A question of common sense
Janwillem de Kam - CEO at VEPA the furtinure factory
According to Janwillem de Kam, it’s not rocket science: the circular economy is the future, and those who can’t keep abreast with the times should call it a day. A transition like this requires curiosity and no small amount of adaptability. Following this recipe, Janwillem has transformed his VEPA furniture factory from a linear manufacturer to a circular all-rounder that not only produces and revitalises items but also provides advice.
As CEO, why is the circular economy so important to you?
You don’t need a college education to know the way things are headed. It won’t be long before the use of new raw materials is no longer an option. Raw materials are not an infinitely extractable resource. Trees regrow into new wood, but the same cannot be said for many other raw materials and ores. That’s what incited us to begin thinking about making our production process more sustainable. Out of sheer interest, I began reading and talking with everyone.
How did you get started with the circular economy?
We had very little substantive knowledge about the circular economy in 2008. We asked ourselves, ‘Who in our organisation knows anything about sustainability? Who in our network?’ At the time, we had a colleague — a recent graduate from the Delft University of Technology — who had studied with a professor of sustainable design. So we asked this professor if he wouldn’t mind visiting us to take a critical look at our company and advise us on where we could apply circular innovation. He thought we were already doing a lot of good things. In those days, steel cabinets were fashionable, but we produced wooden cabinets. After commissioning a life-cycle analysis, our cabinets appeared to have a 60% lower environmental footprint compared to a steel cabinet. We then focused the development of our wooden products under the motto: ‘wood is good’. We improved the cabinet design and made sure it reflected the popular taste of the time. We removed our metal cabinets and plastic chairs from the showroom. Our clients didn’t realise we had simply removed all of the ‘bad’ raw materials. By taking those steps, we came into contact with all kinds of new parties, such as the waste processor Sita. Sita had a PET (polyethylene terephthalate) waste flow, which is used to make things like soft drink bottles. In collaboration, we began looking for circular applications. We now have plastic chairs again, which are returned to us at the end of their use phase. This also applies to furniture purchased from other suppliers that is made from recycled PET.
How do your clients view your circular products?
For one thing, they don’t notice any difference when they enter our showroom. At the same time, our circular approach takes us places we never would have gone otherwise, because our products set us apart from our competitors. We now sell products to clients like KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Royal HaskoningDHV, but we also clean old furniture, convert free standing coat racks into tables and so forth. We reuse and repurpose objects. For some projects, 50% of our work is comprised of logistics and advice, 25% goes toward giving products a second life and 25% is spent on processing secondhand materials. In the past, we had to make our margin from product sales. Now, we also realise our margin by providing logistics and advice. Besides being a producer, we’re increasingly acting as a service provider.
Clients can return their old office furniture to us once it has reached the end of its use phase. This even applies to furniture they’ve purchased from other suppliers. We then put our heads together to see how we can reuse the furniture. Everyone enjoys working on us and exchanging ideas. It has enormous added value for our clients. They value striving for the same sustainability goals. It also makes us, as a company, more important to our clients because we end up having far more intensive contact. As a service provider, our range of tasks has expanded. That’s a sizeable transition. We’ve set up a Green Furniture Circle that is a tremendous help with this. It is a collaborative research lab with other furniture producers that allows us to share our knowledge and experiences.
Do your suppliers see the added value in circularity?
““Suppliers want to deliver new
materials. But why would
new materials be preferable?””
Many suppliers are hesitant; they find working with the circular economy difficult or complicated. We’re always looking for new ways to encourage them to make changes and to participate. We do this, for example, by presenting cases that appeal to their imagination and also have a commercial impact. But it can be costly to make the switch to circularity; it requires an investment. And it’s risky: only one out of three circular initiatives is commercially successful. Added to this, we usually don’t know in advance how it will turn out. That’s why we often assume the development costs. But we’ve seen that this is an investment that definitely pays off in the end. For example, we’ve purchased machines that enable us to process and reuse suppliers’ waste flows. Our suppliers often want to deliver new materials. But why would new materials be preferable? There’s an unwarranted prejudice against the quality of second-hand materials. We earn money, however, from processing raw materials, not from buying them. In fact, raw materials are our biggest cost item. And if we can save on costs there, it’s even profitable to have a seemingly more expensive production system in the Netherlands rather than in low-wage countries.
