Factory report: How a Beelonia smoker is made

A Beelonia smoker goes through five stations in Beelen: CAD planning and cutting, folding, welding, electrical assembly and final inspection – all under one roof, all by a team you know by name. "Today we have the means to produce plans within hours that used to take days," says Michael Vering about modern mechanical engineering – and yet every smoker ends up where it would have started in 1880: with manual work and visual inspection.

Last updated: 23 July 2026 · Author: Michael Vering, Beelonia GmbH

Reading tip: Why exactly this depth of manufacturing makes the difference is explained in Made in Germany – the factory report provides the pictures to go with it.

Station 1–2: From plan to folded sheet metal

It all starts with the CAD drawing – from the library for series devices, freshly tailored to customer requirements for custom builds – then the machinery cuts and folds the V2A stainless steel (AISI 304) sheet with millimetre precision. Digitalisation has made the biggest leap here: what used to cost days of scribing and template work now runs from design to machine in hours. For customers, this means: even the one-off piece – "20 cm larger or smaller, with glass, painted black" – has become affordable.

Station 3 – welding: This is where manufactory separates from assembly. The bodies are continuously welded – no spot tacking, no folded edges where smoke resin and moisture collect. The welders work on series smokers just as they do on custom builds; the seam is the same for both. This is the invisible reason why the smokers remain sealed for decades.

Station 4 – electrics and modules: Heating drawers, thermostats, digital controls and ignition spirals are manufactured and wired as modules – the same units that can later be ordered individually as spare parts or conversion modules. Modularity is not a marketing idea here, but manufacturing logic: what is built separately can be replaced separately.

Station 5: Final inspection – and the custom build corner

Before delivery, every smoker undergoes a functional and visual inspection: door closure, seal, heating test, workmanship. In parallel, the custom build corner produces what the catalogue doesn't know – the grill tower with electrical adjustment and extraction for an order from the Far East, the hygiene protection grill with full glazing on three sides, the little smoking house in the RAL colour scheme of a catering company. "Beelonia customers are businesses that have an idea, but which is not implemented by any well-known manufacturer," is how Michael Vering describes these orders – and this is exactly how the series grows: what proves itself in custom builds moves into the range.

Visits welcome: The showroom next door

If you want to see what the hall builds, visit the showroom in Beelen: smokers from the Smoky to the professional class, grills, kettles – Monday to Thursday 8 am – 4:30 pm, Friday 8 am – 12 pm. A quick call beforehand is worthwhile: if the desired machine is in the warehouse, it is brought into the showroom for the appointment. Buying advice couldn't be closer to the product – and the production facility it comes from is behind the next door.

Reading tip: The company history behind the hall is told in Since 1880; the material in detail in V2A stainless steel (AISI 304).

Sources and technical basis: Beelonia image film (CAD modernisation, customer wish quotes) and showroom video (custom builds: Far East grill tower, hygiene protection full glazing, RAL paintwork; opening hours); production photos: Beelonia GmbH.