Der Keuco-Hauptsitz in Hemer aus der Luft

Inside Keuco: The production of Edition 90 fittings

07/20
Keuco: Fertigung der Edition 90 Armaturen

For the electroplating process the fitting bodies need to be pre­cisely grinded.

More than 93% of all Keuco products are produced in Germany. The basis for their products is the expertise of the Keuco domestic plants with their qualified employees. Using the example of the Edition 90 and a glimpse inside the product development and the production shows what “Made in Germany” means to Keuco.

Design is always the first point: Therefore Keuco collaborates with external design agencies. The design of Edition 90 for example was developed together with the design agency Tesseraux + Partner, Potsdam. A clear form language embedded in a 90 degree angle is reflected throughout the complete Edition 90 bathroom furnishings range. A continuous design element of the chrome plated fittings is the square on the round elements. Dominik Tesseraux describes the development of new Keuco Products as “a process between the designer, the Management, Head of Development, the Construction and the Production.”

Circle meets square

Am Anfang steht immer das Design

Cir­cle and square are the vis­i­ble, con­tin­u­ous design state­ment through­out the Edi­tion 90 fit­tings.

Hartmut Dalheimer, Managing Director of Keuco, reveals what is behind this: “The design idea is always the main focus of the development process where Keuco products are concerned. It is a case of exhausting the limits of production technology for the design idea. Our aim is not only to make it possible from the technical point of view, but to make the design technically possible. Only thus does this result in products which are unique and enchant”. This is one of the reasons why Keuco also develop new technologies.

 

Circle and square are the visible, continuous design statement throughout the Edition 90 fittings which are characterized by linear contours and shiny chrome surfaces. This is a real challenge for the production because a precisely processed fitting body is inevitable for the production steps where electroplating is concerned. Even the smallest unevenness would be visible. Therefore it is crucial for the surface of the fitting bodies to be 100% flat after the grinding and polishing process. Innovative technology using fully automatic robots is used for this process, as well as a manual fine-grinding step.

Processing in three stages

Oberflächenveredelung bei Keuco


At Keuco, the surface finishing takes place in a three-stage process.

For Keuco the surface processing is one of its core competencies.The brass fitting bodies are carefully chrome plated with a high quality chrome coating in a special electroplating process after the grinding and polishing process. The company has one of the most modern electroplating plants used in the sanitary industry, where we achieve excellent chrome surfaces by means of a special, three-stage process. The conventional method of producing a chrome surface normally involves two stages: first of the all, the brass body is nickel-plated and then chrome plated in a second step. Keuco has also integrated a semi-gloss nickel stage in the process – for a particularly deep shine and corrosion protection for many years.

 

And in the end: inspection and tests – over and over again: Not only does every piece undergo a visible quality inspection or is tested for functionality, or technical material tests are carried out between the individual production steps, but each piece is also inspected for quality during the final assembly stage.