Ankarsrum is a well-established trademark in many kitchens around the globe. The products are known for their excellent quality and timeless design – they are made to last from grandmom to grandchildren. The first Ankarsrum with the same basic design was produced as early as 1940, then under the Electrolux brand. The Ankarsrum Kitchen Assistent can make practically everything possible in a kitchen.
In early 2021, Ankarsrum Kitchen contacted Scanfil to urgently transfer the running production from their production site to Scanfil’s factory in Åtvidaberg.
The time was crucial, the transfer should be done during a three-week stop and there was no time to build a buffer stock. Therefore, the speed of the transfer was the crucial.
In the first week of May, the transfer of the complete production line from Ankarsrum facility to Åtvideberg started, and the first products were produced, quality tested and packed at the beginning of June. Ankarsrum’s order intake in April and May was at a record high which encountered a big backlog and increased the pressure to ramp up. Ankarsrum’s and Scanfi’sl seamless cooperation, commitment, as well as hard work enabled success.
A competent development team at Åtvidaberg supported the entire transfer. They fixed old, often broken-down test equipment and designed, built, and delivered a new test system in record time. The team also supported the quality investigations, brought forward suggested changes, supported a number of ValueAdd/ValueEngineering (VA/VE) activities in various technical areas, designed production fixtures and suggested enhancements, etc.
The Scanfil Åtvidaberg full capacity and skills were utilised at a maximum. The new product introduction (NPI) and production technology teams – getting the line in place, optimising and raising capacity; sourcing – setting up and transferring the suppliers; logistics and call-off – handling all customer orders and securing material; internal logistics and material handling – keeping up with the high volumes; quality – handling all issues and production management – securing, training and managing all personnel. Last and most importantly, all production personnel fighting every day with delivery pressure and disturbances. All above during COVID-19 times.