Betech Injection Moulding has been investing heavily in new machines since the first of January 2017. With the regularity of the clock, new injection moulding machines have been added to the Steenwijk factory hall. “We are running a continuous helix.” says director-shareholder Gijs Jansen.
You need turnover for all these investments. How do you get customers so quickly? Gijs Jansen: “The investments are about the same as the growth of the customer base. In concrete terms, this means that we regularly add a machine because we do not manage to supply the customers in terms of capacity if we don’t. We are currently running in a continuous helix upwards, and we must be alert to capacity and quality in new projects. Because growth must be done in a responsible manner. “
From the Group
Most work at Betech comes primarily from the Betech network, says Jansen. “It comes from the trust of the customers in our people and the serious experience of those people. We do have a lot of experience walking around here, our employees are on average slightly older than twenty years.
Gijs Jansen has twenty years of experience in the injection moulding world and since January 1, 2017, he is director and co-shareholder of Betech Injection Moulding in Steenwijk. “The Betech Group is already in the majority of the Dutch manufacturing industry. Now we can also help those customers with injection moulding.
Furthermore, other customers can spontaneously come to Betech Injection Moulding. Because of all the machining activities that the Betech Group has been doing for such a long time, you can say that our group is already active in the majority of the Dutch manufacturing industry. If you communicate this fact well in combination with the new investments in Betech Injection Moulding, that works to your advantage, I can clearly see the effect.
You have to prove that you are serious about injection moulding. It is a matter of marketing. If you keep your low profile as a kind of extension of machining, the effect will be less. In the group it works that if the company is ‘metal customer’ in Hoogeveen and that customer wants something with plastic, the employees are smart enough to point out the customer to the colleague in Groningen or in Steenwijk. This idea formed the basis for the decision to make the major investments we are currently making and this effect will be very important for future success. ” According to Jansen, there is a lot of growth in the use of plastics. “This trend has been going on for years, replacing materials such as steel and wood with plastics can often be very good because there are always getting better polymers on the market. That is good for us because we make technical parts. Our customers are in the industry and not the consumer goods. ”
Solution-oriented experience
Of course, Betech also makes mistakes sometimes, but it’s about how much solution-oriented experience you have, claims director Jansen. “What seems so simple for an experienced employee can seem impossible for an inexperienced person. Experience is very difficult to appreciate but the effect of experience is that you can be successful. The crux of the story is that you have to have the experience plus the openness to share that experience. Then you will become more and more successful because you can also handle the complex challenges. We often put our heads together, also together with people from outside because suppliers also have a lot of knowledge. So you separate sensible things from nonsensical. Something that seems easy is often very difficult. And vice versa.”
Director Gijs Jansen, R & D manager Rick van Dijk and Jarno Thiele (vrnl) of machine supplier Thiele & Kor, which among other things represents the brands Sumitomo (SHI) Demag, Wemo and Koch. Jarno Thiele: “Thiele & Kor Plastics Machinery is one of the few suppliers offering the complete package, the machines with the peripheral equipment and the service in a one-stop shopping concept.”
Feeling with a brand
The economy is currently running fast and the pressure on supplies is increasing strongly. “The shortage started a year ago and when you are looking for an injection moulding machine, you sometimes have to wait a long time,” says Jansen. “Fortunately, our supplier can still deliver relatively quickly, generally within a few months.” Jansen decided after his accession to purchase machines from the company Sumitomo Demag. “When we started working here, there were a few different brands of machines available. I have worked in my career for several of those brands and then you get a feeling. I do not put the existing machines outside, certainly not, but in the last year and a half we have made the choice for Sumitomo Demag. Apart from trust in the brand, confidence in the Dutch supplier also plays a role (Thiele & Kor in Nieuwegein, ed.). This is a relatively young company, but I have known the people behind it for much longer.
Anyone can put a machine somewhere but then it all starts because you as a user can always ask questions, you have to be able to make modifications, you have to be able to upgrade the machines and so on. What kind of screw-cylinder combination do I want? What kind of options do I want in the mold area. And then robotization, that ball is really going to roll. Does the supplier also play a role in this or do I have to go somewhere else? Nowadays it is no longer about the machine. It is a total production cell that that machine is part of. “
