The vision of… Peter Zorge

Director business group maritime Peter Zorge’s relationship with Econosto Nederland bv goes way back. Being introduced to the company as an intern, he returned after a short detour at the Royal Netherlands Navy and Van Wijk & Boerma and has been working for Econosto for 24 years now, still enjoying his job and the company.

”I am proud of the maritime supply chain, together we build great vessels”, says Zorge. ”We as Econosto are part of the business triangle: we make sure to be in between of the ship owner, the yard and the design company which enables us to listen to what all parties want and to anticipate; if you play the game well, you will do well. The owner tells his wishes to the engineering company who designs the vessel and gives the design to the yard who builds the vessel. If, as a supplier, you can be part of this process, you are doing well. Being pro-active and thinking with the client, co-engineering, is of utmost importance.”

Econosto is a commercial enterprise and production company regarding capital-intensive goods that control and regulate liquid, air and gas flows in engineering installations. The company operates in several business units – general industry, (petro)chemical industry, oil and gas industry, utility and housing construction and maritime – and Zorge is responsible for the business unit maritime. The business unit maritime represents half of Econosto’s yearly turnover and also is the most international business unit. Zorge explains: ”We work with operating companies, OPCOs, worldwide in 27 countries. These OPCOs are responsible for their own sales, purchasing and stock control, but Econosto’s headquarters in Capelle aan den IJssel in the Netherlands functions as the centre of competence in the field of maritime application knowledge.” In 2008, Econosto was acquired by Eriks, a perfect fit, according to Zorge: ”Our portfolios complement each other. In 2010, Eriks was acquired by SHV. Our yearly turnover is about € 1.8 billion, the maritime part is roughly € 150 million. Econosto has nearly 600 employees worldwide, about 350 are based in Capelle aan den IJssel.”

Components and total solutions

Bureau voor Economische Stoomproductie (Economic Steam Production Agency), later Econosto, was founded on 3 September, 1892 specialised in the production and supply of steam components. Zorge: ”Ten years ago I consciously made the decision to also offer complex products. We used to only supply separate components, now we also offer the complete system integration. We engineer together with the client, supply the components, put everything together to make it work and offer after-sales support. Companies demand more and more total solutions instead of only components. Examples of our national and international clients are Heerema, IHC Merwede, Damen, Allseas, several Navies and Hyundai Heavy Industries. With the latter, we recently signed a contract worth several million Euros for the supply of all types of special valves and a complete system with remote controlled actuators for a floating dock that the South-Korean shipyard builds for Qatar Petroleum.” Another recent project is the supply of a total concept for Heerema’s H-851 launch barge, the largest one in the world that was built for positioning the jackets of drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of California, USA, in 1987. The Heerema H-851 was radically transformed at the Yiu Lian shipyard in Shekou, China, in 2013 to make the barge suitable for deck float-overs. Next to that, Econosto will supply valves and fittings for three vessels for Saipura and three for Subsea 7 to be built at IHC Merwede.

”Next to shipbuilding, we are active in the superyacht segment with well known shipyards worldwide as clients”, Zorge tells us. ”I can proudly say that we supply about 75% of all vessels that leave the Netherlands over water. It is easy to gain land, but a lot harder to keep that land. That is my biggest challenge after building up the present share in the last 15 to 20 years: keep the market share we have. Therefore we made the switch to not only be a supplier of components, but also to become a total solutions supplier. As we are a market leader, we feel obliged to be one step ahead of our competitors. Noblesse oblige, as they say.”

Econosto makes use of radio-frequency identification (RFID), a tag containing electronically stored information that transfers data through radio-frequency electromagnetic fields for the purposes of automatically identifying and tracking components with these tags attached. Zorge explains: ”These tags enable people to check if a box contains all components it says it does by using a smartphone for example. In the future we plan to attach non-visible tags to valves so an engineer can simply find all kinds of information, for example the age of the valve, if the valve needs to be replaced or the order number, while doing maintenance on board of a vessel. This is one of the examples we try to distinguish ourselves with. Another example we want to distinguish ourselves with is that we deliver our components in 3D which enables the engineers to implement them directly into their drawings.”

