Horst Löffler

4 May 2002



Jensen-Senking's MD talks to LCN at the opening of its new plant


LCN: We are here at the Jensen- Senking open house to celebrate the Laundry Systems Group's investment in the new plant. What is the company's role within the Jensen LSG Group? Horst Löffler: All factories within the Jensen group have certain competences and we are the company with washroom competence. We make, sell, and develop equipment and act as consultants for everything in regard to tunnel washers, presses, centrifugal extractors, dryers and the corresponding software, including service.

We have been a member of the Jensen group for four years and are now Jensen- Senking. In that time we have doubled our sales to E45million a year.

LCN: What led to the current investment in the new plant and what benefits will the new plant bring both to the Senking operation and to the group? HL: Senkingwerk had been in its former factory for 100 years. For a long time the factory produced domestic and catering equipment. As recently as 40 years ago the laundry division was only very small. There was no room to expand the plant. The buildings were too old and did not belong to us.

Planning this new plant took about a year, and then the project was completed within 11 months (including the move into the building).

The whole site is 25,000m2. The current building has 10,000m2 of production space, plus an area of 2,500m2 devoted to offices and side rooms. The plant has been designed and built round our workflow and our manufacturing processes, allowing an easy supply of materials to the three different product lines and guaranteeing a perfect workflow.

This site will give us room for growth. We can grow with our customers and even gain more market share, a) by additional shifts, and b) by extending the premises (an extension of 40% is planned). As far as the benefits of the new plant for the group are concerned, as we get stronger the group will benefit.

Washroom technology was missing from the group and [now that the investment allows Jensen-Senking to develop and grow] it will help both the group and ourselves that we can offer complete systems. There is a lot of synergy in development purchasing and distribution.

LCN: What does this open house event mean for you and your company? HL: The main purpose of our Jensen-Senking open house was to show our customers the brand new manufacturing plant. We took advantage of this to demonstrate some of our latest innovations within the Jensen laundry product programme, for example the Universal SL batch washer and water extraction press SL, the new Express flatwork ironer and the Jensen Cockpit programme, including Jenview, Romax and Prisma systems.The event was a complete success.We had over 2,200 visitors from all over the world and showed them our latest innovations. We had interesting discussions and also enjoyed a nice time with visitors at the "Get together dinners." LCN: How do you see Senking's role a) in relation to the German market, and b) on a global basis.? HL: In Germany we have at least 50% of the market and worldwide our market share is close to 30%.

Worldwide, we are market leader and innovation leader without doubt. We are the strongest manufacturer of continuous batch washers and are now on the fifth generation of machines. The Universal SL and the press provide a hygienic and safe wash system. There are no water reclaim tanks and so there are no tanks to clean or maintain. Water consumption is very low.

LCN: What do you see as strengths and how do you plan to develop these? HL: Our strengths are high innovation, very high quality and also lie in providing safe processing.

We are very reliable on delivery times and give an excellent service - and with remote diagnostics and programming for the whole tunnel line, support is available 24 hours, seven days a week.

We work on our strengths continuously, training both our own people and our customers. Our customers are very close to us.

LCN: How do you see Senking in five years time? HL: With double our current sales.



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