Insect protection just in time

Eosol is constantly pushing its boundaries

Eosol profiles itself throughout the Benelux as a leading manufacturer of innovative insect protection. To achieve this position, the company from Schoten near Antwerp has made great strides over the past ten years. In that time, Eosol has grown from a small screen manufacturer to a production company specialized in mass customization with extensive machinery and an optimized production flow. 

"But there is still nothing lacking in future vision," says current director-owner Joris Meeussen. Eosol is constantly anticipating market developments and constantly adapting its product portfolio and business processes accordingly to produce what the market demands quickly and efficiently. 

Bol.com mentality
Joris Meeussen is emerging as a contemporary entrepreneur who knows very well what today's market looks like. "There are more and more two-income earners who have less and less time. Internet purchases are growing enormously. Moreover, the do-it-yourself mentality is disappearing. Modern consumers want their product faster and faster. They want something, they orient themselves on the Internet, they order it and actually want it tomorrow. I call it the bol.com mentality. As manufacturers, we have to anticipate this by delivering reliably and quickly, even if there are numerous circumstances that hinder us in doing so, not least the increasingly busy traffic." 

Mass production of customization
To keep up with changing times - and customer demands - the manufacturing industry will have to follow the wishes of customers, Meeussen is convinced. "We need to move from mass production to one-stop-flow, or in other words to mass production of customized products, and that just-in-time." Eosol is doing everything possible to achieve this, Meeussen makes clear. "We focus on fast and correct delivery, but also on the commercial story behind it. Furthermore, it is important that our customers spend little time measuring, ordering and so on. After all, that increases their margin! Eosol will soon come out with a new and innovative concept that should offer even more profit in this!" 

Continuous improvement of production process
The season is starting earlier and earlier and fiercer, they notice at Eosol. Sales are already 50% higher than in the same period last year. The warm weather in February has undoubtedly contributed to this. To meet the growing demand, Eosol is constantly working to improve the production process. "Because industrial land is scarce, we try to achieve as much production as possible in a small area," Meeussen says. "We are now constructing storey floors in our factory where we store our stock. The floor is then freed up for production, for which we use modern production strategies, mostly from Japan. We have acquired a number of new machines, including a Mecal CNC machine - with which we can machine up to four hundred profiles a day - and we are putting a lot of effort into automation."

Eosol's new Mecal CNC machine, capable of machining up to four hundred profiles per day.

Custom color
For the Belgian market, color is an important item. Much more than in the Netherlands, Belgians demand customized color, Meeussen knows. "We therefore have no standard colors in stock, only brut aluminum. Everything is powder coated by us in our own paint shop in the right color. We recently invested in a new powder coating installation that allows us to deliver up to as many as sixty colors per day!" Because color listens so closely in Belgium, the powder code is leading and not the RAL color. Meeussen doesn't expect that to change. "On the contrary! I rather think that there will also be more demand for colors in the Netherlands. Our advantage is that we have the knowledge and resources in-house to anticipate this. We are set up for small batches and ever-changing colors. Large powder coaters are not. So as Eosol, we can deliver a customized color very quickly." 

Eosol has commissioned a new machine to produce bending and folding. The entire production process is computer-controlled.

Bending and bending machine
Joris Meeussen is also particularly pleased with the bending and bending machines available to Eosol. "They enable us to make finishing pieces that are needed. Often a pain point in Belgium! They are ordered together with our screens, for example, and can be delivered by us quickly and in exactly the right color. Customization in small series or even unicates is of course not a specialty of large frame manufacturers. That is why it is very much appreciated by our customers that we can supply it." 

Cooperation with Unilux
Although the Dutch and Belgian markets are quite different - in the Netherlands much more standard colors, in Belgium much more customized color - Eosol from Schoten and Unilux from Boxtel work together intensively and successfully. "We have exactly the same mind-set," says Joris Meeussen about the cooperation. "We both want to make unique products with added value for the installer, delivered quickly and reliably." 

Eosol manufactures Unilux's Plisséfit under license for the Belgian market. "Unilux therefore experiences no bottleneck and can concentrate entirely on the Dutch market and the fast delivery of the Plisséfit in standard colors," says Joris Meeussen. "Unilux is very strong in guaranteeing short delivery times even during peak times. In addition, much of their attention goes to the aluminum shutter system Fractions." 

Eosol's new powder coating plant.

Unique Eosol products
Eosol specializes in classic profile screen systems, which are still the most requested in Belgium. This is because they are suitable for the large windows that are more commonly used in residential construction in Belgium than in the Netherlands. "We do not focus on budget screens, but on screens with added value for both dealer and consumer," Meeussen said. "One example is the Linus 75 XL. This system - also suitable for large windows - is equipped with our in-house developed self-close system. Unilux serves the Dutch market with our profile systems, just as we bring the Unilux pleated screens to the Belgian market. In this way, we complement each other well and work together perfectly." 

Eosol manufactures Unilux's Plisséfit under license for the Belgian market.

Leading
The Belgian insect protection market was previously dominated by classic profile systems. These are often supplied by Eosol in close cooperation with frame manufacturers. For projects, casette systems are increasingly being supplied. "Because we have innovated a lot - and are cooperating with Unilux, which is also an innovative company - we have been able to build a fine-tuned product portfolio. It makes us - especially in Belgium - a leading provider of insect screens!" 

But at least as important as the insect barrier product, is the development of the market, Meeussen notes. "We are moving more and more to a demand-driven market. Price is no longer the most important argument, even for the dealer. Less after-service through a high-quality product and fast delivery times, that's where the profit is. Not in low prices with no margin, which, moreover, is exhausted at the slightest malfunction. I think that as Eosol, with our high-quality product range, our optimized production and powder coating and our cooperation with Unilux, we have anticipated these developments very well." 

The next step Eosol will take - expected in a month or two - is to roll out a new ordering platform. "This way we keep working continuously, not only on our product range, but also on our business processes and the service to our customers," concludes Joris Meeussen. "We have developed a nice tool that largely automates the ordering process. The dealer will soon not have to work anything out at home. It's an example of thinking outside the box. In this, too, Unilux and Eosol find each other!"