strategy
Alumat Zeeman’s Green Boys Network
‘Of course we export. Out of all the greenhouses in the world, you can be assured that 80 per cent have their origins in the Netherlands and that we are involved in a large number of these.’ Greenhow is interviewing Bert Strikkers, co-director of Alumat Zeeman.
Bert was recently appointed to the managing board in order to boost Alumat Zeeman’s export figures. ‘We have noted that the agriculture and horticulture industries have been undergoing increasing international development. It is our ambition be among the top three global players in the field of parts and systems for greenhouses within the next five years.’
‘Our strength lies in our ability to turn our hand at pretty much everything. We produce primarily smaller series, tailored entirely to the end customer’s requirements.’
The appointment of Bert Strikkers to the management board will enable his co-director, Hans Zeeman (currently the third generation Zeeman at the helm) to concentrate more on the production facilities. Various greenhouse parts, up to and including complete systems for greenhouse screens and air control systems, are produced according to custom specifications at the company’s state-of-the-art factory. ‘Our strength lies in our ability to turn our hand at pretty much everything. We produce primarily smaller series, tailored entirely to the end customer’s requirements.’
Strategy
‘When it comes to sales, you can choose largely between two strategies: you can either become a supplier to greenhouse builders in the Westland region or you can focus more narrowly on supplying the installers and customers at the end of the chain. ‘In the former case, you have to be an absolute cost leader with as little overhead as possible or, in other words, produce things as cheaply as possible. There’s nothing wrong with this strategy, but our strength clearly lies in the delivery of added value by offering our international customers precisely the right quality, service and expertise,’ explains Strikkers. ‘This means that we to keep abreast of all international horticulture projects.’
How can you do that as a small organisation?‘
To be able to answer this question, we will first have to examine the international role played by the horticulture industry in the Westland region. Nowhere in the world is there such a dense concentration of horticulture business, as well as suppliers specialised in this industry. Not only we know this; the rest of the world is also aware of it. A new greenhouse is a huge investment to which the owner is bound for at least the next fifteen years to come.
‘Because of the scope of the investment and the image of the Westland region chances are big that a prospective investor will approach one of the horticulture firms here for information first. Some foreign companies even spend an entire week here to visit several suppliers on order to gain a better impression of the latest technical developments. This is possible thanks to the dense geographical concentration of horticulture firms here; you will find everything there is to know in the field of horticulture technology within a fifty-kilometre radius.’
Network
‘Most people are simply not aware of the magnitude of an investment in greenhouse horticulture; all they see is the glass exterior. Half the costs, however, are associated with the many systems needed for the optimum cultivation of your crops. This means that to build a single greenhouse you may have to request, either directly or indirectly, hundreds of quotations for each of the various parts and systems. A large portion of these quotations are directed at companies operating in the Westland region and, through our network, we always get the latest scoop on what’s going on. We are often introduced to clients as well: if a client has a specific request and the relevant supplier can’t meet this demand, the supplier will generally refer him to someone else - which is often us. Of course, we do the same. However, although we consider the sky to be the limit, we prefer to stick to only those areas in which we excel.’
‘End customers are ordering their systems directly more and more often, simply because they understand that every intermediary link raises the price.’
Strikkers continues: ‘We would rather make a customer happy by referring him to another party than straining to act as an intermediary. This is a clear a trend emerging in the international business world. ‘End customers are ordering their systems directly more and more often, simply because they understand that every intermediary link raises the price. This is a favourable development for us, particularly for the parts division.’
Confidence
‘Of course, our network extends far beyond the Westland region alone. We visit many trade fairs all over the world every year. Although we don’t have our own stand at these fairs, we are very well acquainted with our Dutch colleagues. Believe me, if an Israeli customer wants to build a greenhouse, he will undoubtedly end up at the Dutch pavilion and we will learn about it through our network.
