'Integrated approach leads to more clout and flexibility'

'This vertical integration was Willy Naessens' philosophy from the start: what we can do ourselves, we do ourselves', explains De Vogelaere. 'The advantages are numerous: more clout and flexibility, but also more control over quality and planning'.

Yet this choice was not self-evident. 'We deliberately swam against the current,' nods De Vogelaere. 'Although there was a veritable outsourcing wave in the sector a decade or so ago, we chose to get and keep all relevant knowledge in-house. That way, you can continue to grow strongly organically, but also quickly integrate new knowledge from acquisitions. The result? A stronger position for our customers and loyal employees. We don't want to be a coordination company.'

System construction the norm

Today, the Industrial Building division is organised geographically in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Denmark and Sweden. Within the Build division, there are several building formulas, with prefabricated modular construction as the capstone. 'We work smart from the start,' De Vogelaere stresses. 'We listen to the customer and choose the building formula according to his needs: prefab, shell, turnkey and design-and-build, where we tailor a project completely from scratch for a customer, based on his specifications and the site.

With The Circle, we have created another new construction formula within that category.' Besides that geographically organised structure, there are also specialised companies that focus on specific components such as aluminium joinery, roofing, infra (ground and environmental works, nvdr.), transport and glass. 'And we also carry these out for third parties.' Willy Naessens owes its success to a working method that is atypical for contractors. 'Our strength lies in our customer-driven approach,' says De Vogelaere. 'We understand our customer's needs and find solutions for them internally. For example, we can respond quickly when our customers want to know the embodied carbon of our products, since we make them ourselves within the group. Our own people therefore calculate this in-house. Moreover, it is a misconception that we only realise large projects. In fact, we also build as little as 250 m²,' says De Vogelaere.

Further growth is tackled broadly

'We add new specialisations through acquisitions - I am thinking of the HVAC specialist Gosseye - or build them ourselves, as we did with Willy Naessens Alu. That started 13 years ago in a small 200 m² workshop and has grown into a fully automated 10,000 m² factory. Perhaps not an obvious choice, but it fits completely into our philosophy of vertical integration,' De Vogelaere concludes.

Photos: © switn