The construction site blanketed in snow ...

The first customers visited the location of the new factory in Ludwigshafen. They had been invited by the WIRTGEN Augsburg Sales and Service Centre.

Christoph Niehaus, VÖGELE Project Manager, showed the guests over the job site. When leaving later in the day, they were much impressed by the dimensions of the new factory grounds and production facilities.

Everything went like clockwork also in the cold season. Now the internal walls were erected in the office building.

In the new works, too, the Plant Manager has an excellent view of Factory Hall 1.

WebCams installed on the job site in Ludwigshafen show how works are progressing.

WebCams 1 und 2 look down on the buildings from different angles.

Since February 2010, WebCam 3 is mounted. This one gives an excellent view of what is going on inside Factory Hall 1. And it is going to become even more interesting at the point when installation of production machinery and equipment will begin in early March.

On Wednesday, 17 March 2010, Dr Eva Lohse, Mayor of Ludwigshafen, paid a visit to VÖGELE in Rheingönheim.

Dr Eva Lohse was accompanied by Wilhelm Zeiser, Mayor of Rheingönheim and Ernst Merkel, Head of the Ludwigshafen Authority for Building Works and Environmental Issues. A tour of the factory grounds demonstrated to the guests that work on site is progressing quickly.

VÖGELE were represented by Dr Pawlik, Roland Schug and Christoph Niehaus.

Contractor Strabag carried out asphalt paving in the outdoor areas of the new factory. A SUPER 1900-2 was in operation for three days.

The large event area behind the Training Centre was surfaced first. Then the area for noise level measurements and the area behind Factory Hall 3 followed.

The Fastems automated storage system has already been installed.

The Heckert machining centres will follow.

1) The facility for cleaning and pre-treatment of workpieces such as shafts, parts with synthetic elements or pre-assembled components is completed.

2) The loading and unloading stations for workpieces (see photo) are installed on two floors. On the upper floor will also be accomodated the cooling area for finished workpieces. On the lower floor, the workpieces will be loaded into the system and lifted to the upper floor.

3) The frame of the sandblasting unit has already been completed. More than 80% of the workpieces will be cleaned this way.

A passageway has been built between the office building and the factory halls. It is located on the second floor.

Construction of the car park is almost completed, just paving setts still need to be laid. Now 16,405m² of parking area is available for the VÖGELE community. On this area, some 640m² are destined for bike and motorcycle parking. Visitors to the VÖGELE works find a separate parking ground extending over more than 3,800m².

The building to accomodate the Repair Workshop and Prototype Unit is already finished in the raw. And preparations are completed for the test grounds which include an area for sound level measurements.

The outside view shows that the new VÖGELE factory is almost completed. This is a view from the access road.

The first offices are gradually taking shape. These belong to the "Production Area".

... the construction site kicked off. Today the buildings celebrate their "1st anniversary". The photo shows excavation work for a factory hall.

Contractor Strabag was on the scene with a team of 7 for asphalt paving to high standards of quality as usual. The tracked VÖGELE SUPER 1900-2 was equipped with a Big MultiPlex Ski. Two rollers from WIRTGEN Group member HAMM put the finishing touches to the pavement.

After a short time on the site in Ludwigshafen/Rheingönheim, asphalt paving went like clockwork. A SUPER 1900-2 from contractor Strabag was on the scene on these hot summer days placing asphalt. The paver worked together with a HAMM roller.

Surfacing began on the area between the office building and the factory halls, and continued in front of the repair shop.

According to the project plan, the first phase of the move is scheduled for summer 2010. The world's most modern production facility for road pavers will then be fully operational by the end of the year !

The world's most modern production facility for road pavers is fully operational.