The history of WERU began in 1843, as a carpenter's shop in the beginning. Now, with more than 175 years of experience, the oldest window construction company in Germany is the market leader for plastic windows in residential buildings. The 1,200 employees produce 500,000 window sashes and almost 16,000 front doors per year.
Behind the success of WERU are a history that is rich in experience, sustainable thinking and the attitude of never being satisfied with the standards achieved. WERU performs continuous quality assurance from production to installation, certified by the RAL Quality Mark. Production takes place at three locations, in Rudersberg (Baden-Württemberg), Triptis (Thuringia) and Salmtal (Rhineland-Palatinate) – i.e. 100% made in Germany.
Product range and product diversity
The long-established German company impresses the market particularly through the quality of its products and the service provided. The very wide product diversity in serial production is outstanding, with few standard products combined with extremely customer-oriented production. WERU specialises in special shapes and very large sheets. In addition to windows, front doors, balcony and patio doors, the product range also includes rolling shutters and Venetian shutters. In 2018, the German company introduced another innovation in the window fittings area with a level of wear that is lower than ever. Due to the wide diversity, the requirements on the 130,000 m² production area also increase with regard to the glass processing systems and their suppliers.
WERU and LiSEC
The cooperation between WERU and LiSEC started in 1972 when WERU started to manufacture insulating glass. Back then (as now), LiSEC was the only company to offer complete systems from glass cutting to logistics, including its own LiSEC software. Three years ago, WERU once again invested in insulating glass manufacturing with the aim of increasing output and quality from 1,300 to 1,780 pieces. In the new bidding process for common market leaders, LiSEC was decided on once again. “We decided for LiSEC, as they responded to our requirements for increasing quality and output”, said Dr. Frank Fleissner, COO of the WERU Group. The important thing was producing the sheets in the same sequence as for producing the plastic windows - one of the greatest challenges in production optimisation at WERU.
“Open heart surgery” – WERU relied on LiSEC
“Our aim was to interlace both production types. We performed “open heart surgery” to some extent, as conversion and installation took place while production was running”, said Jens Reimann, factory manager at WERU Triptis. “We found co-operating with the Austrian company very positive and straightforward. The specialist competence of the LiSEC fitters is impressive”, continued Reimann.
LiSEC at WERU and a view to the future
To date, WERU already has numerous LiSEC systems for glass processing. Among others, the company works with a float cutting system, a cutting combination for laminated safety glass and float glass with integrated remnant plate storage, a buffer system with shuttle, the insulating glass systems with washing machine, scanner, an automatic frame mounting station (as a special feature), an inspection station, a tandem press and a sealing system.
Production is heavily supported by the LiSEC software. For example, GPS.autofab is used to activate the automatic sorting system for slot rack cart logistics and therefore to enable optimum capacity utilisation of machines, buffers, etc. The GPS.prod software program optimises, organises and controls the production sequence, including planning, scheduling, sequencing and glass cutting.
In the future, WERU is planning to purchase the third cutting system and an additional assembly line that will be connected to the buffer route as soon as quantities increase.
