STAS have 4 factories (to the best of my knowledge). Originating in a village called STASgem in Belgium they moved to Waregem in the 1950's.
So the original main factory is Waregem - which was state of the art and still is impressive. This is where they now do their signature Aluminium chassis and tipping trailers.
The second factory is in Tournai - about 30 mins from the main Factory in Waregem. It offered a large area of land and more plentiful labour being close to the high unemployment hotspot on the French border. It started in about 2003 and targeted Walking Floor Trailers freeing up more space in the Waregem factory for just tipping trailers. It is huge and has had a 2022 expansion. Highly organised and highly robotified and deeply Green thinking. It is fly by wire from the offices and design team in Waregem. It is a treat to visit due its scale and ambition. It is logic and clever thinking in a bottle.
The third factory is in Freudenberg, Germany. STAS purchased the Luck factory which was a modern site on the edge of one of the most picture postcard towns you will ever see (google Freudengberg Altstadtkern). I worked with the Luck factory prior to the STAS purchase. It is focused on lightweight steel chassis and steel body trailers and is the go to trailer for German scrap metal. Smaller than Waregem and Tournai it is a bit of a question mark factory. Too small to scale, too useful to lose.
The fourth factory is in Medias, Romania. Expansion east is the logic for all European Scale manufacturers. The factory has been rebuilt in 2022 and 2023 and is therefore now STAS's most advanced factory. It benefits from being new factory, new machines, new methods. Clearly it is seeking to make use of lower factor cost of an all Romanian workforce and lower cost foot print. However it benefits from 100 years of STAS methods and CLEAN management. It powers the expansion into the UK market and will be fully on stream Q2 2023.
I have worked with all 4 factories over 26 years and my favourite is Freudenberg, then Medias then Tournai then Waregem. Throughout the evolution it has been fun to witness the DNA of STAS thinking develop - always quality first and thought leading in a way I do not witness in our industry elsewhere.
Posted by Andrew on 11/01/2023
