Drentea, part of the Dutch VDB-group, invests € 3 million in the improvement of the output and sustainability of its factory.
CEO Bert Top: “This time of transition to a sustainable manufacturing industry offers Drentea plenty of opportunities to realize its sustainable ambitions. Here at Drentea we focus on smart designs, the complete re-use of materials, a production without waste and the use of regional sourced green energy.
Drentea has gained a larger market share in the last years through acquisitions and growth within the VDB Holding to which Drentea belongs. But we also want to achieve further growth by continuing to invest in state-of-the-art production facilities. These investments contribute to a natural evolution towards smart industry for Drentea and result in a doubling of the production capacity “
Ultra-modern high-tech production facility
This year, Drentea is investing further in automating production. Bert Top continues: “Due to the increase in demand, we recently started with the installation of a state-of-the-art production line in which all metalworking operations are integrated. All machines in this line are connected to each other by means of automation, communicate with each other and are fully integrated in our ERP system.
This enables us to realize even shorter turnaround times and to minimize residual material. This also yields a huge profit in energy consumption and the use of scarce raw materials. The automation allows us to produce shelves fully automatic without waste and the fully automatic plate store for all different sheet metal sizes is used to prevent residual materials. Steel sheets can be offered in terms of dimensions and plate thickness to the new machines that process the material.”
Integration of technique and sustainability
The combination of machines in the production line consists of the Salvagnini S4 and P4 in line in which Drentea can punch, cut, twist and bend metal. The Salvagnini L5 is a fiber laser with a fully automatic sorting center attached to it. This fiber laser generates much more energy from the same amount of power resulting in a substantially lower energy consumption. By producing products in this new street, the company naturally increased its production capacity, but is mainly capable of producing more flexibly.
In addition, enormous progress is made in the field of sustainable production. The expectation is that by this method of processing the waste percentage will be reduced by at least 90%. Drentea has now succeeded in integrating its entire business activities in a sustainable circular manner. Bert Top: “We want to control our own raw material chains and energy supplies. The time in which price was decisive only tilts to a time where sustainability has actually become measurable. With these new production line we are more than ready to take advantage of the possibilities that time will provide“.