
No shortcuts on quality
It goes without saying that customers expect and get the best quality from “tools for the highest demands”. At Festool, we do everything we can to ensure it.
We made sure of that when we visited Illertissen, where the CLEANTEC mobile dust extractors are produced. We talked some of the key personal behind the manufactiring, testing and quality control to get their personal view on the process. Here's what they had to say...


Check out the video below of the production process of Festool CLEANTEC Dust Extractors at the Illertessin facility
Festool produces its mobile dust extractors and many accessories in Illertissen, Germany. This is where new products are born, subjected to the most extreme tests and serial models are assembled on the most modern lines.
Ulrich Brunner (right) is the Production Manager in this modern facility, which was built in 2012. In the world of vacuum cleaners, the plant in Illertissen is at the forefront, Brunner emphasises:
"Festool is considered a pioneer and innovation driver in dust extraction.
Festool is the only tool manufacturer that develops and produces its own mobile dust extractors.
This is not only received very positively internally, but also by customers.”
In the huge production facility (right), around 10 employees assemble various vacuum cleaner models in a total of 160 variants.
Components are installed in a strictly specified order in a concentrated, fast and optimally organized manner.
Every screw and clamp, every plastic and electronic component, every switch or button is carefully checked before installation.
"Our employees in assembly are extremely important as inspectors and are accordingly well qualified," emphasises Brunner.
Once the most important parts and components have been installed, the “marriage” of the chassis and running gear takes place. Because the freshly assembled mobile dust extractor only gets its blessing when it has successfully passed the test cabinet. Every new product goes through all the relevant functional tests here before it is packaged and sent to the customer.
The quality standards at Festool are high. And this is guaranteed by the many dedicated employees who work hard to ensure the best products and maximum customer satisfaction.
"Everything that a mobile dust extractor can and must do is already defined in the development phase and must be put through its paces in trials before it goes into series production," emphasises Günter Werbach.
Günter Werbach“ Testing reflects the quality of our products. Without testing, we do not have the ability to make comparisons or, therefore, further develop our products"
Festool Production Tester
Günter came to Festool in 2006 and, as head of testing, continuously built up and expanded the area in Illertissen. Günter is now on the verge of a well-deserved retirement but because his experience is actually indispensable, however the company management has decided to provide him with a worthy successor. Rainer Snehotta could be Günter's son in terms of age - as far as the work ethic is concerned:


"We work intensively with our application technology department to lear the test specifications of our customers as pecisely as possible. The objective is to able to integrate them into test requirements and our testng success, thereby ensuring quality on the market.
Every dust extractor is checked bfore it leaves our facility. This ensures that only an acceptable test results will produce shipment documents and thus enable the dust extractor to be sent out."
Tests under wood and cement dust
In order to be able to determine reliable test results with regard to the respective specifications, the mobile dust extractors are treated for hours with fine and coarse wood dust, plaster and cement dust.
They rumble 5,000 times over a two centimeter high door sill on the roller test stand and are literally left out in the rain during the spray arch test.
All practical tests and test setups are based on the real work processes of craftsmen.
There are also safety-relevant tests, such as the separate protection of the power tool socket on vacuum cleaners.
Technological innovations such as the integration of Bluetooth® technology or the innovative touch control panel in the new CLEANTEC CT MINI and MIDI also have to be extensively tested and checked.






Quality assurance in assembly
In the meantime, the new compact vacuum cleaners in series production have to meet the same high quality requirements as in the test. "We use state-of-the-art equipment here to achieve optimal production and product quality," explains Ralf Bärreiter, who has been responsible for quality assurance and occupational safety at Festool in Illertissen for 11 years.
Above all, he and his team are pursuing a goal that he calls "advance quality planning". A completely new production line was installed as a pilot project for the production of the new compact vacuum cleaners CT MINI and MIDI, which is aimed at such forward-looking quality planning and error prevention.
It takes quality assurance to a new level and above all increases process reliability. The heart of the line is a new production data acquisition and software control system that is designed in such a way that each individual product writes its own log. "The data system already knows before assembly which component has to be installed in which mobile dust extractor," explains Ralf Bärreiter.
Check to the end
At the end of the state-of-the-art assembly line is a test chamber that has been completely redeveloped. And that has to do with the mobile dust extractors that are manufactured on the new line.
Because the new touch control panel, which is used for the first time in the compact vacuum cleaners CT MINI and MIDI, requires completely new test methods. And: It is the first test system with Bluetooth® technology, after all wireless functions have to be tested before the mobile dust extractor is delivered.
What Festool invests in quality assurance is impressive. This applies equally to tools and mobile dust extractors. For Ralf Bärreiter, it is part of the core business: “In order to guarantee the quality of our products one hundred percent, nothing is too much for us. We do everything for that. And even a little bit more.


See below for the full range of Festool Dust Extractors including Corded and Cordless models.