Vanko
Vanko: ‘it was exactly what we were looking for’
Vanko (11 employees) has been specialising in metalworking for over 50 years. Henk van Kooten founded the Haarlem-based company in 1970. His son Wim van Kooten is currently at the helm and in Wim’s son Marcel the third generation is now also involved in this family business.
When circumstances saw the company’s move to new premises fall through in 2020, Vanko decided to push ahead with its planned investment in a laser-cutting machine and sheet metal storage rack at its current location instead. It had to reinforce the floor to make this possible and also cut through an intermediate floor!
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PM Logic (3.000 x 1.500 mm) - Interview with:
Managing Director Wim van Kooten
Coronavirus and local-authority requirements
“We actually had plans to build new premises at another location”, Van Kooten recalls. “However, partly due to the coronavirus and partly due to local-authority requirements, these plans fell through. That’s why we decided to install the new laser cutter and the sheet metal storage rack in our current premises.”
Perfect tour
“We’d looked at the sheet metal storage rack a year earlier, at that time with our new location in mind. An advertisement had piqued our curiosity and we wanted to see it for ourselves. We were invited to visit one evening and were given a perfect tour. It was exactly what we were looking for.”
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Hole in intermediate floor
To make installation possible, however, Vanko had to cut through the intermediate floor. “Yes, we made a hole in the intermediate floor”, laughs Van Kooten. “Here again the fit was perfect, as between the steel beams that support the wooden floor we had exactly 10 centimetres left after the rack had been installed.”
Insight into stocks
As well as saving space, Vanko’s sheet metal storage rack also delivers efficiency gains: “Once the material is in the right position, we no longer need the forklift. We now only use it to unload the truck and place the sheets in the rack. And we have a much better insight into our stock position. Previously, we wasted a lot of time searching, but now we can see remotely exactly what we have and where. We no longer have to go onto the shop floor to do this, as we can log into the system from the office.”
“We now only use our forklift to unload the truck and put the sheet metal in the storage racks.”
Wim van Kooten, Managing Director Vanko
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Pleasant relationship
Lastly, Van Kooten is keen to emphasise the extremely pleasant relationship with aalbers|farina: “It started with the way they welcomed us for the tour. But the contact we had during the measurement process was also excellent. The installation was flawless too. It was quite an operation, having to pass through the intermediate floor. You could see then that they are real experts.”