Voorbij Prefab
Building on a revolutionary change in direction, Voorbij represents an exciting success story within the construction industry
Uniform production
Building on a revolutionary change in direction, Voorbij represents an exciting success story within the construction industry
Previously appearing in Construction & Civil Engineering during May 2016, Voorbij Prefab is a leading manufacturer of buildings in the field of construction using sustainable precast concrete in various markets. During its previous profile the company’s then Managing Director, Jos Mulkens discussed the way in which Voorbij Prefab had taken the decision to refocus the business by narrowing its scope of work to housing with limited special works. During the past six months Voorbij has continued to develop its new service offering and has recently seen Dorien Staal take over from Jos as Managing Director. With Dorien at the helm the business has settled into its game changing shift in corporate culture, while increasingly incorporating digital technology across the business.
“During August 2015 Voorbij Prefab was more or less reinvented so there were outdated routines or procedures and so on. Over the first half of 2016 we needed to settle in and consider things like what to expect from our client’s building information modelling (BIM) models and how to generate the right production data to send to our factory’s robots. However, we pressed forward at full speed and have learned to gain optimal results and to make the best use of the capabilities of our production facilities,” reveals Managing Director, Dorien Staal. “We produce concrete walls for housing business and can produce eight houses a day! What is really special about our company is its ability to use the BIM models of the contractors, which are our main customers. We spend very little time to enrich the model and there is no need to communicate back and forth with the contractor. From the BIM models we generate production data for the robots, which then begin making the construction mould that signals the beginning of the production process. Since robots make the moulds, we are able to work with a preciseness of only 1mm, in terms of the dimensions of the building but also the positions of the electrical wiring and so on. Together with the high level of finishing that the process provides the overall build system is highly state-of-the-art.”
By focusing on the high quality of its products and delivering exacting standards in the accuracy of dimensions and finishings, Voorbij has developed a leading reputation and can further enhance the attractiveness of its service offering by helping the contractor to lower the overall cost of the finished house. As the company continues to take advantage of its newly implemented focus, Voorbij will further innovate and develop its manufacturing system to enhance its presence across the construction industry. “Improvement and innovation is what makes us tick. Every day we listen and look around to see what could be faster or better. Sometimes it is just about making a small step, which saves us a couple of seconds of time on a position in the carousel. We also develop new routines in our software applications to bring more intelligence in the resulting BIM models, while we are always working on the perfect concrete mixture for our products at our modern research centre,” Dorien says. “We still have a high level of ambition when it comes to enhancing our engineering capability and what to reach the ideal situation where we can tell clients that ‘What you BIM is what you get!’ We have already reached this l vel of co-working with one of our clients, where our engineers are able to simply double-check the BIM model that the customer provides and press the start button to ‘print’ the wall before the robots go to work. This enables our customers to save around 20 per cent on engineering costs within their company. We also continue to invest in the development of our employees as we aim to double our market penetration without having to double the number of our staff. We need the sharp observation of our team on where to improve the process and how to optimise the use of robots and software. The ambition to be best in class, that’s what we are looking for!”
The ambition of Voorbij would appear to be well founded, with the housing market within the Netherlands currently looking extremely robust. This offers the company a golden opportunity to make the most of the coming years to capitalise on its recent investments and change in focus to revolutionise the way in which buildings are constructed in record time. “The housing market in the Netherlands is booming at present, so we do have a promising forecast for 2017 and 2018. Our challenge will be to keep up the high standards on quality of our products while doubling our output. Even more important in this booming market, is being a reliable supplier and delivering on time every time,” Dorien concludes. “During the crisis during the past years, lots of skilled workers left the construction business meaning that precast and robotics might be the only way to build a high level of quality house. High quality and being a reliable partner, that’s what we stand for at Voorbij Prefab!”
Voorbij Prefab
Services: Building manufacturer