Gazelle Switching to Lean Production

DIEREN, The Netherlands – Yesterday retired road racer Michael Boogerd opened a special assembly line at Gazelle. The U-shaped line at which 28 mechanics are assembling bikes is the result of a long study on lean production.

The new line is Gazelle’s first step towards a production method which is not focused on mass production but more on assembling the right model, for the right customer at the right time.

“With lean production Gazelle intends to focus less on quantities but more on quality. It will eventually be implemented on a broad scale with which we also focus on upgrading our delivery performance,” said the Dutch bike maker. First tests with the new assembly line resulted in an improved efficiency with less rejects.

Gazelle on course

At the festivities for the opening of the new line Gazelle CEO Bert Piëst said the company is on course. Also financially. “During the first three quarters of the year we have managed to already improve on the results we had for the whole of 2007. And I am very optimistic on what the fourth quarter of the year will bring us. Also because our new 2009 collection is very well received by our dealers,” said Piëst.

The Gazelle CEO further stipulated that the new Innergy e-Bike contributed a lot to the much better results. Its sales success surpassed all estimates which resulted temporarily in delivery problems. With a stepped up production Gazelle is said to aim at selling about 36,000 Innergy e-Bikes this year.

The new assembly line is named after road racer Michael Boogerd who officially opened it with fixing a seat post plus saddle on a Innergy e-Bike.

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