Successful webinar reveals H.Essers’ Filling & Drumming Master Plan
In view of the strong growth of our chemical segment, we are continuing to make our Wilrijk site future-proof. In a webinar, we revealed the filling & drumming master plan for the site.
On 19 November last year, many participants showed up – virtually – to learn about the H.Essers master plan for Wilrijk during the webinar. Pascal Vrancken, CCO, kicked off with a brief introduction about the current state of affairs in the chemical sector. ‘The sector has experienced first-hand how unforeseen circumstances such as COVID can have a serious impact on supply chains. The demand for flexibility and agility in supply chains has therefore become a hot topic. This master plan for our Antwerp site intends to respond to these newly found needs.’
Flexibility and agility for growth
Maarten Goossens, Global Industry Lead Chemicals, further elaborated on the topic. He explained how H.Essers managed to lay the foundation for the successful growth of the chemicals segment over the past 20 years. He also illustrated how H.Essers intends to expand its network by 2025 to offer customers even better warehousing solutions, transport and value-added services. ‘By strongly focusing on our one-stop-shop concept, late product differentiation and expansion of the synchromodal network, we offer customers optimal flexibility and agility to turn the supply chain challenges of today and tomorrow into opportunities.’
Virtual Tour
Although a personal visit to the site was not an option, we did organise an interesting virtual tour for all participants. The cleverly filmed images and voice-over tell how this Seveso-certified warehousing site operates and give an insight into the storage techniques, heating facilities, filling & drumming lines, and more. The tour also showed the latest additions: a state-of-the-art, brand new warehouse with three versatile filling lines, one of which will be operational in 2022. The second line will be activated in March 2023.
Finally, Mikaël Hagedoren, Business Unit Manager of the Wilrijk site, explained the evolution of the site. ‘Our first lines here were developed and installed with a specific purpose. That is why we have had to reject projects over the years. In 2020, our team decided to gather all customer queries and explored how we could serve customers even better. This is how the master plan for Wilrijk was initiated. The new 7,123m2 hall offers three additional filling lines, each with a generic set-up so that they can be used for different purposes. We have also provided additional space for any subsequent projects such as repacking/decanting, aeration, blending, etc.’
Satisfied customer
The presentation was completed by a testimonial from a satisfied customer. Alok Gautam, Warehouse Mode Leader for Dow Logistics Europe, shared their experience of how late product differentiation and a one-stop-shop concept helps them cope with the unpredictability of the market and deliver faster to the customer.
Are you curious about the full webinar or would you like to pay a virtual visit to the site? Just send us an e-mail at communication@essers.com and we will share the video with you.
For further questions, Mikaël Hagedoren (mikael.hagedoren@essers.com) and Maarten Goossens (maarten.goossens@essers.com) will be pleased to help.