‘To get back to your question about how we conduct our export business: our export strategy consists in part of making optimum use of the image the rest of the world has of the Westland region and by deploying all of our contacts both here and in the rest of the world. After all, having a business that has never once gone bankrupt since it was founded in1928 puts us in a privileged position. That may not sound all that impressive, but in the small world that is the horticulture industry that means that in all of 85 years we have never disappointed a customer with a project that was not completed or a supplier with an unpaid bill. This gives us confidence.’
‘Command of the English language is particularly poor in France and Spain. If you’re able to approach a customer in his own language you are at a considerable advantage.’
‘Speaking of confidence, everyone in the Netherlands likes to talk about giving and taking. Nevertheless, in the world of international sales the focus more on giving and receiving. Being in the position of the seller, it’s never a question of taking anything from your customer. You have to have confidence in the expectation that your customer will be willing to give you something, that you will be granted an order. Bert, for example, speaks five languages, which is indispensable if you want to build up a good business relationship with a foreign customer. Command of the English language is particularly poor in France and Spain. If you’re able to approach a customer in his own language you are at a considerable advantage on the competition.
‘In summary, our strategy to enter into commercial negotiations has brought us a lot of success in the horticulture niche. With regard to our products, we aim to maintain our focus on flexibility and custom work, while experimenting with new methods and technologies. Our primary aim in this is to automate the process to the greatest extent possible.’ The company clearly employs a two-pronged policy.
Has this always been the case at Alumat Zeeman?
‘No, not at all,’ Hans Zeeman confirms with a grin. ‘The company was actually founded purely by accident. My grandfather was a fisherman and he came home after three months at sea to discover that his son had been born while he was away. He was so upset that he had been absent during the birth that he immediately sought work on land. He started a maintenance firm for greenhouses and, because he was sometimes unable to work because it was either too cold or too hot, his activities gradually shifted to the sale and production of parts. After all, when you work in a big warehouse, you aren’t bothered as much by weather conditions. That was the start of our company.’
Do you have any concluding remarks?
‘Certainly! I’d love to plug our latest innovation. Besides market development, we are also engaged in product development. Based on our expertise in greenhouse screens we recently developed an automatic anti-hail net that can be used by tree nurseries, for example. The net can be opened and closed by remote - through a simple SMS - to enable the grower to effortlessly activate the system. Of course, hail isn’t a regular occurrence in the Netherlands, but in Italy and Germany it is a serious problem. This means that this product will generate lots of export opportunities. Another advantage to this system is the micro-climate that is created underneath the net, which slightly raises the temperature. This can prevent frost damage to young plants, which will also grow better and faster on account of the net.’
With thanks to: Exportmagazine.nl.
‘Tasty Tom is mentioned in the same breath as Chiquita and Zespri’
Tasty Tom has been around for twenty years, during which period this flavourful fruit has grown into a renowned brand and a standard of taste among all tomatoes. However, Tasty Tom did not grow into a success overnight, acknowledges Ton Janssen, aka ‘Mister Tasty Tom’. If you want your fresh produce brand to be and stay a success, you have to walk a tight line. We underestimated the amount of time and effort this would take.’
Twenty years ago, the Germans called Dutch-grown tomatoes ‘Wasserbomben’, or water bombs. Their image has improved tremendously, partly thanks to Tasty Tom. How did you manage this turnaround?
‘Perseverance is particularly important, and adamantly refusing to do any concessions to taste. We started growing the unique Tasty Tom variety developed by Enza Zaden under a licence in 1995. We had tested several other new varieties, but ultimately chose this one on account of its great taste. Although the next few years saw the introduction of several new varieties that scored higher in terms of production and ease of cultivation, we would have had to make concessions to taste and we decided to stick to our Tasty Tom. To be honest: the idea of switching was quite tempting at times! Still, we never lost our focus on taste; this was and is the key to a successful product. Consumers were wildly enthusiastic about Tasty Tom right from the start. This is mainly due to the variety’s sweetness: Tasty Tom has a Brix value of at least 6.0, which can rise to even 8.0 in summer! Consumers buying Tasty Tom can be guaranteed of a good-tasting tomato! With other tomato varieties, this can be like playing Russian roulette: what you buy one week won’t taste nearly as good the next, or vice versa. That’s disastrous to your reputation.’
