Kögel acquires prestigious competence centre for sandwich panels

Burtenbach, 2nd March 2012

New member of the Kögel group of companies

Box body vehicles with the most attractive price to performance ratio

The prestigious sandwich panel competence centre in Duingen, Lower Saxony has been a member of the Kögel group of companies since the end of 2011.Europe's third largest manufacturer of commercial trailers is now feeling the benefit of bringing the important know-how of box body production in-house. The purchase of this facility demonstrates that Kögel is reacting to the ever-increasing demand for their box body trailers and has secured long-term experience in the production of sandwich panels. This also means that Kögel will be a pedigree manufacturer of box bodies in the future and who has all the necessary competences in-house.

The factory in Duingen was founded in the 1970s by the Graaff waggon-building company and quickly developed into a popular supplier for dry freight and chilled distribution body manufacturers. Kögel took over the factory from the European Van Company. The new Kögel competence centre in Duingen, with a workforce of 50 employees, today ranks amongst the leading manufacturers of sandwich panels in Germany.

After the takeover, Kögel invested in the manufacturing plant and immediately started a multi-stage test programme with side walls and roofs. Subsequent to successful vibration and low temperature tests, production of 30 to 65 millimetre thick PUR foam (polyurethane) sandwich panels with steel covering sheets was started immediately. Direct foam injection of the intermediate levels and anchoring rails makes subsequent expensive fitting superfluous. Kögel thus comes down on the side of complete bodies from their own works for their chilled distribution and dry goods transport vehicles. This allows Kögel to mark an impression with its box body vehicles with an extremely attractive price to performance ratio.

The bodies, produced in the new Kögel competence centre, are used not only at Kögel, but also by long-term satisfied and prestigious special manufacturers of temperature-controlled box bodies.

"We are looking forward very much to receiving sandwich panels from Duingen in the future“, says Peter Horn, Managing Director of Nutzfahrzeuge Rohr GmbH - a commercial vehicle manufacturer. "With the take-over by Kögel we expect consistently high quality of panels as we and our customers require.“

"The take-over of the works in Duingen is a consistent course setting for ongoing growth at Kögel“, says Thomas Heckel, CEO and Managing Director at Kögel. "This will allow us to provide consistent high quality for the production of our box bodies with security of supply and at a very attractive price.“

Kögel, a brand with a tradition going back more than 75 years, and which has achieved first place throughout Europe, is once again at the centre of things with their unmistakable experience and competence. With the takeover of Kögel in 2009, Ulrich Humbaur assumed an active entrepreneurial role which gave the brand the stability and continuity it deserves. This is further consolidated by the very sturdy equity ratio that Ulrich Humbaur has made available to his companies. Kögel has reinvented itself – by returning to the strengths which formerly made the company great: A passion for transport. Quality characterised by engineering. Innovation which is worthy of this name because it brings relevant customer value. And the reliability of an owner-led family company with long-term perspectives. In addition to products for the forwarding industry we now have versions for the construction industry, a field which is not entirely new for Kögel.
www. koegel.com

Kögel Trailer GmbH & Co. KG
Industriestr. 1
89349 Burtenbach
Germany
Volker Seitz
Head of communication
Phone + 49 82 85 88 – 12 3 06
Fax + 49 82 85 88 – 12 4 24
volker.seitz@koegel.com
www.koegel.com

This release was published on openPR.