The AIDT 2016 Tour Group enjoyed their time at the show in Milan together with a couple of days at the stunning Lake Como. Then we headed by bus through the Swiss Alps to Bregenz, Austria – the home of Blum.
We were welcomed warmly by David Noakes, Managing Director for Blum Australia and Kylie Peterson, Marketing Manager for Blum Australia along with Mathias Olz who heads up sales fo the Australian and NZ region for Blum Austria. We enjoyed a lovely dinner close to our hotel and all had an early night in preparation for our busy next day.
The following day saw us visit Blum’s factories and offices in and around Bregenz including Works 3 which houses engineering and Blum’s renown apprenticeship program, and Works 4 where we say drawer runner assembly and box system assembly.
We were treated to a fabulous lunch at a lovely restaurant that sits on the edge of Lake Constance. It was a bit chilly but some lovely warm Austrian food soon had us recharging our batteries and ready for a visit to Works 5 in the afternoon where we saw the company’s stamping and injection moulding operations.
We had been told we were in for a real treat for dinner but nothing could have prepared us for the reality. We took the bus to the bottom of the mountain and went up in a chairlift to get to our restaurant. It was already quite cool that day and, as we ascended the mountain, it started to sleet…which very quickly turned to snow and by the time we arrived at the top we were amazed to see the landscape transformed into a white wonderland.
We gingerly made our way down to the hotel, taking our time both to watch our step but also because a number of our tour group had never seen snow before so there was some frolicking and some throwing of snowballs to get out of our systems before we could sit down to dinner.
The following morning we headed to Blum’s Works 2 which is where the company has its head office plus hinge production and assembly. Then we took a quick bus trip over to Works 7 which houses the logistics and distribution facilities, as well as Blum’s high bay warehouse which is a sight to behold!
At lunch we again went up in a cable car at Karren – although not quite as high as the previous night. At the Panorama Restaurant we enjoyed incredible views across the surrounding area plus another fabulous meal.
Heading back to the hotel we quickly changed then bussed to an amazing castle in the local area – Shattenburg Castle. Built in the 13th Century, it now houses a museum and restaurant and we were lucky enough to be given a guided tour and an insight into how some of the furniture was made at that time as well as how the gentry and locals lived.
We’ve had a really brilliant time with Blum but now it’s time to head to Spain for an in-depth look into the Cosentino production facilities. More to come so stay tuned!
