles mist the parts. In the next step, a washing curtain rinses them off before hot air brings them up to operating temperature in the drying area. Then the paint is applied - sometimes automatically, sometimes by hand - before the curing oven takes over. At 180 degrees, the powder gels, flows like glass and cross-links with the steel. After two and a half hours, each component arrives back where it started - in a perfect coat of paint.

Our tour ends in the hall where the products are packaged. Concentration is required between large stacks of cardboard boxes, especially for the MAGAZIN shipments. After all, when a parcel is sent directly to the customer, screws and product information often have to be included, so nothing must be missing. The final check is also important: "Every part is checked before it is packed," emphasizes Guido Bronold - but this check actually starts earlier. "During development, we build samples, check, rebuild and check again until everything works." The rigor varies depending on the target group and area of application: "A paint defect on a piece that end customers see every day is obviously not an option."