What do your shareholders think about the transition?
Of course we’re still responsible for achieving good results for our shareholders. That’s why we’ve invested all of our budgets, such as our sponsor budget for a premier league football club, in circular innovation. In the medium term, it’s not good business sense to push forward in the same old linear manner. Eventually, you’ll be forced out of the market by China, where the production costs are far lower. That’s why we maintain a domestic production line, and we use local raw materials. Local production and distribution are clearly also part of a circular economy. People seem to forget that producing domestically also represents an investment in our economy. In addition, we keep the knowhow and craftsmanship of production in-house. With our circular approach, we earn a better margin after the initial investment. The profit is directly reinvested into the company. For me, it’s a logical choice. You either choose to take a step forward or you’re gone.
How do you ensure that the circular economy becomes part of the company’s strategy rather than a hollow marketing term?
““Besides being a producer,
we’re increasingly acting as
a service provider.””
You have to be prepared to convert your primary process; investing in new machines, for example. In addition, we began with a simple but steadfast ambition: we wanted to be a waste-free company. It’s a tangible ambition that involves everyone — whether they work in the office or the factory – so its company-wide. Your marketing should only contain accurate statements that are verifiable and make an impact, otherwise you’d be better off not making them. I see many empty, unsubstantiated cries being made around us about sustainability, but few results. If you’re truly going to participate in the circular economy — which is inevitable — invest serious money and time in it, use your common sense and don’t be shy about stopping by to see us for inspiration. And visit factories to see if what they say is true!
How do you convince your internal organisation to forge ahead with circularity?
““Met onze circulaire aanpak maken we na de initiële investering een betere marge. Het rendement komt absoluut weer terug in het bedrijf. Voor mij is het een logische keuze: je neemt een stap vooruit of je bent weg.””
There will always be people who don’t see the point of circularity or who shy away from the challenge. To them, it feels like a big hassle, but we learn from every project we complete, so each time it’s that little bit easier. The successes as well as the failures prompt new projects and ideas, so we never actually stop innovating. It does take considerable energy and time to get everyone on board. It’s vital to do a good job of explaining our aims, and doing so frequently. So we produced videos, for example, that show us both inside and outside our company in order to demonstrate how we use the waste flows from our own factory.
You have to make the circular economy fun and engaging, and not too heavy. Our employees also want to show their children and friends at home what a great company they work for. People are proud of our circular mission. My children love the circular work that I do. And everyone I meet, including friends who work in other fields, are very interested in what we’re doing. Recently, the director of a major client visited our factory while on holiday with his wife and daughter to see how you can apply the circular economy. It was his daughter that urged him to make the visit. It was great that his entire family wanted to see how a circular economy works in practice. That’s a motivation.
How much progress have you made with achieving your own circularity objectives, and where do you see room for improvement?
We want to prevent waste flows, and thus achieve zero waste. We’re currently below 0.5%, but we’re not there yet. In the meantime, another of our ambitions is to ensure our products are free of new materials. We’ve made great strides, but we have a ways to go there as well. For instance, the motors found in products like sit-stand tables are tricky. We have to invest more time and energy in this before we achieve our goal. Another example is the extra protective layer over sustainable board material. I can’t wait until we find something that eliminates the need for that, and we appear to be close. Achieving a circular breakthrough means you get new projects, so we press on with our innovations.
VEPA is one of the most sustainable manufacturers of office and contract furniture in the Netherlands. As the only manufacturer in the sector, they construct all their products in their own domestic factories. VEPA is part of the Fair Furniture Group, a family of like-minded brands and people who share the same ambition: to continuously strive for new circular and sustainable solutions.
