Experts in foundations and commercial floors

For forty years, Van Berlo has been realizing high-quality and sustainable flooring solutions. Thanks to the multidisciplinary approach with its own divisional specialists, a client has only one point of contact for the design and realization of the complete concrete substructure. In many cases, this leads to a (cost) efficient total package. An interview with commercial director Glenn Verhoef about the vision for the future.

Flooring solutions on steel, on piles, jointless, steel fiber reinforced, traditionally reinforced, flat, super flat or liquid proof, it's cut and dry for Van Berlo. "We regard an industrial floor as an integral project in which our disciplines of Industrial Flooring, Engineering, Foundation Engineering and System Foundations act together as one construction team for our relations," says Verhoef. "We are not dependent on third parties. This allows us to think about construction or make adjustments to a main design as early as the design phase. In many cases, we are able to dimension a slimmer floor than a general structural engineer prescribes. This can result in major savings, as we have already proven."

'Investing is our vision for the future'

To continue to guarantee high quality, Van Berlo has a clear focus for the coming years. "Investing is our vision for the future," Verhoef says firmly. "The customer is central to that. Our goal is to unburden customers even more in the future. Partly by listening to their wishes, we have implemented a change in the organizational structure that is in line with offering a total package. This is reflected in our own customer teams, from quotation to delivery. We appoint a single project manager for all projects, so that the client has a single point of contact for all his questions. It makes us approachable and, above all, a reliable partner that delivers maximum quality in process and product."

Investing in people and employees is an important pillar for Van Berlo.

Van Berlo Academy

Tightness in the labor market, it is a well-known fact. Also for Van Berlo. Verhoef: "Investing in people and employees is an important pillar within our organization. On the one hand by investing in good primary and secondary benefits and on the other hand by creating a pleasant working environment and offering growth opportunities. Because specialists are hard to find, we started our own company school, the Van Berlo Academy. Through this academy, we can train new employees to become accomplished specialists, so that we can also realize high-quality products in the future."

Van Berlo maintains close contact with its suppliers. "We really see our suppliers of raw materials such as concrete, concrete pumps, reinforcement in the floor, et cetera as strategic chain partners," Verhoef outlines. "This way we benefit from our mutual specialties and can strengthen each other. In addition, we continue to continuously invest in innovations and research to improve our products. For example, we work closely with TU Eindhoven and have our own concrete laboratory to study the properties and shrinkage behavior of concrete. We also conduct construction inspections and are already in the process of creating quality files as will become legally required by January 1, 2021."

Finally, Van Berlo continually invests in the latest software solutions, such as Tekla, and in keeping its machinery up-to-date. "In addition to all the replacement investments, the latter is necessary to ensure that we continue to work with young equipment to ensure the very highest quality."