FlexHydro starts 2018 with a solid foundation: "We are ready for the future again," states owner Romke Groeneveld. Last year, the company in Winschoten opened an additional production hall with new machines and strong cranes. "We can now produce much larger cylinders and thus respond to a shift in the market in a timely manner."
FlexHydro makes hydraulic and mechanical systems used around the world in the offshore, shipbuilding, chemical, mobile, lock and bridge construction and food industries. "We see that our customers are increasingly sourcing the smaller cylinders from countries like China, India or the Eastern Bloc," says Groeneveld. "The large cylinders are a different story. There, price and especially quality count much more heavily, but also delivery times and flexibility. Exactly what we distinguish ourselves with and we can continue to do so because of the recent expansion."
Much more can be done
The floor area of the production hall was expanded from 1,500 to 2,250 square meters. In this way, Groeneveld created space for new machinery, stronger cranes as well as better logistics. "Before the expansion, the place was overcrowded. It looked cluttered and was less practical. Now the layout contributes to good logistics during production.
Everyone is enthusiastic, including the customers who come to us regularly. Much more can be done. Previously our cranes lifted up to a maximum of 1,000 kilograms, now we can lift as much as 10,000 kilograms! That's just as well, we now produce cylinders up to and including six meters in length and one meter in diameter."
NOM said: go!
FlexHydro responds to changing customer demandGroeneveld is pleased that when he acquired FlexHydro, he immediately invested in expansion. "The bank was cautious, but the NOM said: go! In retrospect, it turns out that we were just in time, otherwise we would have missed the battle for the increasing demand for larger cylinders. I remember that the first customer who saw the new production hall immediately placed an order; after all, they didn't have to go to another manufacturer for large cylinders. Our customers in shipping, offshore and mechanical engineering in particular need larger and heavier cylinders. Moreover, we are also attracting new customers. In short, we are ready for the future and are even already seeing a slight increase in production."