Theo Makkenze,
Van Leeuwen Pipe and Tube, Zwijndrecht
Seamless heavy wall tubes are one of Van Leeuwen’s specialties. These tubes are used all over the world as a solid base for bridges, roofs, sluice gates, booms, masts, jetties and other constructions. In this blog will explain how these tubes helped us to make a name for ourselves. Also, I will tell you how we are always able to deliver a constant quality in a time when requirements become more and more strict.
As a business unit manager, I am responsible for Van Leeuwen’s industrial clients in the Netherlands. There is a high demand for heavy wall tubes in steel construction, shipbuilding, machine building, agricultural machinery and construction. At Van Leeuwen, we have been buying and selling these tubes for decades. Our role as a stockholding distributor has a large part to play in this specific product line.
Mills usually work with stockholding suppliers like Van Leeuwen. In order to place an order at a mill, minimum order quantities per size are required. These quantities are usually far too large for our individual clients. Moreover, delivery times for seamless tubes at the mills are generally very long. That’s where we come in. Because we place our orders regularly and timely, we can supply our clients with their desired tubes within 24 to 48 hours. Clients can also benefit from Van Leeuwen’s global stocks, which are shared between warehouses.
Besides keeping large quantities on stock, we also add value to the tubes, for instance by cutting them to size, shotblasting them, coating them or testing them. Furthermore, we continually monitor product quality. This means Van Leeuwen constantly visits and audits tube mills. We grade our suppliers like a butcher would grade his meat. In doing so, we are our clients’ eyes and ears in the maze of suppliers. This way, we can guarantee a consistent level of quality throughout our product line.
Large projects usually require large direct mill orders in order to account for delivery time. In these cases, the customer's materials are stored in Zwijndrecht. Being able to include delivery times in a project schedule is very important to our customers. If we deliver ahead of schedule, the materials will only be in the way. Instead, by temporarily storing the materials and delivering them in parts when needed, we can ease that stress for our customers.
In my daily work, I deal with independent companies and large firms like shipyards and construction companies. The industry has many uses for our tubes. In ship-building, for instance, they are used for making stern tubes and supports for decks. In steel construction, tubes are used to build stadiums or roof constructions like the one at Schiphol Airport. But that’s not all. The overpass used to connect the residential area to the city at the A15 highway, bridge signs like the one at the Van Brienenoord bridge, the floodgates at Amsterdam-Noord, the Maeslantkering storm surge barrier, ship masts, guardrails, street lights… If you really look at it, the whole world is connected by tubes.
With the many uses of heavy wall tubes in mind, it is no surprise that we strictly monitor the quality of all materials. Product specifications keep extending and quality requirements keep going up. As a result, additional testing of products happens more and more. We constantly change our product specifications to meet the latest market demands. This, for instance, means we can carry out impact tests at lower temperatures than usual. All tubes produced for Van Leeuwen must at least meet the requirements as stipulated in EN 10210/EN 10297 quality S355J2H/E355+AR.
Like many of my colleagues at the sales team, I have been working for a long time for Van Leeuwen. Within the team, we have a ton of knowledge and experience, which we gladly put into service for our clients. Through intensive customer contact, we are able to translate any demand into concrete solutions. If needed, we adapt our service accordingly. For customers buying heavy wall tubes at Van Leeuwen, this means we deliver from our own extensive stock, we cut, shotblast, coat or test the tubes if desired, we offer storage space and think about planning issues. Our clients can choose from a large and diverse stock of steel tubes, in various sizes and quantities.
