Wiha Tools – A Vi Visit by


subjecting them to hardness testing, steel quality testing and torque testing Wiha can therefore be sure of each piece’s fitness for purpose. If faults are found, the whole batch will be subject to further testing and may even be scrapped. From Mönchweiler, it is a short trip


Wiha’s Moenchweiler factory where steel components are manufactured.


Standing in the carpark, enjoying the views over the hills towards the Black Forest after my visit to Wiha’s Schonach factory, I was trying to think of an appropriate metaphor for my “Wiha experience”. The scene was peaceful, but having come from the intense ferment of the factory interior, all I could think of was a swan on water – serenely swimming, but with all the effort going on underneath the water. I have come to the view that


modern manufacturing, exemplified by Wiha’s factories in Germany, doesn’t have to take place in “dark, satanic mills” – the real trick seems to be not the manufacturing (mostly automated these days) but the intellectual search for solutions and the desire to make superb products that ensure that the quality of end users’ experience is as good as possible. Satisfied customers are the real goal. The Wiha company was founded by


Willi Hahn in 1939 and remains a family-run company after more than 70 years. Third generation family member, Wilhelm Hahn is the current Managing Partner. The head office and main production is based in Schonach in the Black Forest. Another factory about 20 to 30 km away in Mönchweiler was


acquired later as production increased and Wiha has now expanded worldwide, adding three more manufacturing sites and setting up their own sales organisations in North America, Europe, Scandinavia, India and the Far East. With all of the above resources,


Wiha has positioned itself as a major manufacturer of a wide range of premium quality screwdrivers, torque drivers, pliers, screwdriver bits, L-keys and other hand tools. Its approach is to start with its customers and use research and development to make high quality, innovative products suitable for world markets. With over 650 employees making a range of over 4,500 items, it also continues to have the skills and technology to make “one- offs” and customized tools when required. Wiha Tools Ltd, the UK subsidiary based in Bromsgrove, demonstrates this flexibility by introducing new sets specifically designed for UK users which are some of the most popular and fast selling items with their customers. I started my visit at Wiha’s


Mönchweiler factory. This factory produces most of the steel parts of the tools in the Wiha range. The leader of


my tour was a young engineer, Dirk Eichin. As Head of Quality Management, he and his team are ensuring that Wiha fulfills its promise to customers of its three key values: innovation, quality and reliability. Talented teams of people working together to produce high quality goods seems to me to be the way forward for European manufacturing and Wiha has wholeheartedly embraced the model. Daily deliveries of high-quality


European-made steels arrive either as coils, rods or even cut to size, but are soon transformed into screwdriver bits etc. on the highly automated factory floor. I watched a CNC milling machine


create a Pozidrive screwdriver, but the machines worked so quickly and at so many angles at the same time that it seemed like magic as the finished bit was ejected into a hopper ready for the next process down the line. The factory is organized into


“islands of production” where batches of different items are produced by state of the art machines, with a highly efficient production rate from each machine of about 9000 items per 24- hour shift. The employees who manage the


production are actively involved in using a Kanban System to monitor production levels of all the different components. This system relies on individuals ensuring that boxes of bits etc. are in the right place at the right time for manufacturing process to continue seamlessly. It also ensures that the right balance of production between most popular ranges and less popular ranges is kept. Bonuses and incentives ensure that the Kanban process rarely fails to deliver the goods. Hardening the bits in the automatic


Wiha HQ at Schonach 4 ToolBUSINESS+HIRE


hardening ovens is a critical process because different applications require different properties from their tools. Wiha ensures that quality is maintained for each and every batch of components by taking a random sample of 5 pieces from each batch and


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to the range of Wiha tools. I was fascinated by the robot machine that moulded the screwdriver handles, but the humans are very much in control. Some of each batch would be headed for the testing laboratory upstairs while the others would be subject to the “four-eyes” scrutiny of two independent inspectors in the meantime. After batch testing is


through some fantastic forested mountains to the main Wiha Headquarters in Schonach – home of the world’s largest cuckoo clock, big enough to fill a small house. From the outside at Schonach, a


visitor would not guess at all the activity within, where largely robotized production makes and attaches handles


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