Eurotec started with just two employees and operated out of a garage. Now it has 120 staff in an expanding industrial facility, has brought production to Germany and is targeting growth in global markets, including the United States. Torque Magazine speaks to Managing Director and Co-Founder Markus Rensburg ahead of Eurotec's International Fastener Expo (formerly NIFMSE) debut...
How’s business?
The business is constantly expanding and so is Eurotec. Due to the high global demand of our products a new production hall is currently under construction.
How many staff now work at Eurotec compared with when it started?
Eurotec started in a small garage in a suburb of Hagen with two employees. Now Eurotec is located in the centre of an industrial area with 120 employees.
Bringing manufacturing to Germany is one of the most significant moves Eurotec has made since it was established – is that an accurate statement?
Yes, that hits the spot.
What were the factors that led Eurotec to do this?
We, as well as our customers, have high requirements concerning flexibility and quality. The only way to fulfil these requirements was to have a better control of the overall production process, so we moved a big part of the production to our main facility in Hagen. Now more frequent quality controls are possible as well as the production of customer specific items.
How many machines does Eurotec now operate in Germany? And are there any plans to increase that amount further?
Our current machinery in operation consists of several fully automated screw production lanes as well as a machine for injection moulding. Those capacities will approximately be doubled with the completion of the new production hall which is currently under construction. The whole machinery will be moved to this location and the current production hall will be used for further storage to expand our warehouse capacity too. This set up allows us to produce a selected range of our long construction screws with a diameter from 6-10mm and a length of up to 1,000mm on site, as well as our high load bearing adjustable pedestals for deck substructure construction.
Do you always exhibit at International Fastener Expo (formerly NIFMSE)?
This year is the first time we will exhibit there in Las Vegas. We have previously exhibited at several other trade shows in the United States since 2015.
How important is the US market for Eurotec?
The US market is an important market for the global construction industry. Especially in the field of timber and deck EUROTEC GmbH
construction, where we have a lot of competence and strength, we see large opportunities to grow our business.
What proportion of Eurotec’s business is in exports? Which territories are you strongest in and where is there the most potential to grow?
The export carries approx 65% of Eurotec´s business. We have a large share in the surrounding European markets, but also globally. We have business in the Gulf Region and Southeast Asia up to Australia and New Zealand. The business in the United States is also undergoing steady growth.
We see a huge opportunity for further expansion in the States as well as in the Gulf Region.
Aside from the move into manufacture in Germany, have there been any other significant changes at Eurotec since it was established?
A mentionable change at Eurotec is the expansion of the portfolio. Besides the field of high quality timber fasteners, system solutions for deck construction, concrete fasteners as well as carpentry accessories have completed our portfolio. Also specific screws for steel-on-steel, timber-on-steel as well as special roofing screws are now a large part of our product range. We can also offer customer specific products manufactured by injection moulding, cold forging and stamp bending technique or even aluminium extrusion.
And what about the wider industry – which have been the most significant changes in the industry since Eurotec was established? The increasing important of the internet? Changing customer expectations?
We experience first of all a major change, that most customers and prospects have a much higher focus on quality, which supports our position and philosophy. New projects are now not only price-driven certifications, performance as well as durability are of the same importance as a competitive
price. Also the possibility of offering solution-specific systems with matched components, which guarantee a high level of versatility and user-friendly handling, have got more and more important.
What have been some of the building blocks for Eurotec’s success? Service? Product advice? Innovation?
We always paid special attention to high quality and never even tried [to compete] with absolutely low priced competitors. Our sales managers frequently travel to their customers all around the globe and offer a high level of support even on the construction site if it is necessary. We also
offer an estimation service which can be done by our technical product managers or by dedicated software solutions, which are available for our customers for free. Those facts are just some of the building blocks that helped Eurotec achieve the success that led us to our current position
in the market.
Are you looking to increase warehouse capacity in the near future?
Currently our warehouse has a capacity of 11,000 palette bays. As soon as the new production hall is completed and the machinery is moved to the new site, the current production hall will be used as further storage with approx 3,000 further palette bays.
Have you any new product launches that we should share with our readers?
Mentionable products are our long highly load-bearing screws. Those screws are especially developed for several heavy duty purposes like commercial roof-construction. A part of this portfolio is specific for the construction of flat-roofs, which are very common in the United States. All of those long screws have certified attributes like, amongst other properties, one of the highest thread-extraction resistances on the market. In this field of construction, roofs built with Eurotec roofing-screws can endure in all environments as those screws can compensate high wind and snow loads.
Do you have any plans for the upcoming 20 year anniversary?
For sure there are plans to celebrate this anniversary with our employees, but what exactly is planned will be revealed in the near future.
Any final thoughts for our readers?
We are excited about the upcoming time and development on the global markets and we are eager to strengthen our position in the industry, as well as cooperate closer with our existing customers and on interesting projects with new customers.
+49 2331 - 6245-0
