HEC-Holland is looking for environmental solutions

Pallets made of wood fiber

HEC-Holland is always looking for environmental solutions and ways to reduce its carbon footprint. A few months ago, we started testing wood fiber pallets in our warehouse in Tilburg. These pallets are seen as a possible environmental friendly substitute to the normal wooden pallets.

These pallets have both environmental- and logistical advantages. The first advantage is in the material of the pallet. By compressing the wooden fibers into the desired dimension, we can load our containers more efficiently and leave less space “un-used”. Additionally, this material is made from wasted wood, This means that our pallets are made of 100% recycled material and can be recycled again when they are at the end of their lifespan.

Next to the material, the form of the pallets makes it possible to stack the pallets. By stacking these pallets we need 70% less room, compared to the standard wooden pallets. This means that the transportation of the pallets is more efficient, which means less carbon emission since we are doing less transportation. Besides transportation, it also leads to less space needed in our warehouses.

Finally, our pallets are safer for our staff, our client’s staff and the products. In these pallets, no nails or sharp edges will be found, which traditional pallets might have. These could damage the product

Conclusion

So, when looking at the previous points we were convinced we should further investigate in the possibility of using the pallets. They are not just used for our light weighted products, but are also used for the more heavy loads. We are monitoring this testing process and are convinced that these pallets could replace the standard wooden pallets for some of our products. Next to this project, we are always looking into innovations and developments which can help us to be more aware of the environment. If you are familiar with environmental solutions, you can always get in contact with us.

 

The maximum of aluminum

Mica tapes

“Aluminum prices keep on rising, aluminum isn’t available, aluminum stocks have fallen to critical levels” just a handful of headlines out of the news from the past year. Due to a broad variety of reasons the prices of all raw materials, including aluminum keep on rising and availability is getting less. Of course, the wire and cable market is seeing the disadvantages of these developments.

Right at the start of this situation, HEC saw an opportunity instead of a threat. HEC Shanghai Office kept on building the relationship with our aluminum supplier, which has been leading to ongoing supplies for a good price. In the same time, our supplier has been looking into their supply chain. They made sure the supply chain was optimized for a solid corporation with HEC-Holland.

This collaboration, combined with the ability to slit aluminum tapes in The Netherlands (after the purchase of an aluminum cutter last year), made HEC-Holland a stable factor in the market.

Currently, HEC is still able to supplier her customer which is something we are very proud of.

In the future, we will keep collaborating with our partners to be able to deliver the best quality, for the best price in any market situation. In this way, we are sure we won’t let our customers down.

Curious about opportunities for your company? Don’t hesitate to contact your account manager

Movement from Goch to Tilburg

Tilburg Warehouse

Movement from Goch to Tilburg

HEC-Holland is still growing fast, also during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this, we were forced to move from our small warehouse in Goch to a much larger warehouse in Tilburg. In this new warehouse we are able to place more slitting machines and we can store more products. In addition, the warehouse includes a large office space with all facilities, where we can meet our suppliers and customers. The location of our warehouse is fantastic, as it is just a few minutes from Barge Terminal Tilburg. Moreover, Tilburg has a direct train connection with central Europe and Asia. We are very happy with our new warehouse in Tilburg: the logistics hotspot of the Netherlands.

Expansion of production capacity

The growth of our company has, among others, led to the expansion of our production capacity. We have our own slitting facility since one year now, however we are close to full capacity. For this reason, we are looking for new slitting machines. One year ago, we could not imagine that we already have to look for these new machines. The slitting facility that we have now, is for slitting water blocking tapes. We are now in the process of buying a new machine that can slit aluminum tapes, so that our production department can convert locally. This process was intended for one year ago, but unfortunately we had to postpone this due to corona. Nevertheless, we are very happy that this process is coming to an end.

Expansion product assortment

Additionally to the physical expansion, we spend a lot of time on setting up our ERP system. Our product assortment is growing since our office in Shanghai is busy with building relationships with new suppliers. Our colleagues in Shanghai speak the same language and have the same culture as most of our suppliers, which make it more easy to build a valuable relationship. We hope to optimize these relationships even further in the future.

