Operator News
Germany – Gauselmann completes biggest building project in its history
By Lewis - 23 July 2014
The biggest building project in the history of the Gauselmann Group – building a new logistics centre at their development and production location Lübbecke – took 15 months and is now finished. The Gauselmann entrepreneurial family celebrated the completion of the new logistics centre together with numerous political and business notables on 15 July 2014.
“Our development and production location in Lübbecke now features a state-of-the-art logistics centre that didn’t take long to build” said the group’s founder and host Paul Gauselmann in his speech, welcoming the 150 guests present. “It was a pleasure to watch the project’s progress”. The 151 by 74 meter centre is 17 meters high and has a usable area of 21,000 square meters – plenty of space for the Gauselmann group’s innovative products. In the new centre there is storage space for logistics as well as additional space for development, production and service.
The group’s founder considers the location only natural. After all, the group’s home is in this region. This is where what was once a one-man operation started up. Initially it was based in Espelkamp, the production site in Lübbecke was built in 1977. The whole group is now a multinational selling its products all over the world. This investment in Lübbecke is a more than emphatic acknowledgement by the group of its roots.
The host also thanked everyone concerned for their active support. “Mastering this mammoth task in addition to the normal daily workload was a real challenge, only surmountable by a team effort. I’d like to express my sincerest thanks to all involved, particularly our colleagues and the 48 local companies who helped carry out the work”.
There was plenty of praise from the guests of honour, too. Eckhard Witte, mayor of the city of Lübbecke, praised the entrepreneurial family’s loyalty to his city. “As a family-owned company the Gauselmann Group is not solely concerned with commercial success but also acts with strategic foresight, creates a lot of jobs and training opportunities and involves itself with its home region long term. It is a major prop of this city’s economic strength”. Espelkamp’s mayor Heinrich Vieker agreed. “The Gauselmann Group ensures quality of life and prosperity in our home town. Building the new logistics centre is hence a trendsetting example for the entire region”.
Hartmut Heinen of the Economics and Finance department of the municipality of Minden-Lübbecke added that “family run companies such as the Gauselmann Group are the economic backbone of our region. Without them the region would be very much the poorer”. Thomas Niehoff, managing director of the Ostwestfalen chamber of commerce in Bielefeld, pointed out the prevailing lack of trained staff in the area in his brief welcoming speech. “We must persuade new trainees and apprentices to come to live in the region and ensure they will want to stay here. The Gauselmann Group sets a good example here by promoting our region’s attractiveness with a variety of training opportunities, entrepreneurial commitment and not least with the investment in this new logistics centre.”
How important entrepreneurial commitment is to the strength of any business location was also emphasised by Dr. Günther Horzetzky, State Secretary of the Ministry of Economics of the province of North Rhine-Westphalia. “This region is one of the strongest economically in the entire province” he stated. He shovelled the first spadeful of earth on the site of the new centre in March 2013 together with Paul and Armin Gauselmann and mayor Eckhard Witte. “Only through investment this situation can be maintained in the long term. This is not an easy decision to make, particularly in difficult political times, such as those the Gauselmann Group is currently going through. To invest despite dark clouds being evident on the horizon takes courage and steadfastness. This earns the group our respect”.
Jürgen Stühmeyer, sales director of the Gauselmann Group, and Hans Martin Grube, managing director of adp Gauselmann GmbH, detailed the reasons for building the new centre and the benefits it brought. This expansion of works is intended primarily to optimise internal and external processes. To cut unnecessary expense and improve overall time management, all working procedures must be made as efficient as possible and constantly optimised. The new logistics centre has a major role to play here. It replaces over 20,000 square meters of rented storage space in seven locations all over the Lübbecke region. This in itself greatly contributes to centralising logistics processes and cutting the costs of managing and using external storage space.
Process optimisation and cost savings must also be viewed from a political standpoint. The legal situation in Germany is uncertain. To ensure they are as well prepared as possible, the Gauselmann Group decided to concentrate on rationalisation on their core market in Germany after a phase of growth and expansion on that market. The group also intend to increase the foreign share of their business from over 40% currently to over 50%.
After the guests of honour had given brief speeches of welcome, Sven Brüninghoff, managing director of the general contractor of the same name, ceremonially handed over the key. Brüninghoff realised the project together with about 50 regional handicraft and trade businesses. The new logistics centre officially opened for business after the ceremonial tape had been cut. All present were then invited to view the new premises.

