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trailer world issue Three 2009

8 Issue Three 2009 Title put this most famous of all kids cars at the top of the list in all its benchmark tests. A colour- fully painted unique copy of the unmistakable Bobby-Car is even exhibited in Nürnberg Toy Museum. Without doubt, the car with the BIG buffalo on its radiator has written its own chap- ter in the story of toys. But the story is by no means over. Every year, new members and variations are being added to the Bobby-Car family. The catalogue meanwhile contains 19 different models, start- ing with the Big-Bobby-Car-Classic in red for €37, via „Police“ in silver, „Dolphin“ in blue or „Girlie“ in pink. Then there is a range of various customised variations for the ADAC, Tchibo, Würth, the German Postal Service or Nivea, all produced in the corresponding corporate colours. „One increasingly important sales channel consists of models made on behalf of the car manufacturers“, says Jürgen Schröpf, Com- mercial Director. The kids cars available from Porsche, Daimler, VW or Mazda shaped like contemporary road vehicles also come from the company‘s production factory in Burghaslach. Imitation trucks are also available as well as cars: the TGA by MAN comes as an emission-free ve- hicle, just like the Actros and Uni- mog trucks made by Mercedes. The moulds for these particular models are developed jointly by the product designers in the automotive industry and BIG‘s own experts. And so the range continues to grow, safe- guarding jobs on the production line which works in three shifts. „When I started at BIG, there were exactly two versions of the Bobby- Car“, recalls Uwe Hofmann, Purchasing Direc- tor. Today, various features and extras permit a highly differentiated approach to various target groups. Altogether,thecutetoyconsistsofaround20 elements and stickers, made for the most part by the approx. 140 employees in Burghaslach where all the assembly work takes place. „Our car consists of two axles, steering linkage, the body, steering wheel, horn, spacer rings, four wheels and a few screws and stickers“, Uwe Hofmann explains. Every day these parts are assembled to produce up to 4,000 Bobby-Cars which sub- sequently travel along a 700 m underground conveyor belt into the state-of-the-art high-bay warehouse. Here at least 5,000 packaging boxes have to be at the ready for the best-seller, other- wise an alarm is set off by the ingenious system implemented by Rolf Stuhldreyer, Logistics Di- rector. In theory, his warehouse can take up to 250,000 Bobby-Cars. However, BIG also makes about another 200 products on site here which also need shelf space. 83 of them are fast-mov- ing items in the high-bay warehouse, while the remaining approx. 120 products are kept in the conventional stores. „Every year we deal with 30,000 orders for altogether 120,000 delivery items“, Stuhldreyer has calculated. 1.5 million shipping units are palletised with about 2.3 million items. Up to 800 pallets are moved in Burghaslach each day – a development which would have been com- pletely inconceivable not so long ago. After all, on 9 April 1998 a major fire destroyed all the production capacities at once. Machinery, pro- duction lines and most of the valuable moulds vanished in the flames. In those days, the BIG factory was still located in Fürth-Stadeln. This brought things to a complete halt for the family company. Although the order books were full, after the disaster the pro- duction lines were at a standstill. For weeks, customers at home and abroad could only be supplied with goods ex stock. But retailers and customers remained loyal to BIG in this most difficult phase in the company’s history. Even competitors offered their help in coping with the production bottlenecks. No-one would have thought it possible that only six months later, 80% of the core prod- uct range would once again be available for delivery without major delays. Already by December 1998, 20% more Bobby-Cars were running off the production lines than before the fire. Unconventional corporate decisions, combined with improvisation capabilities and the sheer hard work of the employees who fre- quently worked both day- and night-shifts as well as the weekends, all came together to make the „BIG miracle“ possible. But company founder Ernst A. Bettag, who died in 2003, also saw how that particular situation offered the chance for establishing state- of-the-art production facilities un- der practically ideal conditions on a green-field site in Burghaslach. And so the role-model Bavarian entrepreneur provided investment funds going into sev- en figures. A plot of land measuring 320,000 square metres was soon found. The new facto- ry with adjoining logistics centre was opened only 16 months after the disastrous fire. The site is ideal and offers scope for further ex- pansion. Right on the A3 motorway between Nürnberg and Frankfurt, the premises in- clude space for further development stages. Up to now, buildings have been erected on only four hectares of the land which covers altogether 32 hectares. Since 2004, the classic version has been joined by the Big-New-Bobby-Car at a price of €49. The classic model still costs €37 from retailers and remains the first choice for Bobby-Car family continues to grow 4,000 cars in 19 variations New beginnings after the disastrous fire. Photos:SimbaDickie

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