Partnering up with experienced player in food industry

We, Wafilin Systems, are the Masters in Membrains. Our Engineers are experts in membrane filtration. They know how to develop and design innovative systems for our customers, every time. We work closely with various partners to build our systems and as such, we are constantly looking for expert businesses related to our field as potential partners. One of the parties we’ve recently started working with is Flowfirm, who are building the skids for our membrane systems. In this article, we talk to Project Manager Paul van Veggel about the collaboration between Flowfirm and Wafilin.

Could you tell us a bit about yourself? Who are you, and what’s your position within Flowfirm?
My name is Paul van Veggel, and I’ve been working as a Project Manager at Flowfirm for 3.5 years. From my technical background as a Mechanical Engineer I ended up in process engineering. As a Project Manager at Flowfirm, I am fully responsible for the larger projects within the food and pharmaceutical industries. This includes Wafilin Systems, one of our latest customers.

Could you introduce Flowfirm? What sort of company are you, what do you do, and what are your goals
We supply process installations within the food and pharmaceutical industries. We specialise in the construction of aseptic piping systems and process installations that meet the highest quality requirements. We also have an Engineering department. For clients who want to extend their process technology or build a new installation, we can design and implement their wishes from A to Z. In short, we supply full turnkey projects lto our clients in the food and pharmaceutical industries.

What are the current developments at Flowfirm?
One thing’s for sure: we’re not standing still. We’re currently working on expanding our Engineering department and finding ways to better meet our customers’ needs. Our aim is to deliver a comprehensive solution to our end customers. We want to be involved in the projects that we do for our customers from the very beginning, so that we can use our expertise from the get-go. And on top of this, we’re constantly working on increasing our visibility, of course. In short, our company is in full swing!

How did Wafilin and Flowfirm meet?
Michiel Werner, our Director, got in touch with Henk Schonewille, CEO of Wafilin Systems. They started talking about a potential collaboration. The two companies got along well right from the start, and that’s how we actually came to the decision to start exploring a collaboration.

What’s Wafilin and Flowfirm match in terms of vision and thinking?
Both companies are young at heart and have an eye for quality. We both have a no-nonsense culture and focus on the quality we want to deliver to our customers. In addition, we both believe in being flexible towards our customers; for both companies, the wishes of our customers come first. We’ve found an excellent match in each other in these areas.

What was the actual start of your collaboration?
The first project we did together was a project for a shared customer. For this project, Wafilin delivered a membrane filtration system for which we built the skid and took care of integrating it into the process. While Wafilin is an expert in developing these systems, they need suppliers like us to actually put the system together.

Recently we delivered a skid for the SmartFlex system Wafilin designed for Döhler. This project, which we started four months ago, has now been operational since the beginning of June.

What has your experience been of working with Wafilin so far?
Teaming up with Wafilin has been a very positive experience. Last week I visited Wafilin, together with our Director, Michiel Werner. We evaluated the skid we made for Döhler’s SmartFlex system. The purpose of this evaluation was to identify potential areas of improvement and discuss how we can work together on strengthening our share of the market.

It was a very positive meeting. We discussed a long-term relationship between the two companies, which will certainly lead to many future projects. At the moment, everything is still fairly new, but we’re all very enthusiastic about this collaboration.

How does the collaboration between Wafilin and Flowfirm benefit our shared customers?
The main advantage is that we’re a very experienced player in the food industry. We fully understand what customers expect in terms of quality and commitment. And we know exactly what end customers in the food industry look for when it comes to the systems they use in their processes.

In your opinion, are there any improvements we can tackle together?
Absolutely. We’ve used Döhler’s project as an example of how we can improve our process in different stages of the project. That’s what we’re working on at the moment.

Do you have any tips, suggestions or advice for our customers?
I would absolutely encourage our readers to visit our website: www.flowfirm.nl. Here, you’ll find more information about our services and everything you need to know about our company. You can also always contact us to discuss any potential options and opportunities.

If you’d like to learn more about how we, together with our partners, ensure the delivery of high-quality membrane filtration systems to our customers, please contact Henk Schonewille, CEO of Wafilin Systems: h.schonewille@wafilinsystems.nl

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