Suez Canal – Global supply chain impact

Evergreen Suez Canal

Global supply chain impact is caused by imbalance in available freight space and equipment.

The supply chain consequences of the Suez Canal blockade in March will be clearly felt in the coming months. In our operations this will mostly affect the operational activities and pricing for the coming period. Where there were hopes for more stability, prices in container shipping are still sky-high. Also the tariff levels may reach new record highs as of May 1. We continue to be confronted with limitations and delays due to blank sailings, equipment shortages and congested ports worldwide.

Partly because of the aforementioned congestion in the Suez Canal, we are also seeing extra pressure in the availability of containers and the spot market. The shortage of ship space and containers will largely persist this year, resulting in high transport rates and operational restrictions. This is predicted by a maritime research firm Drewry in its latest report about developments in the container market. The prospects also note that there will be considerably more orders for the construction of new ships. There are 1.77 million TEU across 166 ships ordered in Q1 only. However, whether this capacity expansion will eventually lead to the extremely low rates of few years ago seems unlikely, according to Drewry.

Our advices to prevent possible inconveniences in your supply chain 

We would like to advise you to pay attention to matters listed below in order to limit any nuisance and to anticipate the aforementioned market situation:

  • We recommend booking your shipments well in advance. This enables us to provide you with the best possible arrangements.
  • Prioritize the most critical shipments as capacity is scarce and we face constraints and delays.
  • Include longer lead times in your supply chain calculations. Keep in mind that the average delay is currently almost 7 days.

The aforementioned challenging and volatile market situation puts a lot of pressure on our operation. Therefore, we must continue to emphasize that the options are limited and ask you to continue to take into account possible delays in the coming period.

We are here for you

We at HEC-Holland do everything we can to continue to serve you optimally and to keep any inconvenience to a minimum. Please feel free to consult your account manager and ask for our possibilities and solutions. We will also keep you updated related to this theme and future developments. 

If any questions arise, please also get in contact with our team!

HEC-Holland LinkedIn

Fresh greetings from our diligent Production Leader Kurt!

Kurt standing in front of the HEC car
Kurt standing in front of the HEC car

Our expansion on storage capacity and production in Goch, Germany naturally created a wish for extra HEC-power. Since September 2020, Kurt Aarts is the head of warehousing, distribution and converting facilities at HEC-Holland. This young man at his 48’s is now part of our dedicated team after receiving a call and agreed upon the cheerful cooperation.

Introducing Kurt

Kurt is the right person when most needed not only for HEC, but also for children and young adults who cannot live at home for several reasons. Outside of the workplace he takes care of these kids together with his family and enables a better daily life for those in need.

There is no missing attitude towards work in Kurt as he also rebuilds and remodels the house of his family in spare time. All this indicates good organizational skills which is one of the reasons why Kurt is there to maintain effective distribution and production for our customers. Kurt emphasizes that, for instance, to secure in-time deliveries it is important that the production demand is regularly predicted and that planning stays flexible. The small and dynamic team of HEC-Holland manages this by ensuring short lines of communication within our departments.

The question of the day

As a game changer in the international wire and cable market, HEC-Holland has eased the daily basis in Goch with a new 100% electric company car and an electrical fork-lift. We were curious to ask Kurt which one of them he is more happy to drive with.

He gives a diplomatic answer: “I’m very happy to drive an electric car for a company like HEC. The fork-lift, however, is also an indispensable asset. It allows us to stack goods quickly, easily, and flexibly transported from place A to place B. So…. Both.”

Don’t hesitate to contact us in case of questions! You can also stay updated by following our company’s LinkedIn page. 

The Final Countdown for local Aluminium Converting

Alu tapes

The Final Countdown for local Aluminium Converting

HEC-Holland is looking forward that within Q2-2021 it will be the time to celebrate together the start of our local production of aluminum tape at our newly build production facility in Goch, Germany.

At the time last year that the production line and equipment arrived at our newly build hall with fresh concrete fundament we came into our first so called “Corona Lock-down”. This stopped at once all the works for preparing and installing our new state of the art aluminum slitting line.

