Valk Welding: 2012

Valk Welding has specific plans for new sites in Europe
Valk Welding wants to spread its wings in Europe. No, the supplier of welding-robot systems and consumables is not immune to the Euro crisis or the expensive Yen. "But”,

says Director Remco Valk, “with everything we have going for us, we can still earn our crust in these conditions and gain market share. It would require a strange turn of events to put our plans for sites in Germany, the Ukraine and Turkey on the back burner.”

The business, which his father started fifty years ago, rests on two pillars, says Remco Valk. “Initially, we were purely a trading company in consumables. That still accounts for fifty percent of our turnover. In welding wire - of which we supply 600 tonnes every month - we are the second largest independent supplier in Europe. We have also been active in welding-robot systems for 30 years. As system integrator we produce those mainly on the basis of client specifications, increasingly including handling systems.”

GOOD MARKET POSITIONS
Valk Welding – home base Alblasserdam – is doing well. “In the Benelux we are market leader and elsewhere in Europe we have good market positions too. This is partly due to the sites abroad, which we have been setting up since 2000; in Denmark for the Scandinavian market, in the Czech Republic for Central Europe and in France. With somewhere between 110 and 125 welding-robot systems sold per year, we are a fairly large European player, particularly in the higher market segment. Our client base is extremely wide-ranging, but mainly consists of small and medium-sized private companies with whom we have built up an excellent relationship over decades.”
In order to capture a bigger market, Valk Welding also wants to have sites in Germany (“we have only been active there for 18 months and have difficulties meeting demand already”), the Ukraine (base for Russia/Eastern Europe) and Turkey (“booming”). Over time, North America will be an option too. “Instead of digging ourselves in in some countries, we want to have a Europe-wide presence – with people who understand the culture and the language of the client and who are close enough to serve them well. A sales person should never be more than 800 kilometres away from his clients and a service engineer no more than 550 kilometres - that is what I think.”

 
Remco Valk People often think that robots are typically intended for large series and that is not the case.” Photo: Heidi Borgart.

CULTURE OF TAKING AWAY WORRIES
Being close to your clients offers new growth opportunities for consumables too. Valk calls this the petrol of the welding industry - low margins, but a continuous flow. “Besides quality and price, logistics are also crucial in this business. People order too late or do not want to maintain stocks. That is why we say that clients in the Benelux, the North of France and western Germany who order today, will have their goods tomorrow. With a number of major clients we have an agreement to deliver anywhere in Europe within 48 hours. With those new sites, we will be able to reach those agreements Europe-wide.”
Good terms and conditions of delivery are an example of what the Director refers to as the 'Valk culture’. 'The crux is that we take away the clients’ worries. We are highly service-led. If a client has a problem, whether it is during the day or at night, we solve it. And once it is has been solved, we discuss who pays. That puts us in quite a vulnerable position and companies appreciate that. Another example is the Users club, to which we invite all our clients once every two years. To those 250, 300 people we say ‘We think we are doing well, but don’t hesitate to let us know what could be improved.’ That produces really useful things.”

AUTOMATIC PROGRAMMING
During three decades in welding robots, Valk Welding has learned to deal with continuous change. A number of changes are even 'made in Alblasserdam''. Developments in electronics (miniaturising), IT/software (programming) and mechanics and mechatronics (flexibility) have ensured a permanent flow of improvements – and the end is most certainly not in sight. Valk continues “The systems have become much faster, more accurate, flexible, multifunctional, robust, compact and slimline. Even though pricing has remained fairly stable over the years and in some cases even fell.” Yet price is not the only reason for the steady rise of welding robots. “A more important factor is that there is software that automates programming completely. Take the software packages, from simple to pretty advanced, we developed on the basis of DTPS (Desk-top Programming & Simulation, a software package of the Japanese company Panasonic, ed.). That enables you to generate fully automated welding programmes on the basis of a 3D model. The benefit is faster programming and the client needs less software capacity in-house.”

WISE INVESTMENT
The DTPS software of Valk Welding has added value, particularly for small series, says Valk. That is what the western-European production industry is living off. People often think that robots are typically intended for large series and that is not the case. Our software development is focused on the opposite - making robots more suitable for small series. Easy Programming, which we introduced at the time, does that for online programming. In the past, the programmer used to have to show the robot everything, now he simply says ‘this is what I want to make’ and then the robot indicates the best way to do it. A satnav for programmers.”
Another benefit is that welding-robot systems make manual welding a thing of the past. That is an enormous bonus, because competent manual welders are few and far between. But what about the poor financial-economic situation?

The systems cost 100,000 Euro or much more; does the sector not suffer from reticent investors? Valk continues “Of course it’s not positive, but I don’t want to exaggerate. Our market is partly anti-cyclical. Welding robots continue to be a wise investment, perhaps particularly so in these conditions.” And the expensive Yen? Surely Valk Welding, which builds its systems around Panasonic robots, must notice that. “Correct, but with a caveat the Panasonic share is less than 50% in the basic systems we produce and in bigger systems that share is much, much less. So yes, a Yen that has become 20-25% more expensive in relation to the Euro, affects us absolutely, but not over the full width of our projects.” Making a difference in the market, that is what it’s all about. And we do. Welding knowledge is our core business, we are welding experts. We have some 750 man-years of experience in welding robotisation, and that makes us unique.” 

Source: link (December 2011)

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