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SERZEDO, Portugal – Recently the biggest bike facility in Europe started its production.  That facility is located in Portugal; is operated by a company called RTE and is to produce one million bikes in 2009.

RTE is the parent company of Portuguese bike producer Decanor. This was a company dedicated to the treatment and painting of industrial components but started about ten years with painting frames for Decathlon. Over the years both Decanor and Decathlon's confidence in the cooperation grew.

 Decanor expanded and moved to a larger factory. Very recently, the board decided to move again, this time across the street to a new space: very modern, functional, organized and, especially, effective. The new facility can easily reach a daily production of 3400 units and there is room to build more assembly lines. Now Decanor ceases to exist as a painting company, and its activities as an assembler have been shifted to RTE.

RTE is the parent company, with 25 years of history in the Portuguese industry, painting auto parts, train carriages and other products. Instead of two companies, now there is only one that accomplishes several activities: wheel assembly, bike assembly, painting and all the logistics behind it; all guaranteed by a work force of almost 400 employees.

The wheels are assembled at the old Decanor factory just across the street. The company plans to be able to build 5000 pairs of wheels per day on 10 assembly lines without having to run 24h shifts. They have all the machinery to make the process partially automatic, from the spoke placement on the hub to the truing/aligning of the wheel. This section is located across the street from the main building and has an area of almost 3000 square meters.    

RTE’s assembly lines have an average output of 3000 bikes per day, depending on the season and the model. When a new collection is being launched or there is an urgent need for big quantities, RTE can produce 3400 units per day. Otherwise the assembly line only needs to work one 8-hour shift per day. Normally, the total daily production is shipped on the same day to a Decathlon centre of distribution.

Some models are exclusively assembled at RTE in spite Decathlon having other partners in Europe. The relationship between the French sporting goods giant and RTE is set to continue in the years to come: Decathlon is investing not only time and effort in RTE but is also planning long term projects and the necessary guarantees to ensure the partnership. For its part, RTE continues to evolve, finding new solutions to satisfy its client's needs.