Case:
Velo De Ville
Technology Meets Craftsmanship: Velo-de-Ville Streamlines Production with OCS
In 1966, Albert Thiemann founded a family business specializing in the individual manufacturing of bicycles, where each bicycle is produced as a unique item. This approach allows every bicycle to be precisely customized to meet specific customer requirements. Components such as wheels, saddles, handlebars, lighting, and gear mechanisms are meticulously assembled by hand at various workstations. Each bicycle is the result of dedicated teamwork, where the employees’ expertise and commitment foster a strong team spirit. This ethos forms the foundation for producing high-quality, customized bicycles. Today, hundreds of bicycles are manufactured by hand every day.
Continuous growth and specialization in customer-specific production have made VELO DE VILLE a successful company in Germany and Europe. The company’s core values – humanity, uniqueness, and diversity – have always been preserved and continue to shape the business today.
Thanks to the OCS overhead conveyor solution, they now have an efficient assembly process and production line for their bicycles.
Need
As part of the planning to expand its production hall, VELO DE VILLE sought to update its production with the latest technology. The connection between VELO DE VILLE and OCS had existed for some time, but now was the opportune moment to discuss various solutions and options. The inquiry included the assembly of e-bikes and conventional bicycles, with integration into the customer’s own material flow system.
Action from the OCS Sales Team
A prominent innovation in the bicycle industry is the integration of bicycles and e-bikes into a streamlined production line. To facilitate this process, a unique system has been developed that transports frames and wheels to the assembly lines via an upper level. This solution minimizes material traffic in the main assembly area. The layout also allows partially assembled bicycles to be moved to the upper level for temporary storage, creating a smoother workflow.
In parallel with the layout design, custom product carriers were developed on-site in collaboration with the customer, including prototypes adapted to specific needs.
Solution
The installed solution utilizes the OCS Heavy Duty system for the production lines, handling transport during bicycle assembly, while the OCS Medium Duty system manages the transport of frames and wheels prior to assembly.
An RFID tag is attached to the OCS trolleys, ensuring clear identification of both the OCS trolley and the bicycle. The production system is equipped with adjustable drive motors to regulate the transport speed within production. Vertical conveyors move bicycles and frames/wheels down to the assembly stations.
Flexible Production for Customized Bicycles
Efficient Multi-Level Material Flow
Traceable Production with RFID
Ergonomic Assembly with Specially Designed Carriers
Results after installation
The specially designed layout, featuring the flexible OCS overhead conveyor system, enables efficient integration of various processes and cycle times to produce both bicycles and e-bikes on a single production line. The various workstations, characterized by a high degree of manual work and a batch size of one, are automatically and efficiently connected to minimize non-value-adding transport distances.
Furthermore, the product carrier, custom-made to meet specific customer requirements, contributes to a highly ergonomic working environment. The driven and interconnected system automatically establishes a specific bicycle standard, resulting in increased throughput compared to previous production methods.
VELO DE VILLE offers customers over 1,000,000 options in its customized process, making it possible to configure each bicycle according to individual needs. This level of customization requires a fundamentally different transport and assembly system, along with a unique connection between the assembly process and the automated material flow system, compared to the standard series production of bicycles and e-bikes.
Achieving rapid, short-term, and customer-oriented ‘just-in-time’ production requires seamless communication between the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system and the OCS conveyor system. The goal was to improve material and assembly planning, as well as the assembly process, to achieve efficiency and standards comparable to those of series producers.
“With OCS as a partner, we have successfully overcome these challenges. The integrated system allows us to manufacture bicycles only when materials are available, track each bicycle’s status, location, and condition, and assemble them efficiently without transport losses. This system enables more precise planning, significantly increases production capacity, reduces or eliminates transport routes, and markedly improves overall efficiency.”
“It is now possible for us to produce customized bicycles/vehicles with 1,000,000 configuration options for our customers within just 48 hours. Finally, we would like to mention the extremely positive collaboration with OCS. From planning to assembly and after-sales service, we were very satisfied with OCS’s performance,” says Oliver Runde, Head of Production.
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