Full steam ahead to new horizons

Host Richard Kleijberg, production manager at Willemsen and John Tigelaar, regional manager at Leitz Service, are on hand to explain the partnership between the two companies.

_{Text: Jan Mol Image: Draeckensteijn Media}

The Willemsen name has been associated with ship interior construction since 1938. The current owner, Toine Willemsen, is the second generation at the helm of the survey company. "He is the one who started furnishing hotel passenger ships," Kleijberg explains. "Today it is our core business."

Willemsen completes ships for many shipyards. "From steel hull to finished ship," Kleijberg explains. "In Huissen we build all parts, on site we provide the paneling using molds. We help the customer from drawing to total delivery and first make a 'mock-up' of the design, a one-to-one representation of what one orders. It's literally 'what you see is what you get.'" 

When an airframe is ready, the floor plan is laid out on the ship. Then the walls can be set. 

"We first engineer the ship's interior. After the customer's approval, the interior goes into the machining at our facility in Huissen. Then the furniture makers and our own paint shop come into the picture (three spray booths - ed.) Then everything is assembled. Think of cabinets, buffets, kitchen, crew cabins et cetera. Everything for a perfect final inspection, after which the production goes to the pallets. With our own trailers and box trucks, the interior is then transported towards the airframe, where our field service takes care of the assembly."

With now 130 of its own staff and at peak times up to 100 hired assembly personnel, Willemsen produces the most beautiful interiors. Characteristic is the high degree of finishing. To be able to guarantee this quality in combination with the increasing workload, Kleijberg has a day job of streamlining and optimizing production processes. What is new is that the staff themselves - they are the real experts and experts by experience - are involved in designing new processes. 

"70% of what we do involves producing marine interiors. The remaining 30% is filled by interiors for luxury residential homes, also a real expertise. That market is growing strongly and we obviously want to move forward with that. That requires change in an organization. We have to work faster and smarter, to be able to cope with everything while maintaining quality. That's why we joined forces with Leitz Service," Kleijberg outlines.

Tigelaar adds, "Leitz Service goes far beyond supplying and sharpening tools. Our cooperation with Willemsen is a partnership, where we as Leitz use our expertise to show what can be done better, faster and more efficiently in the production process. When I came in here on behalf of Leitz Service, I worked with Richard and the staff to look at setting up a new machine shop, with new tools."

For Willemsen, the cooperation with Leitz Service means that there is hardly any downtime in production, Leitz's service can always be relied on, and scaling up is easy if needed. 

"Our motto is 'We want to build to the end customer's dream desire.' The latter must have a 'wow' feeling when he or she enters an interior built by us. To hold on to that, we must continuously deliver maximum quality. With Leitz Service, this is possible. While the tools do not play the main role, the final product and quality do. In this, too, Leitz Service is the perfect partner." 

A tour of some "mock ups" of complete ship interiors shows that Willemsen does not exaggerate. With a real vacation feeling we leave the premises, impressed by the cooperation between Willemsen and Leitz Service.