Striving for perfection in turning

Anyone looking for turning work in the wide surroundings of Ingelmunster now knows where to go. In eleven years, Amalo has become a fixture that has made quality and proactive communication its calling card. Customers always know where they stand and are happy to return.

Amalo, Atelier Martin Lombaert, carries the names of the two inspirers, husbands Chris Martin and Ann Lombaert. He takes charge of the workshop that specializes in series turning, she handles communications. Together they set the bar high to finish each piece to perfection and deliver it to the customer as agreed. A story that started from a deep-rooted passion for metalwork. Martin: "At Amalo we resolutely focus on turning, both in metals and plastics. After all, anyone who wants to excel in their trade has to make choices. By specializing, you manage the processes and materials to perfection in order to always give customers the right technical advice. For example, if the material a customer suggests is cheaper to buy but leads to higher production costs, we advise him on possible alternatives. With us, he always knows perfectly where he stands."

Match between machines and people

To realize that top shelf turning, Amalo has eight full CNC lathes and one milling machine to further finish pieces on. Martin: "Every new machine added to the production floor should not only give us extra capacity but also additional possibilities to respond even better to customer requests." Machines are only one side of the coin. Someone with experience and skill must be behind the controls to guarantee quality. Together with two employees, Martin himself is still in the workshop every day. "People are harder and harder to find. We therefore always choose machines that can produce as autonomously as possible, so that we can use our employees as efficiently as possible. That requires multi-deployability and therefore good cooperation. We therefore make every effort to ensure that there is a match between our team." Amalo also invests in its production environment to make working as pleasant as possible. For example, a modern ventilation system keeps the workshop clean, but there is also a huge focus on safety and ergonomics.

Strong growth thanks to proactive communication

Even during corona, clients continued to smoothly find their way to Ingelmunster. Word of mouth is clearly doing its job. The capacity of the most recent addition to the machinery in October has already been fully utilized. The production floor is full. So before a new machine follows, additional construction will be required. The result of a very intense growth trajectory. "What is the reason for our success? We know from customer feedback that they appreciate our proactive communication very much. Through Ann's efforts, they are always perfectly informed about how their order is progressing. In the workshop, we make sure that the customer's pieces are finished according to their wishes. Ann makes sure that we keep our promises in terms of timing. Above all, we want to build a long-term relationship with our customers. The better we know them, the better we can think along with them about how their products can be improved or how we can assist them logistically. Because of the shortage of materials, for example, we have already started sounding out customers about their expectations for next year, so that we have sufficient material available so that they don't have to shut down," says Martin.

Keep tinkering and growing

Despite the bustle on the production floor, Amalo constantly keeps its eye on the future. "We continue to tinker with optimizing our processes to get every ounce of efficiency out of them. We are also working hard to digitize further. An ERP package is already in place, in the next phase we want to link this to planning and our stock. But above all we want to find and make time for our customers. In the first instance, we want to continue to grow with them. By discussing the new possibilities of your own machinery with them or by thinking further about their products. There is still a lot of potential for the manufacturing industry in Flanders. Hopefully the corona issue will also make companies think a bit more locally."