Belgian manufacturing company E.D.&A. has been named Factory of the Future in Belgium. It is the second time that the company, which was also at ESEF last year, has been awarded.
E.D.&A. develops and produces custom-made electronic controls for machines and appliances and for both industrial and consumer applications. Since 2012, E.D.&A. has had its own electronics production in Kalmthout - about a twenty-minute drive from Roosendaal - where the company thoroughly automated, significantly improving quality, flexibility, costs and internal lead times. For this, E.D.&A. was named 'Factory of the Future' in 2018 and received the award again last week.
Innovations and collaboration
Managing Director Gert D'Handschotter is therefore particularly proud to receive the title again: "This is a reward for the entire team, because as an up and coming Belgian company with development and production, we need involved employees with smart ideas and cooperation. Not only from cooperation between our development engineers, production and test staff across departments, but also from intensive collaboration with customers and partners. Compared to three years ago, E.D.&A. has grown considerably in all areas: production has tripled, 50% more people are employed, lead times have been further reduced, many new processes and machines, etc."
The jury verdict
The jury was impressed by the fact that E.D.&A. can produce both small and very large series (200,000 pieces) cost-efficiently and at an exceptionally high quality. The extensive automation and digitalisation within E.D.&A. in combination with the extremely driven and committed employees also stood out. The intense partnership with a custom-made company in the neighbourhood completed the picture for the jury, according to the jury report: "Every day we demonstrate that production in Belgium is possible, provided you invest in people and automation."
In 2016, E.D.&A. received the Factory of the Future award for the first time and held this title for three years.
Factory of the Future
Factory of the Future is an initiative of technology federation Agoria and Sirris, the collective centre of the technology industry in Belgium. They want to prepare companies as factories of the future. Future-oriented production companies working with smart, sustainable and often digitised processes. Their products are of higher added value and respond to customer needs. This transformation of the industry is a necessity as a countermove to Belgium's high enterprise costs and competition from cheaper countries.
Source: E.D.&A.
