Developments within the organization
Personnel developments
To achieve our strategic objectives we rely on a large team of professional and motivated employees, a high number with many years of experience and others with a youthful spirit and innovative strength. With their knowledge, experience and dedication our employees enable Van Leeuwen to provide added value in various ways throughout the entire process, from tube and pipe to final construction.
Our presence in 22 countries, with 42 branches and 38 different nationalities, illustrates our international scope. The Van Leeuwen Pipe and Tube Group’s total workforce consists of 1,126 employees. Women comprise 30% of the total workforce, men comprise 70%.
The bond among sister companies and the mutual exchange of knowledge and experience result in a joint effort that reaches beyond the individual operating company. Our organization is proud of the level of experience brought to the table by colleagues who have been part of the Van Leeuwen Pipe and Tube Group for many years. We continue to invest in a substantive personnel policy focused on training, development and committing and captivating our employees.
Apart from the care for its customers, Van Leeuwen also demonstrates its corporate social responsibility by supporting various regional and local sports, cultural and charitable projects, and education.
IT developments
Our ERP system is of increasing importance in terms of supporting our commercial, logistics and financial processes. We are increasingly relying on integrated systems for the information exchange with our customers and suppliers, and for optimizing our logistics planning. Several years ago a project entitled LeeuwOne was initiated, designed to connect all branches to a single standard ERP system. The new SAP S/4 HANA system was selected on the basis of more than twenty years of experience with ERP systems. In 2018, a significant step forward was taken with the implementation of this system in our French branch. The system will be further developed and built on this basis. Van Leeuwen United Kingdom has also benefited from this system improvement. Another two branches are expected to migrate to the new system in 2019.
To further strengthen the relationship with customers and suppliers and improve the ease of doing business with Van Leeuwen, the implementation of Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) will be accelerated in 2019. The electronic exchange of certain business documents, such as orders, deliveries and invoices reduces manual interventions and consequently reduces errors to a minimum. In addition, barcode scanning will be further rolled out at several Van Leeuwen branches.
Operations
To be able to further expand the services we provide to customers, Van Leeuwen is continuously developing its global network of stock locations, and service and treatment centers. We continuously invest in plant and machinery in support of our value added services. The optimization of stock management systems, customized services and logistics concepts helps us reach our customers faster and with a broader and better product portfolio.
To be able to effectively track developments relating to digitization and Industry 4.0 and to apply these to our logistics processes, we created a special logistics team with experts in the areas of operations research, logistics and digitization in 2018. This team is constantly busy identifying new possibilities and how these can be integrated into our operations.
To create space for expanding our product portfolio, as well as increase our dedicated customer inventories, warehouse space is being expanded at various locations throughout the world. The construction of an additional 2,000 m2 warehouse in Sydney, Australia, has been started. This new facility will enable us to significantly expand our fittings and flanges product range. With this facility we will have warehouses in all five major cities in Australia, with a strong hub in Sydney.
The existing warehouse in the Czech Republic is also being expanded. A new 4,000 m2 hall will accommodate a modern, honeycomb storage system, which will be combined with innovative solutions for order processing and treatments. Our branches in Belgium are studying the possibility of merging the existing storage facilities into a single optimized warehouse. Our branch in Zwijndrecht, the Netherland, is analyzing the possibilities for the further automation of order processing.
We maintain a Customer Dedicated Inventory (CDI) for many customers. Depending on the planning and the customer’s needs we maintain stocks, generally with materials specifically tailored to the customer’s specifications. The materials are generally custom treated and cut by us as well. Due to our large machine park, in total comprising 82 cutting machines in Europe, sufficient capacity is available for our customers. To make the cutting process even more efficient, we are increasingly using robots. The first robot in our company was installed in the Czech Republic in 2018. Over the course of 2019, robots will be installed elsewhere as well. One of the main uses of these robots is for quickly packaging cut components without damaging them. In 2018, we will combine and strengthen our forces in the area of product management. We have created hubs for various material categories, such as stainless steel, bar steel, heavy wall pipes and hollow sections. From these hubs we manage the procurement, as well as the product range, and track product innovations.
Quality, safety and sustainability
Globally we devote a great deal of time and attention to the continuous improvement of our work processes, in which quality, safe and healthy working conditions, and sustainability are a priority. We regularly monitor progress through means of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and internal audits.
At the end of 2015, Van Leeuwen was the first company in continental Europe to be certified by Lloyd’s Register for the new ISO 9001:2015 standard. Our key branches are part of the Group Certificate. The three-year recertification process was successfully completed in 2018.
Our health and safety system is based on the Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series standard (OHSAS 18001). Van Leeuwen pursues an active safety policy and tightens its objectives each year. An internal awareness campaign is used to establish clear rules that apply to all employees. These rules are discussed together in toolbox meetings.
Compliance
A great deal of attention was devoted to complying with the increasingly wide-ranging domestic and international regulations. Compliance is a high priority for Van Leeuwen. Laws and regulations, such as competition law, privacy legislation, international sanctions, and import and other constraining measures: all applicable regulations are closely monitored, evaluated and applied within the organization. Internal procedures, training and auditing are key areas for attention in this respect.
Our Code of Conduct clearly sets out our principles relating to the attitude and behavior of our employees. This information is provided and explained to each employee on joining the company. Last year, no code of conduct incidents were reported to the independent representative for Van Leeuwen.
Strategy
In 2018, we recalibrated our strategic direction and set a new course on the basis of various analyses and scenario planning. The result is a clearly delineated strategy with a focus on innovative solutions for our customers, storage, distribution and logistics handling. Expanding and strengthening our network and optimizing the connection and cooperation among branches are focal points in this regard. This way we achieve an even greater proximity for our customers.
Digital connections with our larger customers and suppliers formanother key focal point. Processes will as much as possible be automated and optimized using innovative solutions. Comprehensive solutions, including custom treatments according to the customer’s wishes, are expected to play an important role in the Industry market. In the Energy market we are increasingly deploying our globally operating acquisition and implementation teams, in order to offer the customer our extensive knowledge relating to procurement, project management, project storage and treatments.