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

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.

HEC-Holland converting solutions

Tape

The HEC-Holland converting solutions

At our dedicated converting facilities, we produce and customize our customers’ tapes and yarns according to their specific needs. Our converting specialists have profound experience and knowledge of the cable industry. We fully understand your production requirements and your demands regarding process optimization..

Whether it concerns winding standard or specialty bobbins, mother rolls, pads or spools, HEC Holland offers converting services into any required size, with the very best all-round converting solutions of the cable industry.

At our facilities, fully automated machines take care of your order, using multiple, specific cutting and winding techniques. Supervised by our converting specialists, HEC-Holland offers flexibility and customer satisfaction, no matter how specific your request is.
In short, we take care of your order with fast, made-to-order converting services, such as:

  • Cutting, winding, twining
  • Labelling
  • Packaging
  • Shipping directly from our Dutch warehouse and delivery to you on the date you want.

We even offer completely integrated processing and packaging solutions, helping you to optimize your production process without unnecessary and costly interruptions. Our customers are served with the best converted materials in the industry, ready for your production.
 
 We make sure you will become one of our many happy customers!

Tape
Warehouse Goch