Trinseo and H.Essers celebrate ten years of efficient collaboration

Trinseo is an international chemicals company that specialises in manufacturing plastics and latex for various sectors, including the automotive and construction industries, consumer goods, and healthcare. The company has sites worldwide, including in Tessenderlo, Belgium. Until ten years ago, Dow oversaw the logistics activities for Trinseo. However, when Dow announced its departure from the site in 2012, Trinseo was forced to seek out a new logistics partner.

Experienced logistics partner in the chemicals sector

With years of logistics experience, H.Essers quickly came to the fore as a potential new  partner, having provided overflow storage and warehousing for Trinseo in the past. On 1 July 2013, the companies officially entered into an on-site partnership for a period of five years.

‘Our services for Trinseo consist mainly of loading trucks with polystyrene and handing the transport administration. We load 13,000 trucks a year, oversee bulk to bag repackaging, and manage the local warehouse. We also manage all on-site facilities and provide warehousing capacity for product overflow,’ explains warehouse manager Glenn Balemans. ‘Our partnership with Trinseo has been pleasant from the start. We improved a number of processes by sharing our logistics expertise, which improved both the efficiency and safety of the site.’

Safer and more efficient

These safety and efficiency gains were due in part to the introduction of the 5S programme at H.Essers. This lean manufacturing method improves order and organisation with the aim or reducing waste and improving work speed and safety. Notably, the H.Essers team in Tessenderlo has received the H.Essers 5S award three times.

‘Our team’s efforts are clearly paying off, as evidenced by our lower error rate. In 2013, just before our partnership began, we were receiving a lot of complaints about shipments; now, our work is more or less flawless,’ says Balemans.

Future-focused

In 2018, Trinseo decided to extend the partnership for a period of five years. ‘In 2019 we went full speed ahead,’ explains Balemans. ‘We continued to work hard despite the challenges we faced, which included a global pandemic, geopolitical tensions, inflation, and an energy crisis. Our partnership is still going strong today. In October 2022 we signed a new five-year contract to extend our collaboration until 2028. We are grateful to Trinseo for their trust in us and for the pleasant collaboration over the past decade. We can’t wait to see what the future holds!’