Cokalp Group, Hildesheim with SEHON spray booths
Fahri and Kerem Cokalp have invested over 8 million euros in a new, modern paint and body center in Hildesheim near Hanover. Within 3 years, one of the largest independent paint and bodywork centers in Germany has been built on an area of over 13,000 square meters.
The existing core business “Auto-Lackstudio”, which was founded and successfully built up by Fahri Cokalp at the end of 1993, has recorded enormous growth rates from year to year since its inception and had reached its capacity limits. In order to process all customer orders on time, the existing business has even had to work in 3 shifts in recent years.
These capacity bottlenecks, as well as the planned generational change from Fahri Cokalp to his son Kerem Cokalp, prompted the Cokalp family to buy a site close to the parent company and build a state-of-the-art new business with the paint, bodywork, mechanics and tires divisions.
The company has been working successfully for private and industrial customers, car dealerships, leasing companies, insurance companies and company fleets for many years. Another important business area is the painting of add-on parts for special equipment, prototypes and trade fair and exhibition vehicles for a leading car manufacturer. These tasks require the highest quality and precision, which far exceed the requirements of normal series and repair paintwork.
The proximity to the automotive industry is reflected not only in the technical equipment, but also in the process orientation of the entire operation, whose workflow has been designed for maximum efficiency and cost-effectiveness. As a result, up to 50 vehicles can pass through the 3,200 square meter workshop area every day.
Fahri and Kerem Cokalp placed particular emphasis not only on perfect processes, but above all on the greatest possible energy and environmental friendliness of the new facility, which accounted for a large part of the additional costs of over 2 million euros. The original plan for the new building was 6 million euros instead of 8 million euros.
Around 90 percent of the electricity required is generated by the building’s own combined heat and power plant in conjunction with a photovoltaic system. The heat/energy generated by the combined heat and power plant (CHP/photovoltaics) is used via a 10,000 liter buffer storage tank (water) to supply energy to all technical systems, to heat service water and to heat the building. The operators have to purchase the remaining ten percent of the energy requirement from the municipal utilities in order to get the power plant up and running.
The technical equipment of the new paint and body center is mainly from SEHON innovative paint systems from Gechingen near Stuttgart. The centerpieces are 2 energy-saving high-tech SE-PROFESSIONAL FUTURA 8.50 m x 5 m paint booths with integrated dryers, each equipped with a highly efficient year-round heat recovery system with infinitely variable bypass control, automatic pressure control, automatic air management and an additional exhaust system. Two further SEHON drying cabins are also used.
In order to increase throughput and make work processes more effective, SEHON also developed two separate parts dryers and an independent filler cabin to meet the Cokalp Group’s specific requirements and integrated them into the process chain. The paint mixing room was also supplied by SEHON.
Also in use is a special compressed air preparation technology, the SEHON SE-AIRCOMMANDER, which guarantees optimum surfaces, less overspray, less energy and less paint consumption during painting. As a result, finishing work can be reduced to a minimum. Practical examples show up to 80 % less rework.
According to Kerem Cokalp, the Swabian manufacturer was chosen because of its advanced and future-proof technology. SEHON was also able to contribute important expertise in the planning and design of process- and energy-optimized modern paint stores, particularly in the use of CHP and photovoltaics and workflow planning.
A major difference in the workflow compared to traditional companies is that Cokalp works with two body departments. To put it simply, at Cokalp there is a bodywork area at the beginning of the process chain to dismantle the vehicle and a second bodywork area at the end of the process chain to reassemble the vehicle. The painting and drying area is located between the two areas. This arrangement means that vehicles and vehicle parts can be guided through the 105 m long hall in a single continuous process according to the assembly line principle without detours or obstacles from preparation to finish. This allows the company to work quickly and economically.
The modern 1,000 m² customer center with waiting area and dialogue reception, car rental, training center and administration is located on a main road in front of the actual workshop area. In addition to paint + bodywork, the new service and competence center also offers related services such as TÜV inspections, inspections according to manufacturer specifications and a tire center including a storage service.
Together with the existing parent company, Cokalp will employ around 100 people in the future. For the new body and paint center, the expanding company is therefore looking for further qualified employees throughout Germany, such as vehicle painters and body builders.
Kerem Cokalp proudly presents his new company: “With our new business, we have created a new dimension of an independent, family-run paint and body center. This company is unique in its philosophy, size, orientation, structure, variety of services, efficiency, environmental friendliness and future orientation. I would particularly like to thank my father, who founded this company over 22 years ago and made it so successful through years of hard work. “
