Matco International - Secure Cooperation

Matco International has enjoyed a relationship with itsme for almost 20 years for the supply of electrical components, including safety sensors and systems from Leuze. “In our cooperation with the itsme-Leuze combination, reliability is very important, not just in terms of quality, but also of availability”, says André van der Wei, director and owner of Matco. “The orders always go through itsme, but sometimes we also call on Leuze's expertise directly.”

Matco develops and builds semi- and fully automatic pallet wrappers for a variety of markets, from packaging and logistics to manufacturing, foodstuffs, feed and pharma. The company also provides service and maintenance on its own machines and supplies stretch film as a consumable in order to offer customers a one-stop shop. Matco has over 100 employees, is headquartered in the Dutch town of Deventer and covers the Benelux countries and Germany, as well as the UK and Spain. The company has branches in all these countries.

Uptime, responsiveness and circularity

“Our philosophy is to be close to the customer”, says Van der Wei, “to do service and maintenance, guarantee uptime, and really serve our customers. We mainly work with direct sales to effectively market our large fully automated wrapping lines, targeting the high-end customer segment. Our product line is modularised so that we can assemble a machine 70-80% in modules; full customisation is no longer affordable. However, there will always be a need for customisation, which requires direct contact with customers. They really appreciate that we are responsive to their needs and to the environment where our machines will be installed.”

“Our philosophy is to be close to the customer.”

Matco’s product development is focused on multiple aspects. “We try to optimise the balance between the machine and the wrapping film, increase load stability and develop wrap material that is as thin as possible to reduce costs and our carbon footprint.” This is driven by three current customer needs: uptime, responsiveness and circularity, explains Van der Wei. “We have to make sure that a line runs optimally and has the highest possible uptime. When problems arise, our technicians have to be on site in no time for service and corrective maintenance. In addition, plastic is becoming a loaded word in Western Europe. There aren’t many alternatives, so we’ll have to wrap increasingly thinner. At dairy producer Farm Dairy, for example, we saved 31 per cent on wrapping film on an annual basis by packaging thinner.”

Transparent, clear and simple

Safety is also an important issue at Matco. Not so much with the semi-automatic wrappers, notes Van der Wei. “Here, a human action is required before the machine does anything. CE-wise, that is a much easier case than it is for the automatic wrappers. Those have large moving parts that rotate up to 45 rpm to wrap 150 pallets per hour. We have to make sure people work safely with our machines. There's some fencing around the area, but you’re dealing with an incoming and outgoing flow of pallets. There are safety light curtains from Leuze all the way round it.

These detect if anything other than a pallet is passing by and inform the machine what to do next.”

The behaviour of a pallet is not a mystery, explains Eric Leenards, key accounts and distribution manager at Leuzen. “Our sensor is linked to the machine's control PLC. At a given moment, a pallet will move into or out of the danger zone. Through the logical switching of sensors, it can be detected whether that desired behaviour is present or whether, conversely, someone wants to enter the machine at an unsafe, unguarded moment. If so, an emergency stop must be activated immediately to ensure no one can be injured.”

“We have to make sure people work safely with our machines.”

Matco has been using these types of solutions for years to logically build its machines, continues Leenards. “Sometimes there are special features or matters to take into account. In that case, Matco’s engineers will consult with us and I’ll assist to make the right adjustment. However, we do always try to keep it as standard as possible though; our aim is to make a security solution transparent, clear and simple to implement.”

Matco uses a lot of products from Leuze’s programme, adds Leenards. “From photocells and walk-in guards to barcode scanners and volume measurement systems.” Matco procures these through itsme, as the machine builder’s supplier of electrical components. Van der Wei: “We order everything from itsme in an order-driven manner, grip parts as well as control products, but we do keep a solid stock for maintenance and spares. In turn, itsme does the same, says itsme’s senior account manager Peter Nelemans. “As agreed, we keep components in stock that are standard for Matco. This is important because the certainty that the required components will always be available allows companies like Matco to continue to operate reliably.”

Lasting relationships

itsme's as well as Leuze's relationship with Matco has spanned almost 20 years. Van der Wei highly values lasting relationships. “In this way, we can build on each other and trust each other. If necessary, everyone goes the extra mile for each other. Because we know each other, everything goes just a little bit better, faster, easier and more effectively. Experience has shown that in our cooperation with the itsme-Leuze combination, reliability is very important, not just in terms of quality, but also of availability. It is a great three-way partnership that ensures that delivery times do not become a bottleneck. I also think it’s important that we get good advice from all parties. We have direct contact with both. Leuze's expertise reaches us by way of itsme, but we also call on it directly. That’s not an issue for itsme, the handling of orders always goes through them.” Vice versa, it is special for Leuze that contact with a machine builder can also go through the distributor, says Leenards. “If reliability is the foundation, then this form of cooperation is perfectly feasible.” Nelemans can only agree. “My colleague from itsme's back office is in weekly and sometimes daily contact with Matco. We also strive for long-term relationships with both our customers and our suppliers. Because relationships like these encourage cooperation and open communication, one can, for example, benefit hugely from innovations and improvements. From this perspective, itsme can also contribute to the success of our customers.”

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