It’s the visible result of first-rate craftsmanship. It’s a joint achievement, following the combined efforts of our customers, our suppliers and Meldon. Who are our customers and suppliers, and how have we helped them – and how have they helped us? Read on to find out. Discover our success stories, written by Meldon but accomplished thanks to the fantastic cooperation we have with our customers and suppliers.
Let’s chat to: Peter Feldhaus, Vorwerk
Vorwerk is a company that manufactures high-end appliances such as vacuum cleaners, kitchen machines, and cleaning machines. What is their mission? To make housework easier with the aid of high-grade and, above all, sustainable solutions. Vorwerk is a family business that makes a real effort to assume their social and ecological responsibility for their actions. Vorwerk and Meldon have been partners now for over 15 years.
The Partnership Peter Feldhaus: “I was working as a mechanical engineer still when we first got to know Meldon. Back then, we sourced the co-extruded parts – lip seals – that we need for our products from another supplier. We switched suppliers because we heard lots of good things about Meldon’s technical performance.”
— Peter Feldhaus, Vorwerk
The Product
“The lip seals, which are mainly used for vacuum cleaners, are the most important parts we buy from Meldon. Those products ensure an excellent cleaning result, and they have a lot of influence on the density of the products. It is essential that those parts allow the vacuum cleaner to suck up dust both from hard flooring and from carpets.”
The Result
“Meldon set up a separate extrusion-manufacturing line for us. At present, the line is stretched to the limits of its capacity, so we are thinking about setting up a second line.
The lip seals constitute the largest part of our partnership, but there are ten more products that Meldon makes for us, bringing the total up to an average of five to six million parts a year.”
When asked what makes Meldon special, Peter Feldhaus replies: ‘Meldon’s core competency is extrusion. They truly are both experts and reliable in that field. I believe that Meldon is the only true specialist in extruded profiles. Not surprisingly, I regard them as first-class manufacturers.”
Read the following case
Let’s chat to: Felix Herbst, BASF & Maurits Basten Meldon
BASF, based in Ludwigshafen, Germany, is the world’s largest chemical company creating chemical products for a sustainable future. This includes one of the most important materials Meldon works with: thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). Within its broad plastics portfolio BASF offers high-grade, light-weight materials that Meldon uses to produce extruded profiles.
The partnership between Meldon and BASF exists as long as Meldon’s Account Manager, Maurits Basten, and Felix Herbst, Sales at BASF, can remember. Maurits: ‘I’d say somewhere between 25 and 30 years.’ How do you maintain this partnership? Read this case to learn how important BASF is for Meldon.
Meldon’s needs
Felix Herbst: ‘We supply Meldon with more than just pure material. With our testing and analysis capabilities, we are able to find exactly the right material for Meldon for different applications with completely different requirement profiles. Together, we co-create the right solution. Over the years, we have supplied Meldon with 25 different types of products.’
— Felix Herbst, BASF
The Partnership
‘Open communication is the base of a string and durable partnership – and with Meldon we live an exceptionally open way of talking to each other. Often, customers don’t don’t go into details and this forces as supplier, to make a guess.. That makes it very difficult to give the right recommendations. Luckily, Meldon sees the advantages of being frank. Of course, we are very discrete with that information. . In the end, I think everyone benefits, the supplier and the end customer. The frankness and uncomplicated exchange lead to good and extremely fast solutions. Development projects with other customers, on the other hand, sometimes take years, depending on the kind of application. Still, I believe we save lots of time by the way we work with Meldon.
The Perfect Combination
Meldon also gives BASF feedback on how a new material can be extruded. Maurits Basten: ‘Perhaps we just think along the same lines, and that suits us. We always want to do more with polyurethane. Not many extrusion companies are happy to do that, especially if the profiles are quite complicated.’ Felix Herbst concurs: ‘Meldon is an expert in processes and treatments because it concerns complex geometries and very demanding material combinations, like adhesion issues. Matching this, we can offer our chemical-technical expertise, such as our knowledge of the various properties of the material. In turn, Meldon gives us feedback on how the material can be treated, and then we can do changes if we need to. It’s the perfect combination.’
