Metel has experienced significant growth in recent years, and the ambitions remain high. Therefore, it’s time for a new company building that offers more space for the storage of special metals and new colleagues. Director Dennis Wijnants discusses the construction of the new company premises, which Metel has occupied since May 2023, and shares the ambitions Metel aims to achieve in 2024. Director Dennis Wijnants proudly speaks about Metel’s new company building, “everything is new and fresh, we have more space, and the building is climate-neutral.” The construction and relocation took some time, but since May of this year, workthe team from the new premises in Drunen. “We first looked at land in Waalwijk, where we were initially located. However, only very large plots were for sale there, where you could, so to speak, build a new distribution center for Bol.com. In March 2021, we started working on the plot in Drunen, which took some time, and then, of course, construction also had to take place. We are still working on some final touches like an electric gate and drill sensors, but it’s already a great place to work here.”

Sustainable and Comfortable

Thanks to 80 solar panels and 4 heat pumps, the new building is climate-neutral. It is also much better insulated than the previous company building and equipped with a heat recovery system: heat generated by the floorHeating rises and is redirected downward by the system, allowing warm air to circulate. Another advantage of the new building is the space, designed to accommodate the growth of the team and Metel’s services. In addition to Dennis’s office, the open-plan office includes four workstations, a meeting room with six seats, and a comfortable kitchen where soup and fried eggs are among the lunch options. “Soon, we will welcome a new colleague to the internal service team, and next year we hope to expand our team with another person, for which we now have ample space.” The office has become an excellent workspace, partly due to additional measures taken to improve acoustics. “We have concrete walls, glass partitions, and a…floor. In the construction plan, a spray ceiling was already included to dampen the sound between all those hard materials. But that proved insufficient. Now all spaces are equipped with acoustic panels, fabric furniture, high-pile carpets, plants, and wooden artworks aimed at improving acoustics so we can work comfortably here.”

Growth and Ambition of Metel in Supplying Special Metals

The growth and ambition of Metel were key reasons for relocating. “Metel started as a subsidiary of the company with which we shared a building in Waalwijk. However, that arrangement ended several years ago. Meanwhile, both organizations continued to grow, and we began to get in each other’s way, especially in the warehouse. As a result, part of our inventory was sin our transporter, but that’s not ideal. With the new building, we have deliberately focused on a large warehouse, matching our ambitions for the coming years.” The new warehouse is 10 meters high and features rolling doors 7 meters wide, allowing even the largest products Metel supplies, such as 6.2-meter-long titanium tubes, to be easily moved in and out. The floor is specially designed to support a lot of tonnage, making the building suitable for the special metals Metel stores here. The result: a warehouse ready for the future.

Ambition: Growth in the supply of special metals and new ISO certification

What does the future hold for Metel? “We have grown significantly over the past few years and we want to continue that growth. Our focus for the coming year is on on Titanium and our ISO AS9120 certification.” Metel has recently expanded its collaboration with its Titanium factory. “We have obtained exclusive consignment rights for Europe from this factory. As a result, we maintain a larger stock of Titanium products and can serve the European market much faster from the Netherlands. The delay caused by transport from our factory is thus eliminated, reducing our delivery time from several weeks to just one or two days.” Furthermore, 2024 will be marked by the ISO AS9120 certification, allowing Metel to supply directly to the aerospace industry. “Currently, we are only able to supply indirectly because the factories we collaborate with are certified, but we are not yet. However, we aim to enhance our services and deliver directly.being certified correctly is part of that.”

Team Expansion

The ambitions and expectations are high. Therefore, a strong team is essential. Soon, Marc will join Metel as the new internal sales representative. He will focus on tasks such as processing requests at factories and ensuring accurate registration in the CRM system, allowing Manager Nick Kesteloo to concentrate on customer relations and Dennison entrepreneurship and complex requests. Dennis also takes on the role of trainer to gradually teach new colleagues about the special metals that Metel supplies. “We train new employees ourselves because the metals we supply are so specialized that standard metal courses or training don’t quite match. We start with general knowledge of Titanium and also demonstrate various processing techniques, gradually expanding this with other metals.” When asked where Dennis himself acquired this knowledge, he says, “I learned the basics from a metallurgist when I was still employed. Additionally, I’ve read books from the Metallurgy course, researched a lot of information, and gained expertise through the factories we work with.” FollowingThis year, Dennis hopes to expand the team with one more colleague, but the focus is first on training Marc. Are you curious about the job openings at Metel? Then keep an eye on the website or LinkedIn page. For questions, contact us via info@metel.nl or +31 (0) 416 724 800.