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Hi Everyone
Magazine editors, dealers and one or two other lucky people sometimes get an invitation to visit the Festool factory and HQ in Germany. About a year ago my editor was getting ready to hand over to his successor and so I jumped at a chance to go to Germany on a very special visit. I wrote an article about the trip and submitted it but it was never published. I have never really been very impressed with my contract with that woodworking magazine and so it has taken until now for me to feel free to talk about that trip.
I think the best thing to do is to reproduce my article, in full, here on the FOG. Everyone knows that I love my Festool tools but I was so impressed with everything that I saw, the efficiency of the factory and the warmth of the people that I just had to share this with you all.....
VISIT TO THE FESTOOL FACTORY IN GERMANY
By Peter Parfitt
Festool has a regular programme of visits for magazine editors and tool dealers. I was lucky enough to be invited on a factory tour and was also given the opportunity to try out many of their top class tools.
The Festool factory is split between two sites, Wendlingen and Neidlingen, to the south east of Stuttgart. I started my whistle stop tour in Wendlingen, set in the heart of a small town surrounded by beautiful countryside.
I have visited all sorts of factories from vehicle production to silicon chip manufacture, some tiny and some vast. From the moment I walked through the modest entrance hall and into the factory I was aware of an air of calm determination that seemed to pervade every niche of the Festool world.
The production lines for the various tools were not lines at all but islands of activity where each process had its place radiating from the centre. There were no voices raised, nobody having to hurry from A to B and everyone focused on the job in hand.
I was impressed by the autonomy enjoyed by the workers; they could set their own production pace, had easy access to the design team and were encouraged to look for better ways of going about their tasks. Innovation is rewarded at every level and I was impressed by the happy yet business-like atmosphere.
Festool makes almost every component for its tools. Some items, like castings, are subcontracted out to local companies but with strict quality control mechanisms and with supervision by Festool staff. Every single motor is made from scratch, and Festool has developed its own EC-TEC range of brushless motors used in many of their tools.
We then travelled the short distance to Neidlingen, halfway to Stuttgart from Wendlingen. This is the home of the Festool company headquarters as well as warehousing and training. Festool puts a lot of resources into training as it is vital that every one of their demonstrators is an expert with every tool. Dealers also receive training and even humble journalists are allowed to ‘play’ with the tools in the training workshop.
I learnt a lot about Festool, the company commitment to quality and talent for design and innovation. What impressed me most of all was that every one of the workers that I met was intelligent, enthusiastic and passionate about the tools that they make.
Captions for Photographs:
01 – The Factory at Wendlingen (image kindly supplied by Festool)
02 – Every member of the workforce is part of a single team (image kindly supplied by Festool)
03 – Festool have even designed the trigger switches, from scratch, to give precise control of their tools (image kindly supplied by Festool)
04 – The large warehouse in Neidlingen
05 – Inside the training room
Magazine editors, dealers and one or two other lucky people sometimes get an invitation to visit the Festool factory and HQ in Germany. About a year ago my editor was getting ready to hand over to his successor and so I jumped at a chance to go to Germany on a very special visit. I wrote an article about the trip and submitted it but it was never published. I have never really been very impressed with my contract with that woodworking magazine and so it has taken until now for me to feel free to talk about that trip.
I think the best thing to do is to reproduce my article, in full, here on the FOG. Everyone knows that I love my Festool tools but I was so impressed with everything that I saw, the efficiency of the factory and the warmth of the people that I just had to share this with you all.....
VISIT TO THE FESTOOL FACTORY IN GERMANY
By Peter Parfitt
Festool has a regular programme of visits for magazine editors and tool dealers. I was lucky enough to be invited on a factory tour and was also given the opportunity to try out many of their top class tools.
The Festool factory is split between two sites, Wendlingen and Neidlingen, to the south east of Stuttgart. I started my whistle stop tour in Wendlingen, set in the heart of a small town surrounded by beautiful countryside.
I have visited all sorts of factories from vehicle production to silicon chip manufacture, some tiny and some vast. From the moment I walked through the modest entrance hall and into the factory I was aware of an air of calm determination that seemed to pervade every niche of the Festool world.
The production lines for the various tools were not lines at all but islands of activity where each process had its place radiating from the centre. There were no voices raised, nobody having to hurry from A to B and everyone focused on the job in hand.
I was impressed by the autonomy enjoyed by the workers; they could set their own production pace, had easy access to the design team and were encouraged to look for better ways of going about their tasks. Innovation is rewarded at every level and I was impressed by the happy yet business-like atmosphere.
Festool makes almost every component for its tools. Some items, like castings, are subcontracted out to local companies but with strict quality control mechanisms and with supervision by Festool staff. Every single motor is made from scratch, and Festool has developed its own EC-TEC range of brushless motors used in many of their tools.
We then travelled the short distance to Neidlingen, halfway to Stuttgart from Wendlingen. This is the home of the Festool company headquarters as well as warehousing and training. Festool puts a lot of resources into training as it is vital that every one of their demonstrators is an expert with every tool. Dealers also receive training and even humble journalists are allowed to ‘play’ with the tools in the training workshop.
I learnt a lot about Festool, the company commitment to quality and talent for design and innovation. What impressed me most of all was that every one of the workers that I met was intelligent, enthusiastic and passionate about the tools that they make.
Captions for Photographs:
01 – The Factory at Wendlingen (image kindly supplied by Festool)
02 – Every member of the workforce is part of a single team (image kindly supplied by Festool)
03 – Festool have even designed the trigger switches, from scratch, to give precise control of their tools (image kindly supplied by Festool)
04 – The large warehouse in Neidlingen
05 – Inside the training room
