The future of VDS Premix according to owner Koen Blanchaert
The animal feed industry has been undergoing substantial developments ever sine VDS Premix was founded in 1966. Koen Blanchaert has been VDS Premix’s CEO since 2018 and has a clear vision for the future: the company’s current export activities should be expanded, the business should grow alongside its customers, and the company should never lose sights of its employees’ individual needs. How were the past few years for Koen, and what does the future look like according to him? We would like to share the vision of the man behind our fast-growing premix company.
Growing alongside our own customers
VDS Premix originally started as an animal feed company and gradually grew into a producer and supplier of premixes. It is a company in which three families are involved. Koen explains: ‘My father used to be in business together with my uncle as a seller of premixes for one of our current competitors. After a switch in management, they decided to continue as an independent company. They had a good customer base, but what they needed was a suitable production site. In 1991 they came across the site of VDS Premix, and my father started working as a salesman. It was, however, not until 2015 that our family gained full control over VDS Premix. I joined the company as a nutritionist at the end of 2005, focusing primarily on livestock nutrition and aquaculture.’
Because Koen had also been working alongside his father since the very beginning, he gradually started following up on a number of operational matters. Nutrition was gradually pushed to the background for Koen, and he started leaning more and more towards the operational side of the business. ‘I am currently engaged in charting a new course for VDS Premix, and am trying to retain an overview over the entire company and see where we are going in terms of sale. Because we are growing internationally, I am continually searching for new ways to bring more structure into the organisation in order to achieve our envisioned growth, on the one hand. On the other hand, I also want to retain the atmosphere of a family business and the spontaneity typical to a small SME. Because that is, after all, one of the factors behind the success of VDS Premix.’
Interesting challenges change your vision
The animal feed industry in Belgium started growing tremendously in the 1980s. The production of some of VDS Premix’s customers’ has grown by fourteenfold since then. To meet their growing needs, VDS had to jump on the same bandwagon as its customers, so to speak, and grow alongside them. ‘The animal feed market has become saturated. The number of animal feed plants has been drastically reduced, which means that you are fishing in a continually shrinking pond, so to speak. Because organic growth in Belgium is no longer possible, so we have to look for other methods of customer acquisition,’ Koen continues. ‘We are focusing on R&D in our pilot companies with a view to retaining our position as a frontrunner in the Western European market while we are also resolutely expanding our export market – a market in which we are independently and actively searching for international customers.’
A team that trusts one another through and through
Spontaneity, independence and fast communication are among the greatest strengths of a family business. Thanks to these short lines of communication, things are done quickly and it doesn’t take long to make decisions. As VDS continues to expand, maintaining this flexibility is of crucial importance. ‘Today’s vast digitalisation cannot be avoided. It is an enormous challenge for a growing company to maintain the same degree of flexibility within the context of these technological changes. What’s important to me is that all employees know one another well enough to collaborate flawlessly with each another and can rely on each other. A team that trusts one another through and through to ensure that everything happens correctly – that’s exactly what you need,’ says Koen.
A look at the future
In 2022, VDS Premix started addressing a number of focus points to improve production. Simplifying the tasks of employees is already an important point of attention. ‘The work at our production site often involves physical labour, so it is not easy to find new workers. We must therefore ensure that the work becomes less stressful and that our employees continue to enjoy doing their physical work,’ Koen continues. Back-up positions are also becoming increasingly important. It must be possible to delegate every task to another person. VDS Premix therefore provides the necessary in-company training and continues to focus on production efficiency with innovative machinery.
‘How do I think VDS Premix will develop in the next five years? As a steadily growing company with an extensive customer base and a stable group of colleagues,’ says Koen in conclusion.
Would you like to contribute to building the future of VDS Premix?
Are you interested in a fruitful collaboration, or would you like to set to work actively as a member of our team? Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us, and we will look into the possibilities together.
Feel free to contact us.
