System partner for metalworkers

As a metalworker, you have not had an evident year. The price increases you had to cope with, the challenges related to delivery deadlines, the energy prices that cut in... Hoffmann Group sees that its customers are suffering and tries to support them as best as possible. By doing digital and integrated business, for example, so that you no longer lose time on administration. By guaranteeing the same delivery reliability as before, so that you always know where you stand. By continuing to innovate and provide technical advice, so that you can make the difference. But also by focusing more than ever on its private label brands Holex and Garant, which offer excellent value for money. 

Although the challenges are not minus, the metals industry continues to do well for now. Most companies are busy and see their order books nicely filled for the coming months. Hoffmann Group also notes that itself.

Commercial director Jan Fijnaut: "For the time being, we don't see a decline in orders for tools. It is still running more than decently. But we do notice that our customers are trying to control costs even better in this challenging climate. We are trying to contribute to that by doing business with them digitally. By integrating our processes with those of customers, we can save a lot of administrative work on both sides. And that pays off."

Holex and Garant make the difference in price and quality

Hoffmann Group also tries to make a difference with its products. "With our two private label brands, Holex and Garant, we have had high-quality but competitively priced alternatives to A-brands for years. We notice that customers are more receptive to this today. They don't have to sacrifice tool life, but they can reduce the cost of their tools again a bit. By giving workshops with Holex and Garant tools, we want to make it clear that they can still produce as efficiently as ever." 

To this end, Fijnaut also sees an important role for the technical specialists the company has in-house. "As Hoffmann Group, we are committed to long-term relationships. Then you make the difference by advising your customer as well as possible, so that he always has the right solution for his specific application. We have a very broad portfolio with lots of accessories and tools to make processes more efficient. We also visit many different types of companies. That gives us an enormous amount of experience and expertise to help optimize customers' production processes as a partner."

Realizing more spindle hours

The important thing here is to keep customer downtimes as low as possible. LogisticCity of the Hoffmann Group, which has 100,000 m², plays an important role in this. Every day, 40,000 packages leave the door to be delivered all over Europe, with a delivery reliability of 99%. Fijnaut: "So our customers' production process never stops. In recent months, that has been a more important selling point than ever." 

A second element within this is the never-ending drive for innovation. Hoffmann Group is always looking for new products to make its customers' lives easier. A good example is the robotic arm presented to the Belgian public during D2M in September. "A first development by Hoffmann Group to automate machine loading. A stand-alone solution that does not need to be integrated into the machine's software, but is easy to program and therefore multi-deployable on the shop floor. No interface, no complexity, no downtime. In just two days you can be up and running with it."

Going further in unburdening

This is the élan for Hoffmann Group on which it wants to continue: unburdening the customer more and more. "Not only is our product range of tools, measurement technology, business equipment and PPE constantly expanding in response to innovations, developments and legislation, we also want to develop more services. We already have some apps ready with which customers can work more efficiently. With Connected Manufacturing, we show them the way to an integrated and digitally monitorable production process. But we can also offer support with tool sharpening, personalization of textiles, labeling... This is in line with our ambition to be there as a system partner for our customers," concludes Fijnaut.