08.06.2009

Lift production ends in Holbæk

Worldlift Industries owner of Denka Lift and Falck Schmidt has ended production at Denka's historic Denka lift facility in Holbæk Denmark.

At the recent Intermat exhibition, Worldlift confirmed to Vertikal.Net that it would be merging its two Danish production plants at Falck Schmidt’s plant in Odense and we understand that this has now gone ahead.

Denka was established in Holbæk in 1967 and began making trailer lifts there in 1975, with production taking off in 1982 when it teamed up with its long time distributor Rothlehner.
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One of the very first Denka Lifts, yes it is a trailer mounted boom lift!

The production facility occupies a site of 20,000 Square Metres, with roughly 6,500 metres under cover. The most eye catching part of the facility is its famous “Roundhouse” circular assembly hall. The building had a central tower which housed the electrical assembly section and individual assembly bays around the perimeter with a door for every two bays.
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Denka's famous roundhouse assembly hall in Holbæk

The height inside was sufficient to allow indoor testing of units up to 21 metres.
A unique overhead crane ran on circular tracks, one mounted to the exterior wall and the other to the central tower.
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In side the roundhouse note the central tower and the rotaray overhead crane

The Odense plant, which has an even longer history, has plenty of space and will not only be able to cope with the current lower production levels, but also be ramped up sufficiently when the market begins to expand again.

Vertikal Comment

This consolidation of production facilities has been on the cards since the two companies came under common ownership in 2005. One problem with moving the Denka line was that until relatively recently the products were built along artisan lines, relying very much on specific craftsmen.

One assumes that with the company’s programme of outsourcing more of the production and the introduction of new models this is no longer the case. It is only logical for the company to operate one facility and moving Denka to Odense was probably seen as more practical than trying to base everything in Holbæk.

What will become of the iconic production facility is anyone’s guess hopefully a use that retains the roundhouse intact will be found.