Still, for consumers to appreciate the taste of a product, they must be able to try it first. Is promotion a determining factor for success?
‘Absolutely! Promotion is one of our key focus areas, and has been from the very beginning. It took quite a bit of persuading to draw the attention of the retail industry and consumers to Tasty Tom. I took the lead in this by visiting countless trade fairs, making television appearances, mounting Europe’s biggest billboard onto our greenhouse, tasting demonstrations - you name it! I did everything I possibly could. I even walked around in a tomato suit several times!
'Tasty Tom taught me a new side of myself that had, until then, remained concealed.'
All these promotional activities served as a tremendous eye-opener for me personally: I noticed that I genuinely enjoyed spreading the word about Tasty Tom. Tasty Tom taught me a new side of myself that had, until then, remained concealed. As growers, we built up the Tasty Tom brand through concerted effort, making use of each person’s unique and individual talents. You simply cannot tackle a task like that on your own!
At first, we thought that once we had launched the brand we would be able to take it easy. Well, we were quite wrong in that! If you are representing a brand you need to continue building on that; you never have time to lean back. To remain a constant on consumer shopping lists we still need - after twenty years - to actively focus on promotion and we still make every effort to come up with new and surprising promotional campaigns and stunts. Or we introduce different packaging, or a new logo. With Tasty Tom it’s just like any other brand: inertia is tantamount to decline.’
What were the highlights you experienced in the past two decades?
‘There were several. What continues to astound me is how many people take the time to send us an email to let us know how much they like the taste of our Tasty Tom tomatoes.
The most bizarre experience was, without a doubt, the Tasty Tom promotional campaign we held at the Game-com Trade Exhibition in Cologne: a trade fair for computer games that was visited only by the younger generation. There was incredibly loud music playing and we thought: “What on earth are we doing here?” Still, our stand had more visitors than any other: those boys and girls ate every single tomato we brought!
'Looking back, we probably should have introduced the snack tomato earlier.'
But the absolute high point is that Tasty Tom has grown into a genuine brand in the past twenty years and is now an established name. It’s difficult to pin this to a specific point in time, but Tasty Tom became a household word about five years ago. ‘Tasty Tom is mentioned in the same breath as brands like Chiquita and Zespri.’
Did you experience any disappointments? Or is there anything that, with the knowledge you have today, you would have done differently?
‘Looking back, we probably should have introduced the snack tomato earlier. We put a small-scale version of the PartyTom on the market ten years ago. At that point in time, snack tomatoes had already become a hype and have since grown into a bulk product. We decided to discontinue the product because we did not want to take part in the price battle. If we had been ahead of the masses in launching our product, we would have been able to deliver added value and get a better price.’
Tasty Tom is, however, not the only tomato brand around. Tommies and Honingtomaten, for example, have also become established brands. What is your opinion of these brands? To what extent are they Tasty Tom’s competitors?
‘These parties also opted for a tomato that distinguishes itself through its taste, which is something I admire whichever way you look at it. Additionally, the way both these brands were launched on the market was fantastic. A lot more money went into their launch than into that of Tasty Tom; our budgets are limited. Besides that, Tommies were launched internationally. As the growers of Tasty Tom, we once considered taking its cultivation international, but decided against it because we were uncertain if we could guarantee our consistently high level of quality. None of our association’s members wanted to move abroad. Besides that, the investment we made in lighting is now enabling us to grow tomatoes all year round.
Of course, we compete with Tommies and Honingtomaten in our niche of the market. The money consumers spend on these tomatoes won’t be spent on Tasty Tom. Still, we aim to rely above all on our own power and take pride in what we have achieved with Tasty Tom.’
