|
Once it was divided into sections, where files were kept, among other things. Now it is light and spacious and modernly furnished with seats and long tables, used by management, operational teams as well as customers. “We wish to become an innovative company”, says Roel Priest, the manager of LDM. “This is the first step towards e-commerce."
LDM (of Lips Drunen Metal) is steering a new course. The foundry, press-house and drawing-house produce approximately 25 million kilos of brass semi-manufactured products annually. By adding other raw materials such as lead or aluminium, the properties of brass, an alloy of copper and zinc, can be influenced. LDM is increasingly concentrating on special orders, Mr Priest says: “alloys at the special request of the customer”. He gives the example of an alloy which his company made for a submarine: “With a particular strength, brittleness and corrosion resistance. The method of production and the list of ingredients cover a thick package of paper. Then we are talking about high technology. If we had the choice, we would only make this type of alloy, for defence, the oil industry and the mining industry. We are almost halfway now.”
The brass sections and bars from LDM are used in the building sector, the car industry, the aircraft industry, the sanitary sector and the electricity sector.
The manager of LDM compares producing brass to ‘your grandmother making pea soup’. “Only this is metallurgy, an empirical science, with a bit more manganese, some silicon, or nickel. We could make some ten thousand different alloys. We never say no; we can do everything.” To continue the comparison, the Drunen company is committed to making soup with restaurant quality. Mr Priest says: “Pea soup can be bought everywhere in bulk. For example, think of the taps you can buy at the builder’s merchants, which are mass produced products. We are about luxury sanitary products. "
That switch is progressing ‘step by step’. “We are almost halfway now.” This means a tremendous change for the people on the shop floor, according to Mr Priest. “Producing hundreds of bars instead of thousands. Checking each brass bar visually, providing it with a brand mark, and polishing it up with a cloth. That is a completely different world for them. They are worried that they are spending so much time on so few products."
Training is therefore an important spearhead. “I think the most important thing is that we are offering the staff pleasure in their work.”
The credit crisis has fully effected LDM, Mr Priest continues. “We have had to let go of all 25 external staff. Fortunately, in January the ministry approved our application for a reduction in working hours.”
A ray of hope during these dark times is that last year LDM’s Finnish parent company Outokumpu agreed to an investment of more than two million Euro. With this sum the Drunen company can inject a considerable quality impulse into the production facilities, Mr Priest says. “2009 will be a year of survival, but next year we will be laughing.”
Facts: LDM employs 150 people. According to the manager, Roel Priest, in 2007 the company had ‘its best year ever’, with an operational profit of 5.5 million Euro. |
