Michael Ilk stated that the City of Ludwigsburg was about to become a bicycle city and in this respect the new company headquarters with museum of Zedler-Group would be a vital component to improve the acceptance of the bicycle future in Ludwigsburg. Harald Jahnke described the project as follows: The quantum leap from the current status with angled offices and laboratories for few staff members to a highly efficient and dynamic building designed to serve all business branches in a perfect way, will provide more space for technology and efficiency to the customers and staff members of Zedler-Institut.
The staff members and Dirk Zedler who had accompanied the major planning over the past months were happy about these words: "Without any doubt we’ve come to our borders in terms of space and logistics in our present company building. The construction of the new building is therefore a logical step for us which will enable us to provide a consistently high level of service to our customers in future as well."
An almost autonomous building
The construction includes a three-storey efficiency house exclusively made of concrete, steel, wood and glass which is to reflect the corporate philosophy established for many years. From the late spring 2017 on the 1300 sqm of floor space with perfect conditions for the working groups of the experts, the Technical Documentation department and the Testing Technology department will be ready for use: transparent and bright, technically state-of-the-art and sustainable. The energy concept not only includes insulation measures, but also the usage and storage of the compressors’ waste heat. Together with an intelligent daylight management system, a solar plant for service water and a photovoltaic system to generate electricity, the building will be nearly autonomous, as reported in Ludwigsburg.
As the new location is only about 100 metres away from the current location, there will be no business interruption during the moving phase. The new company building will not only provide much more space to the test laboratory which had experienced a disproportionate growth in the past. The training facilities will be enlarged significantly, as well. They host the extensive collection of historical bicycles collected by the Ludwigsburg bicycle enthusiast Helge Schultz together with company founder Dirk Zedler. The training centre in Ludwigsburg is planned to open in autumn 2017.
The company
On the basis of the experiences gained in more than 20 years of activity as bicycle experts the Zedler company (managing director Dirk Zedler) located in Ludwigsburg has been developing user manuals for bicycles of any type and bicycle components for almost 20 years. The engineers manufacture testing systems for the measurement of riding characteristics, the determination of impact and overload behaviour and fatigue tests of bicycle frames and components. In the company-own test laboratory quality, stiffness and service strength tests are carried out for customers from all over the world.
The new company will also host a museum with a collection of historical bicycles.
Photo: Zedler-Institut