What can be done to help the Dutch greenhouse horticulture industry find its way back to the top? Is the recovery plan instigated by Cees Veerman and the Rabobank the best option?
‘I have my doubts about that. We will never manage to get everyone in the same line and all growers on one and the same sales point. The differences in thinking are enough: people from the Westland region have an entirely different approach compared to people from Limburg, for example. They focus on superlatives and dare to take greater risks. That starts to hit a sore spot. I think that this is an important reason why growers and growers’ associations based in the southern part of the Netherlands don’t participate in the recovery plan.
'The problem with greenhouse horticulture is mainly the fact that too much is being produced.'
The problem with greenhouse horticulture is mainly the fact that too much is being produced. As a result, most growers are not participating in a demand market, but in a price fighters’ market. Launching a genuinely distinctive product on the market is the only way to avoid this. However, not everyone is equally well equipped to do this, and it certainly isn’t easy. Additionally, as a grower you can’t do much more than keep your costs under control as well as you possibly can. This can only be done to a certain extent anyway: you can never accurately predict the development of the global economy or the price of oil.’
Which of your colleagues do you admire the most?
‘Gosh, that’s a difficult question! Or actually, it isn’t. Rob Baan of Koppert Cress is someone I respect tremendously. He is a great advocate of promotional activities, just as I am. Rob is also a great spokesman and really puts his neck out for the sector through such activities as setting up the culinary television channel 24Kitchen. Additionally, Rob focuses on the distinguishing properties of his cress; there is something special to every one of his varieties.’
What are your plans and ambitions for the next few years to come?
‘We have lots of new plans on the drawing board: we just adopted our new five-year plan last month. I can’t go into any details, of course, but what I can tell you is that Tasty Tom will be spreading its wings!
On top of that, we will keep looking for new tomato varieties with better cultivation and production traits. However, we will only switch to a new variety if it can measure up to our current variety in terms of taste - and that’s quite a difficult act to follow!
Whether or not we will be expanding our current acreage of 62 hectares depends on market demand. It is crucial that we continue listening to the market. We have done that in the past two decades and will continue to do so in the future!’
The Tasty Tom growers’ association is currently composed of Ton Janssen from Venlo; Hans, Gerard and Eric Vereijken from Vereijken Kwekerijen in Aarle-Rixtel; Wim Peters from Someren and Roland Ghielen from Grubbenvorst. They collectively grow 62 hectares of Tasty Tom tomatoes. That’s almost 24 times the 2.6 hectares that Tasty Tom initially started out with in 1995. Tasty Tom tomatoes are sold through the ZON Fruit and Vegetable Auction to traders and retailers in selected countries. Besides distribution in the Netherlands, Tasty Tom is also popular in Germany, Scandinavia, the UK and Japan.
Text: Tuinbouwteksten.nl/Ank van Lier. Photo: Tasty Tom.
‘Horticultural businesses are becoming software companies.’
Yuri van Geest wrote the bestseller Exponential Organisations together with Salim Ismail and Mike Malone, in which they expose the power of fast-growing organisations like Uber, Airbnb and Netflix. He will be the keynote speaker on the theme ‘the power to change’ at the Westland Event on 15 October. ‘The Netherlands will have to embrace new technology within the next five years, if we aim to remain on the driver’s seat in the global food producing industry.’
Yuri van Geest is a specialist in ‘singularity’ and a key figure behind Singularity University Nederland, which will be opening in Eindhoven this December with strong ties to Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Delft and Nijmegen.
Can you explain your personal interest in horticulture?
‘Food is one of the topics I’m currently rather engrossed in. I have also entered into some partnerships in the horticulture sector; so of course, I take an avid interest in it.’ Van Geest has joined forces with the consultancy firm Hillenraad Partners to set up a five-day training course for entrepreneurs in the horticulture sector, in which they aim to show the participants the many opportunities offered by exponential organisation.
How do you retain a competitive edge in a world in which everything is open source?
