Company

Production covers a production area of approx. 10,000 m², of which approx. 1250 m² is allocated to the assembly area. At present, the quantity of active customer parts is approx. 1.4 million, including 30 g small individual parts up to 5000 kg heavy welded/assembly groups.

The annual growth in new parts is around 30,000 units. The number of employees is around 90 and has remained largely constant in recent years. The aim is to achieve a 50% increase in turnover in the near future with the same number of employees and by investing in more modern or state-of-the-art technologies and machines.

To differentiate the business units, a new word/figurative mark is registered for “Metal Working Thuringia: The core areas are metal working and welding.

Schulz Conveyor Systems LLC develops into a specialised company according to WHG for facilities for the storage, filling, handling, production, treatment and use of substances hazardous to water and is certified according to DIN EN ISo 15085-2 CL1.

With new technologies, Schulz Conveyor Systems LLC is also moving along the path of sustainable development – laser welding with the hand-held laser welder results in less distortion due to lower heat input into the part being processed, which enables more efficient production and requires the creation of a 16 m² laser welding cabin.

The customer base extends across the whole of Germany.
The company is planning its twelfth investment in order to expand the business.

A total of 9 laser cutting systems and 6 press brakes now form the company’s core expertise.
In recent years, the production of assemblies has been increasingly added, so that welding in particular, but also machining and assembly, are becoming more and more important.

Schulz Conveyor Systems LLC is breaking new ground with optical measuring systems.

Auditing in accordance with DIN-EN-ISO certificate 3834-2:2006
Welding quality requirements.

Since 1993, the number of employees has risen from ten to 79, and Peter Schulz has invested around 20 million marks to date in order to grow his company step by step.

Most of the revenue no longer comes from conveyor systems, as the company name suggests, but from metal working, which accounts for around 90% of turnover.
Conveyor systems now only account for 10 per cent of turnover.

The complete connection to the former plant of Fensterbau GmbH takes place. In addition to the dispatch department, a 2000 m² assembly area is also set up there.
The company has now been built in eleven construction phases. The number of employees is 90, 18 per cent of whom are apprentices.

The production of roller conveyors – on a small scale – is increasingly coming back into focus.

Apprentices were first trained at the company site in Gräfenroda in 1998 – since then there have generally been three to seven apprentices per year, who are trained in the professions of metalworker, lathe operator and welder.

Expansion of storage space and enlargement of the training workshop. Furthermore, the vertical range of manufacture was increased with the purchase of a TLC – 3D Trumpf laser system as a result of further major orders and increased customer requirements. 3D lasering and laser welding are now also possible.

The sales area of companies with required laser/edged parts grew.

In the process, 15 employees from the vehicle components department, products from the same division and in particular for customers in the automotive industry – MAN, as well as production machines (brake shoe welding machine, welding robot) were taken over, which opened the doors to a new business area: the automotive industry.

This necessitated the addition of a new production hall with an area of 1000m², as well as an office complex to the existing hall, with an investment volume of 2.5 million marks. The office units have been moved into the new building.

The recognised production range is mainly determined/dominated by sheet metal parts for several branches of industry. Priority is given to quality supplies for vehicle construction, such as for MAN buses and lorries.

Schulz Conveyor Systems LLC thus secures a total of 40 jobs at its site in the Upper Geratal.

Sale of Schulz Conveyor plants in Wülfrath with approx. 100 employees at the time. Takeover by Savoye Logistic System SA – France. Now focussing on Schulz Conveyor Systems LLC.

The major order from Aldi is coming to an end. To date, a total of 30,000 checkout tapes have been produced for Aldi. An estimated 20,000 of these were produced in Wülfrath and 10,000 in Gräfenroda.

Peter Schulz and Horst Kraußer (former GF SFS) are increasingly focussing on the production of various sheet metal parts using laser systems and the manufacture of small welding/assembly groups.

Due to the good order situation, the company is able to purchase additional laser cutting systems. The company now primarily produces laser/edged parts and secondarily small assembly/welding modules and conveyor systems.

In the course of this, state-of-the-art sheet metal processing machines were purchased:

• Laser cutting machines (1500 W) with sheet alignment up to 8 mm steel and possibly stainless steel up to 4 mm (O2)
• CNC-controlled press brake
• CNC-controlled impact shears
• Washing and phosphating plant
• State-of-the-art paint shop (wet painting)

During the first four weeks, the parts produced in Wülfrath were exclusively assembled into conveyor belts for shopping tills.
At that time, laser technology had made its breakthrough – both in the West and in the East. Schulz was one of the first owners of laser systems.
Within six months, ownership of the laser system became widely known. As a result, the 1-shift production operation was converted to a 3-shift operation.

As the premises became extremely unsuitable for the work being carried out and the floor and roof were in a poor condition, 40,000 m² of building land was soon purchased in the Gräfenroda industrial estate and the company built its own premises.

The first hall was completed in the middle/end of 1991.
The company was able to move into its first newly built production facilities on 1 April 1992.

The company’s capacity utilisation is reaching its limits. As a result – and also in the course of modernising the sheet metal production – the search for a new business partner or an expansion opportunity began.
“After reunification, I thought about whether it would be possible to do something in the new federal states,” Peter Schulz explains

Due to the economic conditions after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the opportunity to lease a hunting ground, P. Schulz decided in favour of the Geratal/Gräfenroda region.

He went his own way. As a result – after two successful years – the three-man operation is dissolved.
P. Schulz takes over 1/3 of the business, in particular the press division, while the other 2/3 is divided between the two master craftsmen – who, under the names of “Hans Wiebusch and Helmut Schäfer”, continued to manufacture punching/bending tools separately until the end.
Schulz takes over the rented foundry hall, buys 2000 m² of land next door and builds a new building. At this time, the wood and furniture industry is a major customer for roller and roller conveyors. Compared to powered roller conveyors or conveyor systems, normal roller conveyors were a favourable, sufficient and reliable option for them.

Automation is making increasing progress. In addition, the volume of goods being conveyed increased, which required new products. The product portfolio was expanded. In addition to (driven) roller conveyors and curves, small conveyors
small conveyors, conveyor belts, angled transfers and chain conveyors are also manufactured. Schulz Förderanlagen GmbH already represented a well-known, reliable and innovative manufacturer of conveyor systems at that time.

He rented a small, dark “robber’s den” with no floor, windows, oven or sink – with an area of around 9 square metres. “I even had to lay my own electricity. Back then, grinders were known for spending a lot of their money on alcohol, which is why they – and I – had to pay for electricity quarterly in advance,” says Peter Schulz.
With a bank loan of 3000 marks – including a high annual repayment of 10% – he bought an old bench grinder. In addition to his work at Trumpf Beschläge, he sanded steel/grey cast iron parts every day from around 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. in order to remove the burrs created during the casting process – usually between the upper/lower box and on the splicer.

In 1962, after a year of part-time self-employment, he ceased working for Trumpf Beschläge and at the same time merged with two other former master craftsmen from Trumpf Beschläge.
They rented 300 square metres of a hall in an old foundry.
In this context, investments were made in a planing bench (Schepping), milling machine, lathe, band saw, drilling machine and later also in an eccentric press.

Initially, the company primarily produced simpler punching/bending tools, usually costing between 500 and 2000 marks.
In order to utilise the press not only with the testing of the punching and bending tools produced – which in any case accounted for a very low capacity utilisation – the production of metal rollers was added later.