In 1982, Jørgen Bitsch Knudsen had his first day at work at Hedensted Maskinfabrik. He was well received by the other 7 employees and got started with working on metal sheets.
- Most of them were locals from Hedensted, so I knew several of them. It was cozy, and we would meet in our free time and maybe have a beer after work.
When Jørgen goes to work today, it still involves handling metal sheets and having good colleagues, but those are the only two commonalities, even 40 years later. Today, Jørgen comes to work with 85 colleagues and a production process that is automated and digitized.
From manual labor and measuring tapes to robots and ISO certifications
- The basic work is the same, but the production process is completely different. I still receive and register metal sheets and occasionally do cutting as well. The difference is that back then, it was all manual labor. Today, we have all sorts of aids, lifting equipment with suction cups, and robots. The heavy work is over. It also takes place in a completely different environment; here on Vejlevej, we have nice, bright premises and can unload indoors, whereas in Hedensted, it happened outside – even in rainy weather, Jørgen explains and continues:
- Today, production is much more efficient, and we have to document our time. When I started, there was no time clock; I would write in a little book that I had spent two hours sawing or cutting, and that was it. We could also manage with a measuring tape. Today, there are much higher demands for precision, documentation, and traceability because we are ISO certified.
In 1984, Hedensted Maskinfabrik got its first punching machine, and Jørgen got his forklift license, and the company grew and started working on larger projects. Jørgen celebrated both his 10 and 25-year anniversaries before Jens Poulsen and Kim Andersen took over the company in 2007-2008.
The space became too tight, and in 2016, Hedema moved to Horsens.
- Wow, it was big, we thought when we arrived here. But now the premises are completely filled up, Jørgen says.
Freedom with responsibility and a good atmosphere
Jørgen has had many different foremen and colleagues over his 40 years, but he also often experiences that old colleagues return to Hedema after a brief stint at other companies.
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