Several months passed by and as of Q3-2020, our team of Dutch and German engineers started to take over a part of the commission from our counterpart. The last part needs to be performed under the supervision of our partner from which we bought the machine. However, due to the latest lock down which started mid-December we have to wait till the final installation works can be completed.

With the investment into this new state-of-the-art slitting machine, we are able to handle and preciously convert the requested sizes on aluminum tapes up to 4.100 meter per pad, within average 2-3 weeks lead-time from order intake. More information is to follow on the exact date when our production goes fully live.

We are proud to say that this will have an impact on the European cable industry which can benefit from Asian price settings and the European expertise, flexibility, and short lead times of high-end quality products.

More information?

If any questions arise, please get in contact with your account managers who will be more than happy to give you more details on our services and possibilities.

New Year, a New Milestone on Storage Capacity & Production in Goch, Germany

New Year, a New Milestone on Storage Capacity & Production in Goch, Germany
 

After a rollercoaster year our wish is that this year will be the one full of optimism, hope and prosperity for a bright future and supportive atmosphere for all of us.

At HEC-Holland we are starting this year with excitement for new things to come up and plans with our customers and suppliers. Our ambition is to continuously improve ourselves in all aspects in light to give the best support to our partners.

We are proud to share with you an update regarding one of our strategic situated distribution centres at Goch, Germany. With the newly build expansion on warehouse space and production capacity we believe to have entered into a new phase within the HEC-Holland journey.

With this expansion we have now doubled our capacity to approximately 5.000 metric ton on storage space. Supervised by our latest ERP software technology, we are able to continuously keep on track on our production and supply chain system, enabling you faster and effective services. This leads to higher speed and more flexibility in delivery of your well appreciated orders.

At Goch’s production site we also have advanced machines and equipment to tailormade preciously cutting, shaping, packing, labelling and delivery according to your specifications and wishes. At our non-woven department, we are able to deliver 1,30-meter outer diameter pads, which creates flexibility at your production by having less production stops. See the next article about our aluminium converting to take a closer look on how the process on one of the machines is developing.

We are eager to see how we are able to create more value for our customers. The journey of HEC-Holland just started and will not stop here but moves on.

In addition to our German distribution and production location, we have own dedicated warehouse capacity in Helsinki, Finland and Jonkoping region in Sweden.

Stay tuned for more news about this and other topics in the future!

Continuous Turmoil in Asia: feedstock price settings and significant increase on sea freight rates

Sea-freight

Continuous Turmoil in Asia: feedstock price settings and significant increase on sea freight rates

 

Dear valued customer,

With this message we would like to inform you that we are not only facing unusual times due to Covid-19, but also see that it will start to influence our business. We see that in some feedstock indicators, such as non-ferrous metals, but also on the polymer side, there is a strong increase due to market demand versus availability. One of the key factors is that there is a strong rebound effect of the business in Asia exceeding 2019 figures by average 6-7%.

The last couple of months we see very strong developments on (sea) freight notations due to a shortage on ship space and imbalance on equipment (containers). This has resulted to the strong increase at record breaking heights which has not been seen for least more than a decade.

In December, we were expecting the sea freight rates to ease by the end January when Asia would prepare for the seasoning celebration around Chinese New Year. However, we are continuously observing the sea freight market conditions and still there is an imbalance on equipment, failing synchronizing container demand versus availability. Supply chain system problems with ocean and/or feeder vessels are to be well connected, which results in delays in delivery programs.

Naturally, what you may expect from HEC-Holland is that we do our very best to make sure that the market demands cover your production requirements. Nevertheless, at this stage we cannot predict how this story will develop further. It will certainly be a dynamic half year at which we have to stay in contact with you on how we could assist you at our very best, at all aspects. At this moment we are unfortunately forced, due to the unusual unstable market conditions, to call for a “Freight Adjustment Surcharge” depending on the type of product. However, our aim is always to minimize the so-called damage.

For more information, we would request to directly contact your own account manager on how we are able to secure our joint business and what influence this might have on the commercial conditions. Of course, we try to minimize the extra cost, however, we must be realistic under the present circumstances which count for all parties.