A development factory employed by the OEM developer in the manufacturing industry, that’s how I would like to describe Post en Dekker. And I dare say that after two decades, we have mastered these development processes pretty well.

In this article, I’d like to look back on 20 years of Post en Dekker and explain how we create new business for the manufacturing industry by developing (and securing) flexible, smart and innovative product platforms.

I established engineering firm Post en Dekker in the late 1990s together with Eelco Post. At the time we were two headstrong entrepreneurs with a pronounced vision of how you can design and assemble machines in a smart way. And we were more than happy to put this vision into practice.

Missionary work

Twenty years ago, we could not have imagined that now we would have a team of 25 specialists who work every day on complex and wide-ranging issues for big but also smaller OEM developers in the manufacturing industry, especially in the Benelux countries. The fact that we help organisations such as Alfa Laval, JBT, MOBA, Boon Edam, RAVO and Kverneland Group, makes me and the team very proud.

Throughout the years, we have done quite a lot of missionary work. Every client wants a high-end solution with high returns, but the fact that we, as one of the first firms, started to think and work from the integral modular designing of complete product platforms and smart customization, that was something the client had to get used to. More than once, we had to explain that the focus is not just on the machine anymore, but on the entire platform and the order creation process with which you can continue to configurate.

Looking back, I can say that the missionary work has now been completed. Modular, integral, configure to order and smart customization, are all established phrases.
 

Growth is not a goal, delivering quality is

We have formed a team according to the core values of Post en Dekker. I think this explains part of our success. Our core values are:

• Creating new business for OEM;
• Innovating is in our DNA;
• Celebrating the best result together;
• Learning each day is growing each day.

Our team is still growing, but I would immediately like to emphasise that further growth is not a company goal. What we strive for is reaching the highest possible quality standard and added value in what we provide our clients: high-end and innovative solutions with maximum return. This means that we aim to improve processes internally and understand and serve our clients even better.

We’d also like to further shorten the development roadmap, with the emphasis on further. Because throughout the years, the roadmap for developing a product through knowledge, experience and technological progress, has already been cut short, while quality has increased. Because throughout the years, the roadmap for developing a product by knowledge, experience and technological progress, has already been shortened significantly. Quality on the other hand has increased. But we’re not there yet. Our own roadmap features the question ‘how do we, in the future, reach the same results in just half the time’.

Several focus matters for coming next years include:

• Use of big data;
• Use of model-based design;
• Use of virtual reality;
• Innovation of engineering tools;
• Continue to improve project management.

This should help with collecting, at the earliest possible stage, as much useful information about the entire chain as possible, so that the choice of concept for system architecture can be set up as precisely as possible.

Get to know our work and the way we work

The world is now faster, competition is fiercer, and China and other low-cost players enforce the lowest integral costs. Post en Dekker is convinced that an integral design strategy enables OEM developers to build their machines in a more efficient way, so that they can cut down their management costs and strengthen their strategic position. After twenty years of working on implementing this for our various clients, this integral design strategy not only seems to be an option, but a harsh necessity.

What is unique about our approach is that we do not work for our clients but with our clients when it comes to analysing and formulating goals. And these goals will only be reached when production at the client’s is launched according to their needs and wishes.

Have a look at our reference page for several prominent case studies.