D-TEC is going full steam ahead with trailer production in Kesteren. Hi-tech factory produces 2,500 trailers per year in the picturesque Dutch river landscape.
Steel plates go in, and complete trailers roll out. The D-TEC factory in the Betuwe village of Kesteren is one of the few Dutch locations where trailers are still completely produced. In a traditional way, although it should be noted that the craftsmen now use modern equipment such as automatic laser cutters, bending machines and welding robots.
“Quality and sustainability are important,” says Tim van der Roest, CEO of D-TEC. “An optimal TCO (total cost of ownership – ed.) is the main characteristic of our products. We build high-quality products at a market-conform purchase price – in combination with low maintenance costs and a high residual value.”
This week, the company presented itself to hundreds of relations and fifteen transport journalists, on the occasion of its 65th anniversary. “Our trailers are more expensive than those of other brands, but customers know that they will last up to 25 years and can have a second life after an overhaul. The residual value is therefore higher than with other brands.”
D-TEC likes to keep control over the entire production. A tour of the factory halls, which take up a large part of the local industrial estate, is an impressive experience. Thick steel plates are cut to size, bent and then suddenly become the central beam of a container chassis. Everywhere men in overalls are busy making metal frame pieces, in other halls drilling and welding is taking place. The atmosphere is collegial and enthusiastic.
The components are clamped onto molds with millimeter-precision, before they are entrusted to enormous welding robots (photography prohibited!) and the actual chassis is created. D-TEC container chassis, by far the best-known product of D-TEC, are then sprayed (“the most important operation for a long life”) and assembled on an assembly line. Here we also find parts that are purchased completely, such as axles and electronic components. Incidentally, Valx axles are no longer made in the Netherlands but in China – but they have the right quality and purchase price, according to the CEO.
D-TEC tankers are assembled in a different hall, not in a production line but at individual locations because the assembly time of these vehicles varies greatly. Every year, 2500 trailers roll out of the factory in Kesteren, of which 80% are container chassis and 20% tank trailers. Customers are located throughout Europe, which is served by a dealer network. Remarkably, D-TEC also produces frames for Terberg Benschop (terminal tractors) and Kubota (earthmoving machinery).
“To guarantee top quality, we do not want to be dependent on anyone,” Van der Roest explains the policy of producing as much as possible in-house. “But to survive, you have to be able to handle a certain volume and therefore work efficiently.” D-TEC has succeeded in applying this formula.
This position is only granted to a few trailer builders in the Netherlands. Things did not always go well for D-TEC (part of the Vlastuin Group): in 2006 the company was in bad shape, after which Gerrit Vlastuin took over the factory and gradually rebuilt it. Something that Jan van Vlastuin – who started a forge in 1959 – could not have dreamed of.
