If you, as a Dutch camping journalist and Twin driver, are invited to visit Adria's new campervan factory, you have no doubt: you drive towards Novo mesto in Slovenia.
Three weeks after the new factory started production, I watch how vehicles that come 'bare' from Fiat and Citroën are transformed into the beautiful end products – Adria Twin or Twin Sports, thanks to the skilled hands of the expert Adria employees.
Adria Mobil, makers of Adria and Sun Living recreational vehicles, Adria mobile homes and glamping tents, saw record results in 2020-21 with the production of nearly 20,000 units, turnover exceeding 600m euros and a workforce of 2,100 employees. With strong demand, the company needed to address capacity constraints, hence the new investments, which I saw at first hand.
The surge in campervan sales necessitated the new site at Bič which was secured and converted in record time, starting production on March 14th 2022. It has a capacity of 10,000 vehicles per year and employs 160 people transferred from the site in nearby Novo mesto. The new building covers 8,500 m2, making it the largest dedicated campervan factory in Europe.
Entering the new site, I don’t feel like I’m walking into a factory that only started production three weeks ago; it feels like it’s been running a year with its logical organisation and well-oiled logistics.In one door 20-25 base vans per day, enter the building and at the end of the building, brand new Adria Twins, Twin Sports and Sun Living V-Series emerge. Soon with a double shift, the plan is 40 per day, provided base vehicle supply improves.
The first step is expertly cutting the apertures in the roof and the walls for roof hatches and windows. Then the vehicles enter the moving production line.
Pop-Top Roofs
Demand for campervans with pop-top roofs is intense, around 15% of production. Adria’s roofs are an ingenious design and are really well integrated into the van roof. One highlight of our tour was watching a machine pick up and attach the pop-top roof to the vans, an operation which takes 16 seconds. Amazing!
"This 6million euro investment has enabled us to expand our capacity and improve efficiency.The new site is dedicated to vans whereas at the main site nearby we have completely reorganised the production lines, with a dedicated integrated motorhome line, a dedicated premium caravan line and separate lines for our other motorhomes and caravans. We also took the opportunity to move and build a new electrical wiring harness line, to better feed production."
"Our main site was reaching capacity and in particular campervan sales were accelerating. The complexity of assembling up-to 144 different models of motorhome, campervan and caravan under one roof was becoming a challenge too. In early 2021 we saw many sites, then we found a perfect solution 22km down the highway at Bič. Previously this site was an automotive supplier making large pressed components, which had partially burnt down. We joined two large buildings together to give us a long production line for our campervans and a separate line for mini-vans."
"The project was complex and I am proud of our team which delivered it on time! We started production exactly to schedule. In fact, in six weeks in early 2022, we managed to start six different production lines."
Matjaz Marovt,
the executive who oversaw the reorganisation of Adria Mobil’s production system.
WORLD-CLASS MANUFACTURING
All sites work to world-class quality and environmental standards, with the advanced manufacturing facilities ISO 9001 EFQM 5 Star certified and the environmental management system certified to ISO 14001.
ACTIVE MPC MINI-VAN
The Adria Active MPC (‘Multi-Purpose Camper’) is now produced at Bič. Built on the Renault Trafic and offered as two models – Active Base, pop-top camper with simple induction hob and fridge; Active Pro a highly specified pop-top camper with fixed kitchen; Availability and specifications vary by market so please check website for details.
The main Adria Mobil factory opened in 2005, an investment of 35m euro, which grew company capacity by 30% at that time to 17,000 units. Adria motorhomes, caravans and Sun Living motorhomes are made here. The site covers 150,000 m2 with 43,000 m2 of production hall - the largest recreational vehicle site under one roof in Europe, but even this roof has production limits. The site employs 1,300 people. In Spring 2022 vehicle production was reorganized into six new lines:
1 New integrated motorhome line (Sonic and Supersonic).
2 New premium large caravan line (Astella and Alpina).
3 Motorhome line (for all other Adria and Sun Living motorhomes).
4 Caravan line (for all other Adria caravans).
5 Sandwich Panel & Body production line – expanded in 2021, with new technology and machines to make floors, sidewalls, roofs and large curved parts like front walls.
6 New electro-line (wiring and wire harnesses) relocated to an adjacent facility.
Next door, the home for After Sales, Technical Support & Spare Parts central warehouse covers 4,000 m2 with over 10,000 spare parts lines supporting 30 markets. It carries over 2,5 m euros of spare parts, covering vehicles up-to 10 years old.
Vehicles are tested in Adria Mobil’s own climate chamber, from -40 to +60 degrees and in humidity from 45% to 80% between +30 and +60 degrees. Vehicles are also subject to a "monsoon test" which ensures no water ingress.
In addition to the quality in build process, a random 5% of production output is "super control" tested, with in-depth audits of the vehicle, with results fed back into the design and manufacturing process.
Advanced technologies are used including Plasmatreat, a robotized process which cleans and applies adhesive for perfect aperture sealing.