Future plans

According to Zorge, Econosto does not suffer from the crisis: ”We had a little dip in 2008, 2009, but that was all. We have always been a Dutch company, but we also started to go international, so we did not rely on only one market, and that is why we are able to level. The shift to integrated systems helped as well and made us a lot more attractive for Dutch customers as well as international ones. The delivery of components is something we need to cherish, but offering total solutions is our strength. In the future, we plan to follow our Dutch customers that are going international. We focus on luxury yachtbuilding and we bet on offshore and offshore wind, mainly on the supply vessels, but also on pontoons and barges. We are involved in part of the coastguard and navy newbuilding programmes in Canada, where € 33 billion is being invested. Moreover we plan to supplement our portfolio with Eriks’ products and vice versa. We explicitly focus on international business, mainly South-America and Russia are interesting.”

Corporate social responsibility is a hot topic for Econosto, which becomes clear when reading the website: “In the area of corporate social responsibility, we distinguish four sustainability strategies. One of these focuses on our products and services, where we help customers to minimise leakages and emissions, consume less energy, increase productivity and improve safety in the workplace. But we also pay constant attention to making our own business operations more sustainable, both on a large scale and in detail. […] From the perspective of socially responsible entrepreneurship, Econosto has offered the possibility of receiving invoices in PDF format by e-mail. […] Making its own management sustainable is also part of the sustainability strategies included in Econosto’s company policy. The starting point is that Econosto wishes to have as low as possible an environmental impact through its activities both now and in the future. Econosto aims in the short term to realise an environmental management that meets ISO 14001 standards. To achieve this its operational management is constantly critically evaluated.” Zorge can only agree: ”Corporate social responsibility is a high priority at Econosto. We also give presentations about this subject to big companies. To give an example, Boskalis asked us to think along with them regarding sustainability. It is difficult in our engineering industry to find possibilities to be green, but examples are our ball bearings that meet the green requirements, our sustainable valves with bellows that prevent oil or chemical spillage, and the fact we make use of biodegradable oil only. Also we advise to use synthetic materials for gangways instead of steel, as synthetic materials do not corrode, so no galvanic substance can get into the sea water.”

Training

Eriks was awarded the Top Employers Nederland 2013 certification. According to the Top Employers Institute, ”Eriks provides exceptional employee conditions, nurtures and develops talent throughout all levels of the organisation and has demonstrated its leadership status in the HR environment, always striving to optimise its employment practices and to develop its employees”. Zorge proudly explains: ”Every new employee takes part in our Econosto Academy to get to know our products and passing the courses is mandatory. Within the business unit maritime, all employers take the HME B.V. training ‘Shipbuilding for Non-Shipbuilders’ and I have a personal deal with Damen Shipyards that every newly appointed Econosto account manager works on board of vessels to help install our components for six weeks, so they know exactly what they are talking about when they meet with clients. In our competence centre we train our OPCO colleagues and within Econosto there are Lunch & Learn sessions: when a new product is added to our portfolio, a lunch is organised for our employees where the product manager gives a presentation about the new product.”

Econosto does not only train its own employees, but also offers training to external parties. ”Two times a month, we give our steam course, attended by mechanics and technical services employees to learn more about steam technology and this course is a big success. Econosto also organises the MariTeam, a network event for national and international industry members. We are always in need of technically skilled personnel, they are very difficult to find. Therefore we train our people internally with our academy, to enable them to grow into other jobs and we are an acknowledged training company.”

The importance of passion

Zorge is very passionate when speaking about the shortage of technically skilled personnel: ”People, enrol in a technical study! Maritime technology actually is sexy. I try to encourage my son to study technology, but he still thinks technology means a dirty job, although it surely is not. Technology is interesting, the Netherlands is a small country, but what we have to offer technology-wise is amazing. I plead to encourage youngsters even more to chose technology, but it starts with a passion; passion is also something I want to and do see in my people, and passion connects. If you really go for something, everything will work out. The most beautiful thing about a vessel is the pride that everyone who worked on it, feels, myself included. I still feel a lump in my throat when I attend a launch of a vessel we worked on and supplied to. The vessel really feels as something that is mine. The Netherlands has been known as a maritime nation for so long – Czar Peter already came to us to learn how to build a vessel – we really need to take advantage of our good reputation together. Cooperating is key in the maritime world.”

Gail van den Hanenberg