With branches in Denmark, Belgium, the Czech Republic and France, Dutch welding robot integra-tor Valk Welding is particularly active in northern and western Europe. For some years now, it has also enjoyed strong growth in the German market. “We focus on small and medium-sized private busi-nesses”, explains CEO Remco Valk. “Our welding robot systems are suitable for the flexible produc-tion of small to medium-sized runs. Programming and the development of customer-specific soft-ware play a central role in this.”

850 years of experience with welding robotsAs a distribution business for welding products, Valk Welding set its course as a system integrator and pro-vider of full solutions for the welding industry in 1994,

dealing exclusively in welding robots for the Japanese manufacturer Pana-sonic. Valk Welding recently instal-led its 1,500th Panasonic welding robot, making it the largest customer of Panasonic Welding Systems in Europe. Remco Valk: “Panasonic does not build universal robots, it deals exclusively in arc welding technology. Our basic product is Panasonic’s in-novative robots, which we then fully

optimise to our customers’ wishes. That’s what we are good at. If you add up all the years that our staff have accumulated with us, this works out at 850 years of experience with welding robots. And we have incorpo-rated this experience into various software modules. In combination with the so-called Weld Navigation from Panasonic Software, which automatically prepares the welding parameters, this makes programming a lot easier for the customer.”

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Valk Welding B.V.Staalindustrieweg 15Postbus 60NL-2950 AB AlblasserdamThe Netherlands

Tel. +31 (0)78 69 170 11Fax +31 (0)78 69 195 15 info@valkwelding.com www.valkwelding.com

Makes it happen

Complete welding robot solutions

with off-line programming

A crucial role for programmingProgramming and the development of custo-mer-specific software thus play a crucial role. Valk uses the slogan “Anyone can program our welding robots” to express the user friendliness of his programming systems. “We have deve-loped the Easy Programming process in close collaboration with Panasonic. We have incor-porated our welding knowledge and experience into a software module that makes program-ming very easy for the customer. At the highest level of Easy Programming, the welding robots can be programmed offline directly from a 3D CAD file.”

He explains that the need for more user-friendly programming is growing. Firstly because modern welding robot systems are becoming ever more flexible and thus are universally deploya-ble, leading to higher programming requi-rements. Secondly because the craft of manual welding is close to dying out. “Young people nowadays have very little interest in technology.” So it’s no wonder that welding robots are becoming ever more popular. “Nevertheless, many people think that robots are only worth using for large

“It is our job to solve our customers’ problems or to work with them to find

the best solution.

Welding robot systems for the flexible production of small and medium-sized runs

runs and that they take work away from people. Howe-ver, that’s not true: robots are also very well-suited to small runs – and they often perform tasks that are boring or even unhealthy for manual welders, for example the welding of stainless steel.”

InternationalisationValk Welding is a stable company growing at a healthy rate. Of its roughly 100 employees, three quarters work in Alblasserdam, the site of the competence centre and the location where robot systems are manufactured. The others are divided amongst the branches in Belgium, Denmark, France and the Czech Republic. Remco Valk: “The fact that we are achieving growth despite the gene-ral trend on the market can be attributed to the fact that we decided, in the year 2000, to go international. We gra-dually built a sales area that was so large that we were able to compensate for financial/economic problems in one country by success in another.” He would like to continue to follow the course he has set. “In the medium to long term we intend to serve the whole of western and northern Europe commercially and technically from our own service centres, and with small warehouses. The centres will be strategically located so that we are never more than 500 kilometres away from a customer. This means we will be able to serve customers in their own language and culture and provide commer-cial or technical support quickly, within 24 hours.” There are definite plans for new branches in Germany (Hanover), Poland (Posen), Hungary (Kecksemet) and France (Lyon).

Business in Germany getting better all the time This means that Valk Welding is getting more and more active in the working range of Panasonic branches, but this poses no problem for the two partners. Remco Valk: “I no longer believe in the division of countries: dividing sales areas according to national boundaries is outdated. It is much better to focus on the competences that are in demand. For Panasonic, large production numbers are important, one reason why the company focuses entirely upon the automobile industry in Germany. We, on the other hand, are particularly interested in small and medium-sized private businesses, of which there are a great many in Ger-many. Their specific needs fit in well with our way of wor-king. Incidentally, Valk Welding is already doing good busi-ness in Germany and this is getting better and better. “By coincidence, the majority of the business that we receive comes from Emsland, an area with an extremely high level of economic activity. Since our first delivery to the area, we are becoming known as a good supplier. For example, com-panies such as Brüggen Oberflächen-und Systemlieferant, Peters Maschinenbau, Kuipers CNC-Blechtechnik, (suppliers of Krone utility vehicles) and agricultural machinery factory Grimme have become our customers. Thanks to the large amount of positive feedback, word is spreading about us like wildfire. From Emsland we want to penetrate further into Germany.” With its roots in the Benelux countries, Valk Welding is used to working with customers who need a relatively limited production run. “It is”, says CEO Valk, “our job to solve our customers’ problems or to work with them to find the best solution. For this reason we are flexible, and we realise that there is a demand for this in German small and medium-sized companies. We finish what we start, and we go the extra mile to sort everything out. We do what has to be done to complete everything satisfactorily.”

Valk Welding has established its own branches, with a particular focus upon customer service and quick customer care, in strategically favoura-ble locations in Europe. Its head office is located in the Netherlands.