Van Keulen Interieurbouw is one of the largest interior design companies in the Netherlands. They provide interior design services and complete shop fittings for clients including hospitality businesses, museums and supermarkets. Every day, they use their BRM Open Bed 150300 to produce various components for their clients.
Van Keulen Interieurbouw was founded in 1944 as a carpentry and woodworking firm. Today, however, they are experts in interiors and shopfitting. Van Keulen started out as a family business and remains so to this day. We spoke to Joop van Keulen, the company’s director.
He tells us that, amongst other things, they are responsible for the fit-out of all Jumbo supermarkets in the Netherlands. But as well as supermarkets, the company is also responsible for the fit-out of other organisations such as clothing and shoe shops. “We also design showrooms for well-known car brands such as Ferrari, Mercedes and Jaguar.” Van Keulen is also the market leader in the field of library design. “We can handle everything in-house, from the design right through to the final interior. So we can deliver the complete package.”
Investments and developments
Joop explains that they are actually constantly innovating and improving. He continually invests in new machinery and new developments so that they can continue to manufacture everything in-house. When a problem arose with the capacity of their current CNC machines, which are mainly used for woodworking, they therefore looked into other technologies. “Our production manager came across a laser for plastics at a trade fair that could also process wood. And so the decision to go for a laser was quickly made.”
Joop explains that they are constantly discovering new possibilities with the laser machine. “You can use it to create beautifully precise components where post-processing – as we’re used to with milling and sawing – is simply no longer necessary. The product comes off the laser with a high standard of quality, and that’s a major advantage for us.”
Van Keulen therefore purchased the laser machine to speed up the process. As post-processing is not required, they can produce all products more quickly. And thanks to the machine’s various capabilities, they can offer customers something extra.
Day-to-day use
We also spoke to Eric Smit at Van Keulen, the manager of the plastics department. He uses the BRM Open Bed 150300 on a daily basis and tells us more about the products made with the machine. “We produce a lot of bread bins for supermarkets, and we make them from acrylic. That acrylic is cut using the BRM laser machine. The advantage is that everything is polished straight away: so less post-processing and greater speed.” Eric points out that they now also engrave a lot of mirrors. They didn’t have that capability before, but now with the laser it’s a piece of cake. “Our customers find the engraving work particularly interesting and it goes down very well. And we simply couldn’t do that before.”
Thanks to the laser machine, the plastics department at Van Keulen is no longer dependent on other departments. Previously, they were reliant on the CNC department and work planning. Because they can now do everything themselves, the process has become much more efficient. Another advantage is that they now need far less material. “With a CNC machine, everything is cut away, whereas with a laser machine it isn’t. That simply saves a lot of material and therefore money. And we can nest everything so precisely that we actually have very little waste.”
Choosing BRM
Eric is very pleased with BRM’s service. “The service was excellent! Whenever we have a question, we receive expert advice. And if something goes wrong, a technician comes round straight away.” Good service was therefore a key factor in the decision-making process for purchasing the machine.
Another important factor was the value for money, which Eric says is excellent. “We also looked at one of your competitors, but it was far too expensive. Perhaps five times as expensive as a BRM laser, so the choice was quickly made. Because, in principle, the BRM machine does exactly the same thing.”
“Thanks to the laser machine, we can offer just that little bit extra that others haven’t yet managed to provide.”
The added value of the machine
The wide variety of materials that can be processed is ideal for Van Keulen. “It’s used for cutting plastic. But we’ve already discovered lots of other things we can do with it. For a number of customers, we’ve also done some beautiful engraving on rough-hewn wooden boxes. It really helps you make a different impression on a customer. Thanks to the laser machine, we can offer just that little bit extra that others aren’t yet providing.”
