At the future address Am Teuto 1, Wortmann & Gartemann Immobilien KG as the building owner and representatives of both municipalities, together with the architects, performed the symbolic ground-breaking ceremony for the expansion and relocation plans of the Borgholzhausen-based Westfalia Group on August 26.

With the new building in the IBV directly on the A33, Westfalia, a traditional specialist for fully automated storage and logistics systems, is creating space and flexibility for the increasingly unpredictable project business "intralogistics". This is because order volumes can vary greatly and schedules are closely geared to the customers' operations. The new site has been significantly expanded. Westfalia will move in on January 1, 2023, when its direct neighbor at the current company headquarters, adhesive system manufacturer Bostik, moves into the current Westfalia site at Industriestrasse 11 and consolidates its locations there.

The CEO of Wortmann AG and Westfalia majority shareholder Siegbert Wortmann, the operational Westfalia managing director and shareholder Andreas Gartemann, Klaus-Jürgen Becker, advisory board member of the Westfalia Group, plant manager Christian Schlief, the mayors of Borgholzhausen and Versmold, IBV association chairman Dirk Speckmann and association assembly chairman Michael Meyer-Hermann, the architects Markus Bergedieck, Philip Klasing (crayen bergedieck klasing architekten BDA | PartmbB, Bielefeld), Jens Steinmann (projekt+3 oehme gmbh, Bielefeld) and Frank Rottwilm as well as Ulrich Nowatzki, Managing Director of AKD-BAU GmbH, moved the symbolic first crumbs of earth for the forward-looking "addition" to the IBV.

Flexible hall space, offices and lots of transparency

Wortmann & Gartemann Immobilien KG had invested in an area of almost 9 hectares. Around a third of the area has been planned so far. Around 13,000 m³ of topsoil and 17,300 m³ of soil need to be moved in order to create 10,000^m2 for storage and a state-of-the-art and, above all, flexible production facility with an expanded training and test center as well as 5,000^m2 of office space. The Wortmann family of entrepreneurs from Hüllhorst is thus continuing its ongoing investment policy in the region, this time for its intralogistics subsidiary in the Wortmann Group. Wortmann recently acquired shares in the OWL-Arena event venue in Halle/Westphalia at the beginning of the year and is also currently expanding the former logistics center in Löhne as a location for the rapidly growing subsidiaries TERRA Gebäudetechnik GmbH and BAB Distribution.

Tight schedule and commercial challenges

The earthworks on the IBV site will be followed by foundation work for the office wing from the end of September and the erection of the prefabricated columns for the production and storage halls in November. Structural work is planned until April 2022, the interior fit-out of the office wing is scheduled from March to September 2022, furnishing and commissioning by December 2022. Work on the outdoor facilities is scheduled to begin in August 2022. "The special features of this new building are the flexibly usable hall areas, lots of transparency thanks to generous glazing and flexible workstations," says Markus Bergedieck, describing some of the special features. The complex will also include an apartment for the plant manager. The stylishly designed façade also shows the affiliation to the Wortmann Group.

Full order books require capacity expansion

"We have been thinking about the expansion since 2018 and actually started planning it in 2019," says Andreas Gartemann. "The demand for our storage systems and services has risen continuously in recent years." In 2020, the Westfalia Group achieved a turnover of around 50 million euros. The service division and new system orders for industries such as food and packaging, which continue to fulfill an important supply mandate even during the coronavirus crisis, ensure that order books remain full. "We have grown the company significantly in recent years to around 230 employees across Europe. It was clear to us that we would no longer be able to manage with the space available in the sizes in which we produce." However, the real reason for the significant increase in floor space is that the fully automated storage and retrieval vehicles are increasingly exceeding 40 m as the main product focus. Added to this is the increasing demand from the sister company Westfalia USA. At the moment, units from production already have to be relocated to externally rented halls.

"We offer a home for many specialists in the region, and we combine many disciplines in order to respond to market requirements," explains the Managing Director. Specialists from the fields of software development, mechanical engineering and project management continue to be in demand in order to fulfill the wishes of the mostly medium-sized customers: "From the smallest storage solution to complex high-bay warehouse systems, from partial to complete automation, from software to conveyor technology," says Gartemann. "The customers should suit us. This requires good advice and preparation, cooperation based on trust and top personnel who continue to build on our strengths, from initial customer consultation to production and project management to support for existing systems."

Financial and planning leeway thanks to Wortmann

Westfalia's continuous growth has been strengthened by Siegbert Wortmann's willingness to invest, who became the majority shareholder in 2010 and brought the intralogistics specialist into the Wortmann Group, thus bringing it out of an economic crisis. "I had faith in the potential of this company and, in particular, in the loyal customer base and the loyal and committed employees," says Wortmann. The successful family entrepreneur has also already identified synergy potential. Westfalia can now offer its warehouse systems including a complete IT infrastructure, even as a cloud solution in Wortmann's own data center in Hüllhorst. The Wortmann Group is also increasingly tapping into industrial customers as a result of the growth.

Continuous growth for more than three decades

Siegbert Wortmann is familiar with construction projects and expansion. With Wortmann AG, one of the largest independent German IT companies, he has been writing company history since its foundation in 1986 on his parents' farm in Hüllhorst. This year, he expects the group to achieve a turnover of 2 billion euros. Wortmann AG alone achieved 500 million euros of this in the first half of the year. The company serves over 15,000 specialist dealers and system houses with well over 700 employees throughout Europe.

For the upcoming construction project with an eight-figure investment volume, the group of companies is providing planning security despite the significant increase in construction costs: almost 40 percent of the construction work will be carried out within the group by companies such as TERRA Gebäudetechnik GmbH or TERRA Solar. Gartemann: "I am confident that we will manage the project within a reasonable budget despite the price increases - also thanks to our good and goal-oriented project management, which our customers know from us, and thanks to the network of our suppliers and business partners."

Plus for climate protection and the regional economy

The fact that a few weeks passed between the first excavators for earthworks and the actual start of construction was due to a number of planning imponderables, explains Gartemann: "Among other things, we had to draw up a new drainage plan for the planning of a new road connection for the heavy transport of our 40-metre-high storage and retrieval machines. This included a retention basin. It was only in August that the final scope of delivery and services and the KfW funding could be clarified." The building is being constructed in accordance with the guidelines of the "Federal Subsidy for Efficient Buildings" (BEG) using energy-saving construction methods. The building will be heated with an air heat pump. Around 1,400 photovoltaic modules support the roof surfaces. With an output of 500 kWp, 465,000 kWh of electricity is to be generated annually on approx. 2,800 m², thus avoiding around 285,000 kg of_{CO2 emissions} per year.