- 26 jan 2016
The eastern Netherlands is doing well economically. Who are the driving forces behind this success? Speaking today in The Stentor: Ton Reinders, director of Vocare Ledlight, brandname of Vocare Specialties.
Of course there is a hall for storage, but Ton Reinders keeps his office at home: a characteristic dyke house on the river IJssel. Thatched roof, beams, wood stove. The lighting, however, is very modern: LED lamps in all shapes and sizes. Not surprising if you deal with Light Emitting Diodes on a daily basis.
You weren't always in the LED lamps business?
"That's right. I also dealt in plastics, for example. Trade and technology have always been the common thread in my life. Last I traded in stoves. That went well for a while, especially with the rise of the Internet. Because of the crisis there was less trade. At that time, I was already doing LED lights. So five years ago I closed one door and opened another. By the way, I've always really done all the businesses together with my wife Marianne. She's a multitasker. Does all the administration, liaises with suppliers."
How was that fledgling LED lamp field?
"I'm very interested in technology. Always have been. Twenty years ago, the technology of LED lamps was not very good. I immersed myself in it. How does something like that work? What works well, what is bad? I almost made a study of it. Then I deliberately sought out the market. Thanks to modern techniques and old contacts, I could easily find LED manufacturers. You don't even have to fly to China. At some point I started with LED fluorescent tubes for offices and factory halls. Carefully, because you want to know if you have good stuff. In the early days that wasn't guaranteed anyway. That's why for several years now a lady in China has been working for us. She checks the goods at the base. Necessary for quality assurance."
Product development
"We started Vocare Ledlight, a trading company with all standard LED lamps, outdoor lighting, fluorescent and floodlights. Today we buy from China and Poland and specialize in hall and area lighting. In China, we cooperate with technically high-quality and innovative manufacturers that we regularly visit ourselves. Our customers are sometimes looking for custom lighting, for example a special mounting bracket on a crane. We work out the design with our product development arm in China and then the luminaires are made specifically for that customer."
"With the product development leg, we also make other items such as the multi-angle spotlight that puts LEDs at different angles. Developed ourselves for one of our dealers, in this case for the Windstreekstal in Raalte. This ultramodern chicken house of 90 by 25 meters is illuminated by 9 of these floodlights. Stainless steel fixtures; chicken manure is quite aggressive..."
Pitfalls?
"Ensuring quality. Hence the lady in China. Furthermore, it is important to have unique products. Not everyone is a product developer. I invent things, steer it, make the drawing and calculation. Then it is produced in China."
Is entrepreneurship in the genes?
"Certainly, it's in the family. I grew up in Raalte, my father had a department store there: Jop. My brother is also an entrepreneur. After LTS I was a salesman at the Telegraaf for eight years. Then I worked for years for my brother in laminating machines and film. I traveled around the world for that. Then I started doing plastics myself. I am really a man of practice."
The best thing about this industry?
"The engineering. I just like that! And having worldwide contact with people".