Kohl automobile, Aachen opens new paint and body center

One of Germany’s largest BMW dealers, Kohl automobile GmbH, has opened a new, modern paint and body center at its headquarters in Aachen. The special feature: The new LKZ was built in the existing buildings and parallel to ongoing business operations. According to Managing Director Gisela Kohl-Vogel, the old paint and body center (LKZ) was getting on in years. The company therefore had to decide whether to give up the body & paint division completely, build a completely new one at another location or use the existing buildings and structures at the headquarters in Aachen and completely rebuild it. Ultimately, the company decided to integrate the new paint and body center into the existing buildings of the old paint shop and by relocating the body shop. Over 700,000 euros were invested in the conversions and extensions as well as in state-of-the-art painting and bodywork technology.

In order to be able to process all the existing painting jobs with just one paint booth, the painting operation had to be converted to a multi-shift operation during the conversion and new construction period. This was the only way to handle all the orders that could otherwise be processed by two paint stores in a normal shift. Once a new paint booth had been completed, the painting operation was switched to a new system. One after the other, all existing paint booths and dryers were removed and converted and another new paint booth and dryer were integrated. A further challenge was to integrate the new SE-ÖCOTOP units – core elements of SEHON technology – into the existing old unit rooms. Compared to the past, new units are larger than units built over 20 years ago due to more technology such as integrated heat recovery. Walls therefore had to be knocked through for the new units and the old rooms had to be completely rebuilt, wired and piped.

In order to achieve this, the management had spent many weeks and months working intensively on the topic of “How should a modern, future-oriented body and paint store be set up?”. KOHL automobile received support in the development of the overall concept from BMW headquarters, RLE International, SEHON paint shops and on-site visits to dealerships in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. The German premium manufacturer SEHON (Gechingen near Stuttgart) was ultimately awarded the contract to supply all the paint booths, dryers and preparation stations for the conversion and new construction of the paint center. According to Managing Director Rainer Vogel, SEHON was able to score points with its intelligent overall concept and its modern energy and process-optimized technology: “Other suppliers only wanted or were able to sell us new systems. SEHON was willing and able to work with us to implement new construction, conversion and modernization in an existing and running paint store. This is not an everyday occurrence and not an easy project for a manufacturer, but it was mastered brilliantly!”

Thanks to the conversion and new building, KOHL automobile now has a modern, future-oriented paint and bodywork center that is not only designed for its own brands BMW, MINI, Jaguar, Land Rover, Opel and the BMW tuner AC Schnitzer. The new capacities also allow KOHL automobile to refinish vehicles from other brands. SEHON Managing Director Tiemo Sehon comments: “The new KOHL paint shop uses state-of-the-art paint shop technology that is completely energy and process-optimized: A perfect symbiosis of future-proof high-tech and intelligent green technology. For the best possible painting results in harmony with people, nature and the environment.”

Conclusion:

KOHL automobile has opted for ultra-modern, energy-saving, high-tech painting systems and dryers from the SEHON brand. These painting systems are not only particularly environmentally friendly and energy-conscious, but also offer a wide range of functions and unique selling points that cannot be found in comparable standard systems. A large number of important functions of the new and modernized paint booths and dryers are unique and patented in this form.