Over the past 40 years, mechanical engineering specialist Jutec Biegesysteme has built a powerful and successful presence in the international golfing market. Based in Limburg, Germany, the company has become the industry leader for luxury golf trolleys with its JuCad brand. We spoke to company owners Jörg and Kira Jung about quality, their vision for the brand, and about Germany as a manufacturing location.
JuCad trolleys are manufactured in Germany. What does the quality hallmark “Made in Germany” mean to you?
Jörg Jung: ““Made in Germany” is a mark of quality which our company has lived by for the past 40 years, and even though we are constantly modernising the production of a JuCad trolley still involves a great deal of individual craftsmanship. In fact there are almost 1,300 steps in manufacturing a 2.0 technology JuCad trolley, involving an enormous vertical range of production processes, and with COVID-19 being the defining characteristic of 2021 our decision to produce our trolleys in Germany has never made more sense. Although it means higher costs for us as a business, it also provides us with a great deal of security, control and flexibility. That is why we continue to produce “Handmade in Germany”, in Limburg, right in the heart of our nation.
What is the secret of JuCad’s success?
Kira Jung: "Each decade brings new challenges, so we are continuously breaking new ground and introducing techniques which influence change in the golfing community. When we started to design trolleys, we used our wide experience in mechanical engineering and tube-bending technology to bring something new to the golf market. Since then, time and again we have successfully launched new models which combine aesthetic appeal with ever-improving functionality and quality materials which satisfy the highest demands. Our broad vertical range of manufacturing allows us to be versatile, demand-oriented and innovative. Our award-winning trolleys hold their value and often last a generation. For decades the JuCad trolley has represented quality and hand-made German craftsmanship.”
JuCad has operated internationally for many years. Which markets are most important for you?
Kira Jung: “We have been well-represented for many years in the European markets and in the USA, where we are further expanding our position as the industry leader in high-end golf trolleys. Other far-flung overseas markets such as Australia and New Zealand have been added to our sales network in recent years. In these countries the unique, high-quality and durable JuCad design is proving to be highly sought after.”
Where is the JuStar brand positioned within the company as a whole? The JuStar Silver saw aluminium added as a new frame material (alongside titanium, stainless steel and carbon). What is the significance of this?
Kira Jung: "The introduction of the JuStar brand enabled us to create new price points, and a new way for customers to enter our family. JuStar trolleys with their proven 1.0 technology are now well-established in the market, and offer a sensational price-to-performance ratio compared to rival brands. The state-of-the-art JuStar aluminium alloy is a very durable lightweight metal which both meets our high standards, and also provides a price advantage for JuStar owners".
JuCad has been awarded several design and brand prizes (German Brand Award, German Design Award, iF Design Award, reddot Award). What do these awards mean to you?
Jörg Jung: "We consider it a great honour, and it creates huge pride within our team. Winning awards is uplifting, it inspires us to always strive to improve, and it is a tangible reward for the hard work involved in submitting our brand and product designs to the various juries. Our current owners and our potential customers like to know that we consistently impress independent judges with our products, as it affirms (and sometimes triggers) their decision to buy our products. We also highly value the fact that we have won awards not only for our design features, but also for our technical innovations and user-friendly functionality. JuCad trolleys are not just great to look at – they are also fun and easy to use.”
In 2017 at your Limburg site you opened The JuCad Center – a showroom and service area of 2,000 square meters. Has this been a success?
Kira Jung: "The JuCad Center provides us with ample space to present all our products and to expand our service area. Customers who visit us at Limburg can obtain information, try out our products or simply enjoy a cup of coffee in the JuCad Golf World. Our worldwide expansion required us to create more space, particularly for our technical service and production. As all of our trolleys are hand-made, we need many individual workstations to get through those 1,300 manufacturing steps.
Where do you see JuCad in ten years’ time?
Jörg Jung: "Our JuCads are perfected and refined down to their essentials. During development we focus on making trolleys which are long-lived and maintenance-free, combining highest standards with perfect quality. Each product’s possibilities and requirements change as we develop new technology. In addition our customers constantly provide fresh input, which drives further improvements. The demand for electronically-supported means of transportation is increasing worldwide, and the electric golf trolley is clearly part of this change. Hopefully the number of golfers will continue to increase worldwide, and the pandemic which we are currently experiencing has certainly shown how beneficial golf can be to health and wellbeing, for all ages. Awareness of environmental and health issues is increasing, and young golfers will no longer want to carry their bags because the effects on their bodies of carrying heavy golf bags have been recognized. We all want to live as long and healthily as possible, and we feel that golf is simply a perfect way to achieve this. In addition, we predict that innovations will continue to appear in both motor and battery technology, as well as the growth in electronic components which offer smaller, more efficiently powerful options. We certainly see plenty of progress ahead, so let’s see what the future holds. At JuCad, we will always find space for our ideas to become a reality.”