IHK Chief Executive Konow visits headquarters of Büchel GmbH & Co. Fahrzeugteile KG

We would like to thank Michael Konow, Managing Director of the Fulda Chamber of Commerce and Industry, for his visit. The background to this visit is our 100th anniversary, which could not yet be celebrated properly against the background of the Corona pandemic. But company boss Erhard Büchel made it clear right at the beginning: “The festival will definitely be held again next year.

In conversation, Büchel reviewed the most important stages of the company’s history, according to which the roots lie in Zella-Mehlis, Thuringia: In 1920, the brothers Hugo Büchel and his brother Karl started with the production of tuning forks and switched to the production of bicycle parts in 1923; from 1933, the production of hubs and brakes was added. After the Second World War, the brothers fled to Fulda, where the new start began.

Erhard Büchel is the second generation to run the company. To date, the company has grown to become one of the largest bicycle parts manufacturers in Germany. Lighting systems and reflectors, pedals, hubs, rims, spokes and nipples, bells, mudguards, luggage racks, baskets, bicycle frames and forks, saddles, grips and decorative nuts are manufactured at five locations nationwide as well as at three production sites in China and at one production site in India. In line with the slogan “Everything to do with bikes, at the highest technical level”, the company’s product range also includes automotive accessories as well as plastic and lifestyle products in addition to the production of bicycle parts.

The fact that the Büchel Group itself was able to show increasing turnover figures is also due to the managing director’s motto, which is still valid today: “Produce in Germany what is possible – in China what is necessary”. Therefore, Germany has been and continues to be in the spotlight. After Büchel’s remarks, Michael Konow presented Büchel with an anniversary certificate from the Fulda Chamber of Commerce and Industry with best wishes for the future.

Vergleich.org has compared panniers for bicycles and rated our waterproof bags “very good”.

The German test portal “Vergleich.org” has awarded us the “price/performance winner” seal. Click here for the complete comparison: https://www.vergleich.org/gepaecktraegertasche/

In our portfolio are now, in addition to the carrier bags, a handlebar bag, a saddle bag and a waterproof handlebar mount for smartphone. You can find more info here.

We have already converted 50% of our packaging.

What can be done about the growing mountains of plastic waste? Plastic waste is a plague of the 21st century. Every year, around ten million tons of plastic end up in the world’s oceans. That’s a load of a 20-ton truck every minute. There is hardly a corner on earth that is not affected. Plastic residues in beach bays, in mountain rivers, in the Arctic sea, in fish stomachs, in the food chain and in the human organism.

More and more companies are trying to stem the tide of plastic. Consumers and manufacturers are gradually realizing that the world needs alternatives to plastic packaging. At our company, the switch from so-called blister packaging to cardboard packaging began last year, and in the meantime more than 50 tons of plastic have been saved,” explains our Managing Director Erhard Büchel. In the meantime, a large part of the product packaging has already been converted.

What was initially set in motion by customer-specific requests will be successively implemented for all products, i.e. also for Büchel’s own products. “Our goal is for almost 100 percent of the packaging to be recyclable, and even the packaging for the saddles has already been converted to cardboard.” When asked about additional costs, Büchel shakes his head, “We’ve been able to absorb the costs so far.” Paper instead of plastic, that would already do the world a lot of good.

Picture: Deborah Foht, purchasing manager

We have received an award from the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft.

Award for Büchel GmbH & Co. Fahrzeugteilefabrik KG at the highest level: The seal “Innovative through Research” has now been awarded by the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft. This seal certifies that innovation and research are essential components of our corporate policy. The slogan “Technology around the bike” is Büchel’s program: As a producer and supplier, the company offers quality products for the bike, lifestyle products are now just as much part of the range as parts for the automotive industry.

Since 2002, Büchel Felgenproduktion and Vuelta Deutschland GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary, have been working together with the Steinbeis Transfer Center at Chemnitz Technical University to develop mechanical systems and testing equipment for the technical implementation of their own ideas. Together with the Fraunhofer Institute in Dresden, highly innovative lighting equipment for bicycles is being developed, including brake lights that operate by means of sensors without a cable connection. The Medicus range of bicycle saddles from the Wittkop subsidiary, which has received a great deal of attention from experts, was developed in collaboration with orthopedist Torsten Werlich from Fulda.

The company holds over 122 industrial property rights, the majority of which are registered trademarks and designs, so-called “design patents”, as well as 25 patents and utility models. New product ideas are implemented by the company’s own designers and technicians and brought to series maturity, with the equipment and tools required for this being manufactured in the company’s own group of companies.

The “Innovative through Research” seal, which is valid for two years, was first awarded to Büchel in 2016. The Stifterverband is one of the largest private sponsors of science in Germany. In addition to its commitment to young academics, excellent universities and cutting-edge research, it is also its task to examine and evaluate the German research and innovation system. How much does industry invest in research and development in Germany? What impact does this have on the future viability of this country? The Stifterverband awards the “Innovative through Research” seal to all research-based companies that participate in the biennial full survey of business research and development in Germany.

We are very grateful for this award!