The Final Grade
Felix Herbst: ‘If we graded the partnership, we would award Meldon with A+, meaning the technical partnership related to new products. I think it’s fantastic! Of course, there are issues sometimes.’ Maurits Basten: ‘Yes, but very few. As far as our materials suppliers are concerned, I would like to see more partnerships like this one. It’s sometimes tough to be critical, but that is exactly what forges the best partnerships.’
Go to next case
Let’s chat to: Felix Kuepper, Led Linear
Led Linear – as the name implies – is specialized in linear LED lamps. The company makes lighting in a range of shapes and sizes, from general illumination and accent lamps to architectural lighting. Led Linear produces both rigid and flexible lamps that can be shaped into the most wonderful organic forms. It will come as no surprise that the customers they serve operate exclusively in the property-furnishing business. Accordingly, the company’s business concept is based on made-to-order products. That means their customers have maximum freedom to devise their lighting. In other words, Led Linear does not have a standard product, but offers a kind of toolkit which their customers can use for the design.
The challenge
Felix Kuepper: “We wanted to create a product that can be assembled easily and cheaply although obviously it must be up to our usual standards of quality. What do we want to achieve with this product? To speed up the manufacturing process, reduce the overall material costs, and, as a result, offer an even more flexible service to the end customer. With this in mind, we got in touch with our extrusion manufacturers and partners, but none of them had the skills to deliver what we wanted. Through the grapevine, we heard that Meldon was good at dealing with challenges like ours. We put our idea to them, and step by step, we worked it out. That was the moment a long-lasting partnership was forged.”
— Felix Kuepper, Led Linear
The Solution
Led Linear is ready to launch a new LED lamp and it measures no less than 5 meters. The product is made by means of tri-extrusion and has a hollow chamber. “Initially, we wanted a bi-part system, simply because we thought it would be technically impossible to extrude it directly with a hollow chamber. Meldon has succeeded in combining three different materials at a single process stage. At Led Linear, we manufacture the same product in layers, but it is extremely time-consuming. It has been a long road, beset with technical hurdles. Our Lighting Technology Department has a large number of specifications that are essential to us but cause lots of problems for the manufacture. We discussed the issue frequently, and we talked back and forth, but always in a good way. From Day One, both parties worked extremely well together. Both parties had the will, the skill, and the right professional attitude. They didn’t promise us the moon – just the opposite, in fact: they told us very clearly that if they thought it wasn’t going to work, they would let it go. Well, that’s not something we are accustomed to. We’ve often been told that it’s not a problem, but when push comes to shove, it turns out it is a problem. In fact, it was precisely thanks to the intensive contact and brainstorming sessions that we managed to avoid any problems and prevent the project from failing.
We discussed the issue frequently, and we talked back and forth, but always in a good way. From Day One, both parties worked extremely well together. Both parties had the will, the skill, and the right professional attitude. They didn’t promise us the moon – just the opposite, in fact: they told us very clearly that if they thought it wasn’t going to work, they would let it go. Well, that’s not something we are accustomed to. We’ve often been told that it’s not a problem, but when push comes to shove, it turns out it is a problem. In fact, it was precisely thanks to the intensive contact and brainstorming sessions that we managed to avoid any problems and prevent the project from failing.
— Felix Kuepper, Led Linear
The Success
“I believe that an important aspect was that both parties were flexible. So, something is wrong? Let’s explore the other options together. In my experience, projects with other suppliers and customers often fail because neither party will compromise. I think that was what made the biggest difference to this achievement.”
The Result
“I think we’re justified in being immensely proud of this product. We really have created something totally new and innovative. This specific solution did not exist previously. In addition, it’s special because the product is made from TPU, a material that will protect against ultraviolet rays, which is incredibly important as our products are predominantly used as façade lighting for high-rise buildings.
Of course, nobody wants their lighting turning yellowish or brown after a couple of years. After all, that would mean huge expenses for replacement. Many rival products are made from a material that is not weather-resistant. Lots of companies, mainly in Asia, copy this sort of product, but with this new, high-quality product, we’re a few steps ahead of the game once again!”
