In response to capacity shortages at its existing facility due to growing demand, Carl Hansen & Son has acquired a new 7500m2 production unit in Gelsted on Funen, Denmark.
With an eye to future expansions, the furniture manufacturer has also recently purchased a business plot next to its existing factory. These latest investments further reinforce Carl Hansen & Son’s vision of keeping production in Denmark.
Located some seven miles from the existing factory in Aarup, the new unit is the former Velux window factory. The factory is now operational, and initially 15-20 employees will move in, with more joining gradually over the winter.
Carl Hansen & Son is seeing a marked increase in demand from several markets, leading to a pressing need to expand its production.
“Acquiring the new factory is part of our expansion strategy and will provide us with the space and production facilities which are not available at our existing factory in Aarup on west Funen. The factory expansion is in line with our vision of keeping production in Denmark. Danish craftsmanship traditions and Danish design of the highest quality will safeguard the business expansion,” says Knud Erik Hansen, CEO of Carl Hansen & Son.
The increase in production capacity via the new acquisition follows from Carl Hansen & Son’s recently announced purchase of a 55,000m2 business plot next to the existing factory of 6000m2, the plan being to construct a production hall on a similar scale as the present facilities. With the business plot, the present factory in Aarup is geared for future expansions.
Work on renovating and preparing the factory in Gelsted has now started, and production is expected to commence during the next couple of months. As soon as new machines are delivered to the new production facility, production of the larger chairs and tables with slightly longer production times will be transferred to Gelsted.
“This will free up space at the factory in Aarup, so the popular chairs designed by Hans J Wegner, Ole Wanscher, Thomas Kastholm and others can pass more smoothly through production. Dining tables take up a lot of space, and, not surprisingly, six to 10 chairs are normally sold for each table produced. The production throughput time for the tables is therefore considerably longer than that for the chairs, and the tables have tended to cause bottlenecks at the factory in Aarup,” says Knud Erik Hansen.
He continues: “The same is true for the large armchairs, Wing Chair, Oculus and Heritage, as well as the sofas, which all have very complex beechwood frames beneath the upholstery. These pieces of furniture also take a long time to finish in the production run, so they are being moved to the new facilities in Gelsted.”
As sales are booming, all employees will be needed, and it is expected that the company will expand its workforce with both skilled and unskilled workers once the buildings in Gelsted are ready for production. “This is, of course, a very positive situation for Carl Hansen & Son. The expansion of our factory facilities enables us to optimise our production processes and shift production into a higher gear so that we can meet demand as quickly and efficiently as possible and ensure that we have a prominent position on markets worldwide,” says Knud Erik Hansen.
