Since its foundation in 1924, Van Leeuwen has developed a global network with more than forty, largely stockkeeping, branches in Europe. Van Leeuwen constantly works on expanding and innovating its international network, services and products. For example, we have been present in Southeast Asia for forty years, our office in Houston is working on projects for ExxonMobil, Van Leeuwen Australia had a peak year, and in 2018 we took over the activities of Ferrostaal Piping Supply in Germany. We also invest continuously in our product knowledge and portfolio.
In 1979, Van Leeuwen was one of the first internationally operating trading companies and specialist in steel pipes and pipe and tube applications to open a branch in Southeast Asia. We now have branches in Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, China and Indonesia and, in total, approximately 150 colleagues work here. The stock-keeping hub in Kulai, Malaysia, that we created five years ago furthermore enables us to make just-in-time deliveries from a very large product portfolio.
Our branches in Southeast Asia maintain intensive mutual contact and regularly work together on international projects. For example, in 2018, three Van Leeuwen branches were involved in the modernization of a refinery for the Malaysian national oil company. Van Leeuwen Malaysia contributed its knowledge and expertise concerning the local situation and import regulations. Van Leeuwen China organized the contracts with Chinese suppliers and Van Leeuwen Singapore maintained contact with the Korean customer, especially during the acquisition process.
‘By bringing together the expertise from different teams, we constantly provide the customer with the best we have in-house,’ says Ruud Langeveld, Regional Managing Director Van Leeuwen Southeast Asia. ‘The growth in Southeast Asia in 2018 is among other things attributable to our MRO contract with ExxonMobil, the construction of a number of new petrochemical plants and the modular construction taking place at Singapore’s shipyards and in the rest of the region. There are many opportunities to continue to grow as a distributor in support of MRO activities throughout the entire region. Such as in the modular construction segment, the upgrade of refineries that are rebuilding their installations to accommodate cleaner fuels for various industries, including the shipping industry, and the construction of new LNG terminals.’
The project office in Houston, USA, also experienced a good year in 2018, primarily due to various ExxonMobil projects. Van Leeuwen supplies materials to 22 ExxonMobil sites throughout the world, for MRO, as well as projects. The Houston project office plays a key role in optimally serving this customer and operates in close cooperation with our branches in Zwijndrecht, the Netherlands, and throughout the rest of Europe. Colleagues from different project teams are continuously sharing their current knowledge and expertise with each other. ‘For me, this once again demonstrates Van Leeuwen’s ability to deliver added value through its global network,’ says George Kubove, General Manager Houston Project Office. In 2018, the Houston project team was expanded by several employees and started researching new markets in Mexico and in several other Latin American countries.
Our specialized Product Managers constantly provide customers with advice concerning new types of steel, steel pipes and tubes, and treatments. For example, cold rolled pipes that enable us to meet extremely accurate size and surface criteria. Or customized shaped tubes, which save on treatments and on having to purchase additional components.
We also regularly draw the attention of our customers to the benefits of friction welding. The process is fast and does not require pretreatment, welding wire, welding gas mixtures and exhaust. Besides, friction welding creates a perfect weld. No matter the advice we give, the basic principle governing our advice is quality and cost reduction. In addition, we are constantly expanding our stocks with additional dimensions and qualities. In 2018, we included a large number of new dimensions of seamless heavy wall pipes in our product portfolio, a product for which we will launch a separate webshop in 2019.
