Wanzl is a partner in international trade and is also one of the largest electroplating companies in Europe, a fact that is usually only known to the experts. After the devastating fire in February 2012, Wanzl has completely rebuilt its electroplating plants over the last two years in Plant IV at the Leipheim site. Today, the electroplating plants are in full swing once again.
Once a minute, the shopping trolleys are plunged into the plating bath, where the conditions needed for galvanizing prevail: an electrical current flows through the solution, coating the trolley baskets in the electrolyte bath with a protective zinc layer, ideal for a long, shiny life span and resistant to the effects of weather and to rust. In addition to the zinc electroplating plant, two new chrome electroplating plants are now in operation in Plant IV in Leipheim. In these plants, products for use inside, such as entrance and exit systems, customer guidance systems, shelving and bargain tables, are submerged in a high-gloss chrome-plating bath. Today, two years after the major fire at Wanzl, the newly constructed electroplating plants are working at full speed in three-shift operation, making it one of the largest surface coating plants in Europe.
Looking back: in February 2012, the electroplating plants at Wanzl fell victim to a devastating fire. The cause of the fire was probably a cable that produced an electric arc. 18 fire brigades and 200 assistants, flanked by the Red Cross and workers from the Federal Agency for Technical Relief (THW), worked in extremely harsh conditions at temperatures as low as -15°C to prevent the flames spreading to the Wanzl plant. In the summer of 2012, Wanzl donated 100,000 euros to the voluntary services. "We wanted to thank the helpers for their outstanding commitment by making this donation,." explains Gottfried Wanzl, managing partner of the Wanzl Group. Immediately after the fire, the electroplating plants in Wanzl Plants I and II in Leipheim and Plant III in Kirchheim, along with external electroplating plants, maintained production and supply chain security at Wanzl. "We really worked as one unit, the Wanzl family became very close and responded with flexibility, there were no major supply bottlenecks," recalls Gottfried Wanzl.
