Sustainable move

“End-consumers are discovering that synthetics are not cheap but beautiful, easy to use, stable even in the rain, colourfast.” For Patty Willems, who is responsible for public relations at Elho, this is one of the explanations for the more than stable development of this Netherlands supplier of synthetic pottery planters. The products are trendy, the popularity and acceptance of this material are increasing steadily, and sales are going up as well. Growth in the 2010/2011 financial year (to 31 August) came to 30 per cent at the end of nine months. Founded 47 years ago in Rosmalen, the company took a major step three years ago when it moved to Tilburg complete with its manufacturing department. The new company headquarters were built in accordance with the principles of sustainability. For example, in order to obtain sufficient daylight through the big windows of the production shed it was decided to lower the level of the parking area located in front of it. Moreover, an acoustic ceiling reduces the noise generated by the 14 injection-moulding machines. Their waste heat is utilized to heat the 6 500 m² warehouse with its 7 500 pallet locations, which already needed to be extended in 2010. Due notice was given of this space requirement when sales doubled in the first year after the move. Every day the company manu-factures around 50 000 units of its product range, which currently includes around 1 500 items. Elho processes some 4 000 t of polypropylene annually. Only the rotary production process is outsourced, though it is carried out with the company’s own tools. The new headquarters building in Tilburg also houses the company’s offices and the presentation rooms, where testing is done on the effect achieved by the display modules on the racking. Today the company, which employs a workforce of some 85, is managed by two brothers from the second generation of the proprietor family. Elho lays claim to five fields of expertise. First it supplies everything from the one source, from design through to marketing. The second point is its innovative ability, as demonstrated each year at the Spoga+Gafa fair, for instance: here the company recently introduced more than 60 new products for the coming 2012 season. Third comes reliability, which is regarded as extremely important. Production and warehouse facilities are located under the one roof. The delivery quota is put at 98 per cent, and availability at 99 per cent. Delivery throughout Europe – the company is…