Can you briefly explain what exponential organisation is?
‘Every business can become an exponential organisation, from a start-up to a family business that’s been around for a century and a half. Basically, it comes down to the way in which the building blocks of a business are organised. A different organisation, a different structure, culture, strategy and critical performance indicators. New technology, such as nanotechnology, 3D printing and robotics - and additionally communities and big data - has to become engrained, as it were, into the DNA of an organisation. As if the organisation is being turned inside out. Business enterprises are doing less and less independently and are outsourcing expertise and technology on an increasingly larger scale. One of the core questions of the book is: how do you retain control in a world where you have less personal property such as talent, personal and resources? How do you retain a competitive edge in a world in which everything is open source? A business enterprise that is capable of applying this organisational change successfully will be able to perform ten times better and faster than one that maintains a linear growth curve. Exponentially. We have divided this process into four steps, which we are implementing at a global scale at companies such as Procter & Gamble and Huawei.’
What will you be speaking about at the Westland Event?
‘You may not be aware of it completely, but the world has entered into a slipstream of technological advancement. Within five to ten years everything will be controlled by software. Biology and technology are becoming more and more closely intertwined. Food is also becoming software. This means that the food producing industry, including the horticulture sector, will become a software industry. Currently, there are numerous developments in the food producing industry that are founded on technology. Take 3D printed food, for example. You can already get several ingredients in a 3D print. In the future we will be able to print out entire hors d’oeuvres, more hygienically and perhaps even tastier than they could be made by a good restaurant. Or consider nano refrigerators with advanced water, nutrient and LED lighting systems, in which people can grow their own food from seeds. Haier, in collaboration with Syngenta (among others) is already taking serious steps in this direction. In just a few years it will be completely normal to walk into a gym, have your DNA or neuroprofile read and be given a personalised shake containing all the nutrients you need at that moment.’
An essential first step is to make leadership facilitating, instead of top-down.
What can horticulturists learn from exponential organisations?
‘Curiosity, creativity. To dare to open all the blinds, to listen to young employees in particular, to embrace new technology. An essential first step is to make leadership facilitating, instead of top-down. People are becoming increasingly older while the world population is continuously growing. Food production worldwide will have to be increased twofold, perhaps even threefold. The way things are going right now, that would be impossible. If we aim to achieve this, we will need technology based on software. The Netherlands will have to embrace new technology within the next five years, if we aim to remain on the driver’s seat in the global food production industry. Horticulturists can also learn not to assume that everything is the truth. To understand that what you are currently thinking and consider to be true is an assumption. The formula behind the coffee shop we’re sitting in right now is functioning perfectly. At present, it has a functional value. However, developments are following upon one another at an accelerated pace. How long will this coffee shop be able to function as its functioning today? If you do not constantly doubt your assumptions and convictions, are no longer curious, your concept or business will have become obsolete before you know it.’
What is your vision of the future of the Dutch horticulture sector?
‘I feel rather optimistic about it, but we will have to take action now. The pace of innovation is much higher in China and the Silicon Valley. They are also growing food, which is coming our way. Like I said: food is software. The horticulture sector - and even broader, the food producing industry - will have to inject itself with new technology to retain its relevance. A business cannot pick up all this new technology on its own, but it can if it joins forces with others as a group. Together with government agencies, for example, or market parties. We in the Netherlands excel in agriculture and food production. At Singularity University Nederland, which is to become a think-tank for Western Europe, AgriFood will be one of our priority subjects. We could achieve tremendous steps in AgriFood. After all, the Netherlands already have many start-ups and knowledge centres in that field.’
The pace of innovation is much higher in China and the Silicon Valley. They are also growing food, which is coming our way.
Why would you advise students to keep a close eye on the horticulture sector?
