At Promatrix, an injection moulding and aluminium mould maker in the Zegveld meadows (behind Woerden), they have had quite a lot of work in recent weeks despite the corona crisis. Developments are also still plentiful, but it is mainly the coming period that is going to be uncertain, manager Laurens Vogelaar thinks.
"In March, we still had a nice order intake and we've all been pretty busy with that over the last few months," says Laurens. "We do have people working from home, but we also have a lot of employees operating the machines, so they have to be there anyway."
Twenty-five years ago, Promatrix was one of the first companies in the Netherlands to manufacture aluminium moulds. In addition, the company serves customers by injection moulding plastic products ranging from small to very large, and has recently started supplying aluminium milled components. One of Promatrix’s largest sales channels, the automotive sector, came to a virtual standstill due to the coronavirus, and orders consequently dried up. “On the other hand, we have also been approached from various quarters to produce moulds for products related to the coronavirus, including medical applications. As we are able to deliver quickly and in small batches, this has been very useful for organisations that have had to scale up production due to the pandemic. We also supply a plastic component to a company that provides bicycles to the home delivery sector, including Thuisbezorgd.nl. That sector is, of course, booming at the moment, and demand for bicycles has risen dramatically. We manufacture a cover for the battery of those bikes. It’s not a particularly special part, but it was quite surprising to see how demand for it suddenly surged.”
Development
At Promatrix, any empty gaps in the diary will be filled by spending more time on R&D. "That will always run at a high level with us," he says. The owner of Promatrix has several companies that also collaborate with each other, and there is actually always thinking about new products and techniques. So what is thought up in another company could just as well be good for Promatrix, since we produce parts for them. This is why a few more people are put on development than usual."
Yet Laurens knows that the coming period could also be exciting. "As Promatrix, we are dependent on what other companies come up with and develop. If that comes to a (virtual) standstill with our customers, there will be less work for us too. You also hear very mixed stories about the automotive sector. I hope it will pick up, but that will almost certainly require more government investment. I would like to see more attention paid to this. Support is also needed to help companies in the metal industry, also for the coming year and the year after. For example, if you are a hairdresser, you have been idle for a while but can now get back to work. We have delivered all the work we had left in order soon and then things can just start to stagnate."
More to Europe
Hanging our heads, there is no question of that at Promatrix. "We continue to look to the future in good spirits. An advantage for us is that we have customers in many different industries and therefore do not have to bet on one horse. Eventually, I also do expect that there will start to be a change in how companies handle their production. I think and hope that more production will shift to Europe. That would also be positive for us. We are in the injection moulding and small series business and a lot of that is also done in China. Lately, we already got some projects that were initially outsourced in Asia. I hope that even after the corona crisis, these kinds of companies will choose the Netherlands and Europe more. We have benefited from the low prices in China for years, but all the events have also created a certain uncertainty. Another consequence could be that there will be less 'just in time' deliveries and companies will work a bit more on a piece of stock or a buffer to cope with situations like this. I am sure that this crisis can also have positive effects. In any case, we will continue doing what we do best!"
