The operation cost a few million euros, so it needed to have an obvious impact on efficiency.

Integrating five sites for the production and logistics of hazardous substances

 

Characteristics of this case:

  • gas cylinders are filled with hazardous substances from bulk tanks on the company’s own property;
  • bulk transport from outside ensures that bulk tanks always have enough stock;
  • cylinder transport brings full cylinders to customers and collects empty ones; there are hundreds of thousands of these cylinders in rotation;
  • there are a number of leading brands with very high demands among the customers;
  • this work is already being carried out at the new site; the amount of work handled there needs to be duplicated, without it being interrupted by all the changes;
  • the new site also houses a laboratory with very sensitive equipment.

Additional cost reductions

Henk Kolenbrander was responsible for the entire integration of the five sites. This included: modernising and expanding technical facilities, expanding and restructuring the property, permits, staffing, contact with the Staff Council.

Looking back on his role, Henk says: ‘I both made and executed the plan. I wasn’t part of the board at the time, so I needed to go to them to negotiate the budget. And afterwards they let me do my thing. I was still a member of staff, but I was able to work like an entrepreneur. The sense of freedom I felt then is still part of me. My employer also benefited from this. Because I wasn’t hemmed in by strict boundaries I could be flexible and execute all kinds of additional cost reductions along the way, which led to extra savings of hundreds of thousands of euros.’

Challenging aspects

That may sound like it was ‘easy peasy’, but everyone understands that an integration like that also has its challenging aspects, and Henk is very open about that: ‘Almost every aspect of this process can be calculated in advance and looked at rationally, but that does not apply to getting the right people in the right place. People who already worked there, new people with all kinds of backgrounds, everyone had to get settled in again. That was challenging.’
What was his solution? ‘I am good at connecting people, that’s in my nature, one of my strengths. Team spirit. Empathy. I care about people, and at a certain moment that starts to pay off. Then they start caring about each other, and about me. In the end we were there for each other 24/7.’

Company: Hoek Loos, back then the Dutch market leader in medical and industrial gases (now part of Linde, global market leader in gases).