An open workshop with maximum efficiency

Orthopaedic workshop impresses with spacious, open-plan design and innovavite solutions.
The new workshop at Heckert & van Lierop Orthopedie Techniek primarily produces larger orthopaedic products such as prostheses, corsets and splints for the company’s subsidiaries. The spacious building is very centrally located and is the ideal place to set up a modern, open workshop. Huub Lucassen, one of the company’s two CEOs, says: “At Heckert & van Lierop we wanted to realise various production processes in one large open-style room. The existing workshop solutions didn’t offer exactly what we were looking for.” But at Ottobock Planning and Equipping, they found the right partner to make their project a reality. The two companies were on the same wavelength and open to new developments.

Ottobock Planning and Equipping was able to perfectly translate Heckert & van Lierop’s desire for an open workshop into the plans for the space. “The collaboration between Heckert & van Lierop and Ottobock Planning and Equipping was excellent”, says Huub Lucassen. The result is a spacious workshop which is literally transparent, as the rooms are separated from one another by glass walls. The central element is the machinists’ workshop with an integrated corner for receiving goods. This is where all orders come together. The plaster room, vacuum forming area, machine room and a laminating/resin room are grouped around the workshop. The open concept also includes the reception area: Here, customers can watch as their prosthesis or orthosis takes shape, turning waiting times into a lively, visual learning opportunity. By engaging with customers in this way, the workshop quickly dispels the somewhat old-fashioned image that orthopaedics technology still frequently conforms to today.

An open workshop with maximum efficiency
As the space and products are ideally suited to one another, the result is a much more efficient workflow. Processing times were reduced considerably with the help of products developed by Ottobock | Jos America, such as a vacuum forming unit for vacuum forming and modelling. The highlight of this product series: an integrated tank in the upper part of the vacuum forming table’s frame. The tank stores a vacuum, buffered from the larger system, so it’s immediately available at the desired output level when required.

Our new energy saving infrared oven and customised worktables also contribute to an efficient workflow. Thanks to the Vacuum V80HC central dust extraction system, so little dust accumulates in the workplace that even the glass walls remain clean.

Together with the significant reduction in noise and the steam extraction system which, according to Lucassen, functions superbly, the result is a clean, efficient and healthy working environment where his employees are happy to spend their time.