The creation of Dronco's new facility is just in time for the five-year anniversary of Dronco UK in April, so it was the ideal opportunity to discover all about the operations of both the UK branch and its German parent company. It was a valuable insight, demonstrating how the company's commitment to its customers and to quality and standards make it the well recognized and highly regarded brand it is today.
Sue Pollock, Director of Dronco UK, showed Toolbusiness+Hire's Christine Williams and Belinda May around the site. Sue explained how the new facility is improving Dronco's already excellent service even further. "We pride ourselves on service," she explained.
The new space has enabled Dronco to increase the amount of stock they can hold giving them an impressive potential 480 pallet spaces. At least 30 new pallets of stock arrive at the site per week to replenish the stock. All this is overseen by staff of warehouse operatives, an administration department and five regional external sales managers.
The high standards at the UK facility are a reflection of the parent company; Dronco AG based in Wunsiedel in Bavaria. It has subsidiaries in Marktredwitz (also in Bavaria) as well as in France and Sweden in addition to the UK. The company currently employs an overall staff of 350.
Dronco was first established in 1962 and was already a well established and respected company when it was taken under the control of a dynamic new Chief Executive, Herman Broeker, in 1998. Since then the company has gone from strength to strength, with production output, product range and market share increasing drastically. The company has invested vast amounts of money in recent years to ensure its continued growth and the quality of its service, in 2003 2.5 million euros was invested and in 2004 2 million, this year it is planned to invest a further 3.2 million euros.
When it comes to accessing the company's success though it is clearly through its products. Being highly specialized in the manufacture of cutting and grinding wheels, flap discs and diamond blades, it is no surprise to anyone familiar with Dronco's products that research and development is a major factor in creating such a successful end product.
Dronco are Germany's leading producer of bonded abrasives and the largest independent on a single site in Europe.
The production plant in Wunsiedel produces 200,000 cutting and grinding discs, 20,000 flap discs and 6,500 diamond segments a day creating an ample supply of products to be sold in over 100 countries worldwide. The company uses synthetic Diamonds and manufactures the segments. Synthetic Diamonds deliver greater strength than natural ones. Dronco supply diamond blades for every application and every price category.
The company produces discs and abrasives for every requirement, providing the end user with a comprehensive choice that ensures the ideal product for the job; safe in the knowledge it has been manufactured to the highest standards for safety and continuity of performance.
Dronco's products are divided into three lines; Perfect, Special and Evolution.
The Perfect products are universal products made to craftsman standard and are Dronco's best seller.
Evolution products are at the universal, high end of Dronco's offering delivering the top quality for the highest demands.
Special line products are designed for craft and industry and deliver a long life product, which is both effective and economical. This range includes the high performance Inox discs.
At its German base the company is able to ensure work is carried out by highly qualified employees. It has also been able to prove that is still possible to produce cost effective high quality and competitive products in Germany.
The company applies the same standards to providing custom made products for customers and to producing private label, which make up 50% of its cutting and grinding wheels, 30% of the flap discs and 10% of the diamond blades.
Dronco's flexible set up also means it is able to take on smaller production runs for specials.
All this goes some way to explaining Dronco's extremely healthy figures. Production costs for the company have been decreasing, a result of the company's positive drive to increase productivity per employee. In October 2004 turnover was up by 11% on the preceding year, orders were up by 18% and exports had increased by 10%.
Which brings us back to Dronco UK, which saw its business increase by 19%. This is due to the successful partner ship between Dronco UK and its parent company and the core values of service and attention to detail, combined with the well-earned reputation Dronco products hold with the industry and end users.
As would be expected the company's after sales service is also superb, responding within 24 hours if a problem is reported. The UK sales team have a compined experience in the abrasives industry of 62 years.
Orders are also responded to at double quick pace, with those received by 2 p.m getting next day delivery. This is achievable because of the high levels of stock that can be held in the warehouse and because of the sophisticated stock control techniques the company uses.
The company has a policy of finding the right solutions for its customers. "We work with the primary businesses in the area, and work with our customers in order to grow the business together." Sue explains.
Dronco's products have always been popular, because of their reputation for quality and value, with the new facility the company will be able to continue to meet this growing demand.

Dronco places the highest value on producing safe products, and all the company's product complies with the highest safety standards.
Standard Product
EN 12413 Cutting and grinding discs
EN13743 Flap Discs
EN 13236 Diamond Tools
The company also complies with:
E DIN ISO 13942,603-16,6103,69134 for measurement, tolerance and imbalance.
BGV D 12, the German regulations on accident prevention.
Dronco is also a member of oSa, the organization for the safety of abrasives.