‘Horticulture is exciting, because of the many opportunities for growth. As I mentioned before, a myriad of new technologies such as biotechnology, nano technology, robotics, drones and 3D printing are all converging in the horticulture sector. I would advise students to invest in all the information currently available online, in addition to what they’re learning at school. Almost everything you want to know and learn is already available on the internet via open source software. You could watch TED talks, or read blogs and news items on websites such as Edge.org, SingularityHUB or MIT Technology review. I learn something new every day through all this media. This is one of the reasons I prefer to travel by train. You can’t read while driving a car, after all. My advice: you have to get going if you want to participate in today’s changing world.’
The Westland Event will be held on Thursday, 15 October 2015, from 3 to 8 pm. Watch the event in livestream on HortiValley.nl (Dutch spoken). Marco van Zijverden, CEO of the Dutch Flower Group, will be introducing Yuri van Geest at 6.45 pm. View the full programme of the Westland Event.
Text: Stijlmeesters.nl/Nicole Carlier. Photo: Flickr/Sebastiaan ter Burg.
‘I’m not such a big fan of spreadsheets.’
‘Internationalisation is crucial to us’, explains Meiny Prins, CEO and co-owner of Priva, and Businesswoman of the Year 2009.
‘Priva is a family-owned and operated company that supplies climate control products and services. We serve two markets: the built-up environment and production horticulture. We offer measuring and control equipment that will enable its users to achieve the highest possible returns with the least amount of energy possible, and while using the greatest amount of recycled water possible. Our knowledge in the field of horticulture is based on two components: our expertise in the field of measuring and regulation, on the one hand, and our knowledge of plants, on the other. We know precisely what each plant needs and are able to coordinate our parameters to these requirements. This is also the difference between the two markets. There are a lot of variables in greenhouse horticulture, but a greenhouse is also a kind of intensive care unit. If something goes wrong, all the plants in it could die within an hour. This process is not as critical when it comes to buildings; we usually don’t complain unless it’s too hot.
'To keep a leading edge with regard to technology, over 150 of our 450 employees focus on product development, which is an aspect in which we invest a quarter of our revenue.'
‘Our exporting activities are also crucial. To keep a leading edge with regard to technology, over 150 of our 450 employees focus on product development, which is an aspect in which we invest a quarter of our revenue. The Dutch market is too small to bear these costs, let alone the risks of a possible crisis on the market. A workable distribution of risks is, in any case, important. We have to offer our employees a solid foundation. It takes three years to train a salesperson to be sufficiently knowledgeable with regard to our technology, for example. Training a service engineer takes five years, and the training programme for a project engineer takes a full decade to complete. When you invest as heavily as this in people, you can’t suddenly cut costs and then decide to expand immediately after. We sell our products for the horticulture industry in over 100 countries, we have 10 branch offices and supply our products to 140 specialised installation professionals worldwide. Our dedicated consultancy services, however, are still offered only from our head office in De Lier.'
‘As I mentioned previously, our exporting activities were relatively easy to get off the ground, as we are active within two sectors in the horticultural industry. It comes down to simply travelling along with your customers. In the course of time, Dutch growers have been relocating to all corners of the globe. I could even go so far as to say that every greenhouse horticulture project launched today, no matter where in the world, has a Dutch person or firm somehow connected to it. Growers become used to working with specific equipment when they were still in the Netherlands, and want to continue using it at their new location.'
‘The situation is entirely different in the building and construction industry. In this case, we moved from country to country, conquering our niche in the market as we went along. The first country we established a new branch in was Germany. This was not the easiest place to begin, as it was also the home base of many of our competitors in the building management system sector. It may not have been the best choice at the time. We currently have ten offices in such countries as Canada, the UK, Belgium and China.'
'Our new strategy focuses more on “verticals”, specific groups of customers.'
‘We are, however, planning to adjust our strategy, because this approach simply takes too long. It takes five to seven years for a newly established branch to start generating a steady profit. This procedure is too expensive, and too slow for building up a global network. Our new strategy focuses more on “verticals”, specific groups of customers, with scalable solutions that we can develop for specific segments and can subsequently roll out on a global scale. Examples include climate control in supermarkets, or operation rooms.’
