Anyone leaving the A3 motorway in the Westerwald and heading towards Hahn am See ends up in a region with a lot of heavy goods traffic. Logistics companies, building contractors and regional hauliers characterise the economic structure there. At the centre of it all is the Family business Michels Kfz-Werkstätte GmbH: an independent commercial vehicle service that has been part of the Alltrucks network since 2016.
This portrait shows how a free Multi-brand workshop heute aussehen kann, wenn Familienführung, Energiekonzept und Servicekultur zusammenpassen. Wer parallel an der eigenen Aufstellung arbeitet, findet zudem in unseren Beiträgen zur wirtschaftlichen Lkw-Werkstatt trotz Shortage of skilled labour und zu Throughput times in der Praxis ergänzende Bausteine.
The core of the successful model is simple: an independent workshop remains independent. At the same time, the Alltrucks network provides it with technical support and multi-brand expertise for all current manufacturers. This partnership-based framework does not replace personal responsibility, but supports it. It was precisely this combination that led to the company's entry in 2016. And this is precisely why the family business is now actively involved in the partner advisory board.
Family business with a 24-strong team
The company is managed by Managing Director Andreas Gläser. Daughter Janine Alflen is also an authorised signatory. The 24-strong team covers the full range of services: Workshop mechanics, electrics and electronics, bodywork and superstructure service as well as reception and commercial processing. The workshop is open to all brands. This means that commercial vehicles from a wide range of manufacturers come into the workshop, from regional distributors to construction and municipal vehicles to heavy articulated lorries.
What sets the company apart is not so much a single speciality, but an attitude. Andreas Gläser summarises it in one sentence: "I always try to work on improvements with our team." To this end, he actively involves the employees, as everyone has the space to contribute their own strengths. The concept only works if the team is well trained. This is precisely the prerequisite for ensuring that customers are one hundred per cent satisfied.
The new building in Hahn am See - in terms of energy and operation
The family business moved into its new workshop hall in April 2019. What immediately catches the eye during the tour: an integrated energy concept in which the hall, floor, roof and air conditioning technology work together. Specifically, the new building works with:
- Geothermal energy as a base load for the heating and cooling supply,
- Heat pumpwhich brings the geothermal level up to the flow temperature,
- Photovoltaic system on the roof of the workshop hall,
- Underfloor heating in the repair bays instead of classic hall spotlights.
This approach is not only ecologically consistent, but also makes economic sense. An extensive underfloor heating system in the workshop floor keeps the hall warm for work at a significantly lower flow temperature. As a result, the heat pump runs in an efficiency window in which it achieves its best annual coefficient of performance. During the day, the PV system also supplies the electricity that a lorry workshop needs for compressed air, Lifting platforms and diagnostic equipment anyway. For this concept, the Michels family has won the Sustainability Award of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate received.
„We benefit from a lean cost structure and at the same time have access to a strong network - without being restricted by excessive CI requirements or certifications. Our pricing remains flexible and we define our focal points individually - exactly as it makes the most sense for our customers."- Janine Alflen, authorised signatory
14 lorry repair stations and multi-brand expertise
The 14 repair bays are designed in such a way that even tractor units with semitrailers can fit the full length of the hall. This is a structural matter of course, but one that many smaller workshops do not realise in reality. In everyday life, it makes the difference between "getting an appointment" and "an appointment in a fortnight". When a logistics customer's dispatcher calls Michels, they usually hear: "We'll get the vehicle in today or tomorrow - with a downtime that fits in with the route planning.
On the technical side, the multi-brand set-up pays double dividends. Alltrucks Technical Support provides assistance precisely when a vehicle falls outside the standard repertoire of the workshop: in the case of rare control unit faults, unusual body constellations and cross-manufacturer diagnostic issues.
Why the Alltrucks network: freedom with support
Three points were decisive for joining the Alltrucks network in 2016. The family business still emphasises these reasons today:
Technical support for multi-brand service
An independent workshop cannot have its own diagnostic depths for every manufacturer. This is why the Alltrucks technical team provides precisely this manufacturer-independent technical support. This relieves the workshop of the risk of failing on a special model.
Multi-brand expertise for all common manufacturers
All common manufacturers are also technically covered in the network. For the family business, this means: clear quality standards and yet the bandwidth that is in demand in today's independent commercial vehicle service.
Lean, partnership-based concept
No excessive CI specifications, no enforced certifications, no fixed prices. This means that the entrepreneurial freedom remains with the family business - prices, focal points and investments. That was the decisive point in 2016, and it still is today.
Since January 2022, Janine Alflen has also been involved in the Alltrucks Partner Advisory Board. This means that the voice from Hahn am See is not only a recipient of the network, but also a co-creator: for example on topics such as digitalisation, pilot projects and the further development of the partner concept.
Range of services for fleets and drivers
The Gläser family's commitment to service does not end at the garage door. Anyone who has ever been stuck overnight with a heavy lorry will know the problem. Sometimes a defect only becomes apparent after the workshop has closed, sometimes the replacement part only arrives the next day. Then the question arises: Where does the driver sleep? Where is there a toilet, a shower?
On the company premises there are therefore Guarded lorry parking spaces with their own toilet and shower facilities. This is exactly the kind of detail that makes the difference in day-to-day business. For the logistics customer's planning department, it also means planning security: the vehicle is guarded, the driver has a regulated break and the driving and rest times are adhered to. Combined with a workshop that is open to all brands and operates 14 repair bays in parallel, the result is a service package that is unrivalled in the Westerwald/Middle Rhine region.
Combining driver service and workshop operations pays off twice over. This gives the customer's planning security, the driver a regulated stay and the workshop a location advantage that is not limited to the cost of the vehicle. Hourly rate can be calculated on its own. Security, sanitation, power point: every commercial vehicle site should therefore check these three components.
Award: Rhineland-Palatinate Sustainability Award
The Sustainability Award of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate recognises companies that combine ecological action, regional value creation and operational innovation. For the family business in Hahn am See, the award was less an end in itself than confirmation of a long-term investment decision. The geothermal energy, heat pump and PV system do not pay for themselves in two years. However, over the lifetime of the new building, they pay off in three areas: energy costs, CO2 balance and attractiveness as an employer.
The third point in particular is strategically underestimated in commercial vehicle service. If you want to attract young people in the region Apprenticeship as a mechatronics technician for commercial vehicle technology The fact is that if you want to win over the competition, you are competing with industry, trade and logistics for the same target group. A workshop hall with underfloor heating, daylight and a transparent energy concept is therefore an argument that works in a job interview.
What workshops can learn from Michels
Transferable to your own workshop
- Multi-brand service as a business model. A structured multi-brand line-up of all current manufacturers with centralised technical support. If you give that up, you give up volume.
- Energetics is part of investment planning. A new build without a geothermal option, a PV reserve or underfloor heating is blocking options that will have to be expensively retrofitted later.
- Service culture beyond the workshop door. Guarded truck parking spaces, sanitary facilities for drivers, added value for dispatching: this is how the location positions itself against anonymous service points along the motorway.
- Use family leadership as a structural feature. Management and procuration in the family - embedded in a network with an advisory board - combines independence with collective expertise.
Anyone planning their next investment should therefore ask themselves at least these three questions: Which brands can I technically operate today - and which not? What energy options will I have in the next ten years - or will I be using them? What really distinguishes my location from the one 50 kilometres away?
„Our concept only works if our team is optimally trained - and our customers can be 100 % satisfied."- Andreas Gläser, Managing Director