Danish machinery manufacturer leaves China trailing

Oskar Lund, Borsen 15. 1. 2008

Proximity and flexibility lead to growth at RIVAL
More and more industrial enterprises are bringing elements of their mass production back to Denmark after years of having parts manufactured in the Far East. RIVAL is just one of the companies to have benefited from this new trend, with huge demand from customers who have traditionally had parts made abroad.

“While Danish companies have outsourced parts of their production process to the Far East and Eastern Europe for many years, the tendency now is to use local subcontractors instead. The reason is that companies value proximity and flexibility, and a business partner with whom they can collaborate,” explains Henrik Holvad, Managing Director. “Our growth should be seen in the light of the fact that our staff understand the customers’ problems and are prepared to collaborate – something that is not always the case in the Far East.”

As far as RIVAL is concerned, this has meant an increase in both turnover and the number of employees. At the same time, the company is about to outgrow its premises in Denmark, and is therefore planning to expand. In the spring, parts of its production had to be relocated to hired premises.

At RIVAL, we are acutely aware that we play a small but important part in our customers’ overall production process, and as a result we focus on quality control and on complying with all agreed delivery times. “We sell peace of mind, and we know and respect our place in the supply chain. Although it may seem cheaper to move production abroad, we have specialised in manufacturing the pieces that must be delivered on time and ready to be installed in order for our customers’ production process to run smoothly,” says Henrik Holvad.

Customers include Grundfos and HMF, both of which have experience of having parts manufactured abroad but which have now – in Grundfos' case – chosen to move parts of their production back to Denmark.

RIVAL's other specialist area, the craftsman-like machining of unique pieces, is also expanding. It was the core of the business when the company was originally founded, and there is still a lot of demand today for the skills of RIVAL's machinists.

“Here, customers are usually production companies. If a component breaks leaving a machine idle, they suffer huge losses. Rather than waiting for a spare part from abroad, they can make considerable savings by letting us manufacture it,” explains Henrik Holvad.

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