Many business enterprises with a focus on exporting activities employ stringent selection criteria from the very start. All applications that do not immediately fall within a specific niche are not followed up on. What is Priva’s strategy in this?
‘Of course, we will look into the application, and do follow up on practically every lead except for in specific cases. What is an important point for consideration is that we are the absolute market leader in our segment. What we want to prevent under all circumstances is getting the reputation of being slow - or, even worse, arrogant.’
Are you personally still active in the market?
‘Certainly! My portfolio within our three-headed management team is commerce. I undertake a long journey twice a year, during which I concentrate on business development, in addition to customer relations management. My position as a CEO opens quite a few doors, and gives me opportunities to set my foot on hitherto unpaved roads. What I specifically aim to do, is to launch pilots in collaboration with businesses that play an exemplary role in the market. By using our equipment and accurately calculating the results and, above all, communicating clearly, we are able to convince other companies of the advantages of our technology much faster.'
You are unlike many other CEOs because you are actively engaged in marketing your firm’s products. Many companies these days are led by spreadsheet experts, and not by people who still play an active role in the market. What’s your opinion of this?
‘I’m not such a big fan of spreadsheets. If you start making calculations, you have to use them sooner or later and most often that will mean cutting costs. After that, it takes about a year to straighten out the consequential damage. What’s more important is that, if I were to start working that way, the rest of my business would be prone to following my example. Before you know it, everything will be directed at internal operations, and that’s not what I want at all. I - and the same goes for the rest of my company - prefer to direct my energy outwards.’
'“Adding value” is our motto, and if I succeed in doing this for another decade, I’m satisfied and will take it from there.'
Meiny Prins is a fervent supporter of the circular economy. She launched the ‘Sustainable Urban Delta’ initiative, a string of pearls in the field of water, food, energy and knowledge.
Is this a personal hobby, or does this tie in with your company somewhere?
‘Sustainability is never a mere hobby; it is a significant theme that deserves the same status as quality. I firmly believe that whoever can offer integrated solutions will have a leading edge on the competition. And that it is important to have a vision for the future. More and more people are drawn to living in a cosmopolitan environment, to urbanisation. This means that the waste water produced by these people will have to be used for the production of food. Waste derived from food will, in turn, be used as biofuel, and residual heat derived from greenhouses to warm residential areas. All of these systems will be scaled downwards, and inter-coordinated. As control is our business, we’re already engaged in developing the next generation of control equipment, in which we don’t take only the greenhouse or building into consideration, but also look into how we can coordinate our system to the processes going on in the direct environment.’
You are the co-owner of a successful business. What are your plans for Priva in the next 50 years?
‘I can’t think that far ahead! My motivation stems from the ability to provide added value. Following in the footsteps of my father, money is not a goal onto itself. Every euro is reinvested in the company. “Adding value” is our motto, and if I succeed in doing this for another decade, I’m satisfied and will take it from there.'
‘It’s not without a reason that I say a decade: these days innovations come and go at such a rapid pace and have such a gigantic impact that added value is the key to survival. Even stronger, everything that is not capable of contributing some sort of added value is disappearing or will be disappearing. This shift is more far-reaching and faster than gradual technical developments. In our niche of the business, we are already referring to what we call “disruptive innovations”, and “game-changing inventions”.'
'It is far better to develop your own Uber Taxi and retain control over it than to relinquish it to the competition.’
‘Within Priva we have already developed all the knowledge we need to cannibalise our own products. If we were to introduce our new concepts on the market, our own sales figures would drop by half. But that’s not what it’s all about; you can also think in terms of possibilities. By considering new markets to tap into, for example. Of course, you don’t really have a choice: if you don’t jump on an initiative, someone else will. It is far better to develop your own Uber Taxi and retain control over it than to relinquish it to the competition.’
This interview was made possible by Tuinbouwvertalingen.nl. Photo: Priva.