For (plastic and aluminium) cases to pack or present products you have to be at Dankers Special Cases. And especially when it comes to customization. For the manufacture of the interiors of foam Dankers cooperates with IFG. This cooperation between Dankers Special Cases and IFG goes far back. “And that is not for nothing,” says technical commercial director Bart Laurijssen.
“IFG is a company we can rely on, and the cooperation feels like internal work. The informal contact is very pleasant and if we cannot work something out or if more expertise is needed in the area of applied foam, we are helped quickly and competently. For example, if there are questions about foam applications for specific purposes. They think along with us about which type of foam is most suitable and find out whether it falls within an acceptable price range. As soon as there are changes or something is going on in the market, Ton or Martijn visit us personally to explain. There is a lot of knowledge at IFG,” says Laurijssen. He continues enthusiastically: “We can also rely on the deliveries. We order weekly and the deliveries are always right on time. We work according to fixed agreements and if something has to be rescheduled, it is easy to arrange. And if something is not feasible, we are informed in time.
We ask Laurijssen to tell us a little more about Dankers Special Cases. “We process a large assortment of standard, plastic and aluminium cases from various manufacturers at home and abroad into a complete end product, including foam interior and/or personalised printing or stickering. In cases where a standard case does not meet the specific requirements of a customer or for a particular application in terms of dimensions, we also produce fully customised cases. An example of this is a flight case, known to many in the events sector. We produce the most diverse products for very different markets. For example, we supply to governments, the logistics care sector, the high-tech and medical industry, producers in the measurement and control industry and the sound and packaging industry.”
In all these sectors, products and/or semi-finished products must be protected in a safe and professional manner during transport or while being presented at sales. Laurijssen: “We provide the majority of these cases with customised foam interiors that we manufacture in our own factory using various techniques from the sheets supplied to us by IFG. This is “foam” material consisting of various thicknesses and qualities. The IFG employees ‘split’ the ordered thicknesses into blocks and/or thick plates and, if necessary, they also provide them with a self-adhesive layer. From these various thicknesses we then manufacture our specially developed (case) interiors for the customer by means of water cutting, milling, manual processing, etc.
Just like IFG, Dankers Special Cases attaches great importance to sustainable business operations. Laurijssen explains: “In the field of sustainability we do what is possible. Thus we save on electricity and gas by the applied energy-saving measures in our building. We also like to go along with the green innovations of our suppliers. For example, we can supply cases that consist for 93% of regenerative material such as glucose extract, extracted from sugar cane and sugar beet, in combination with natural additives such as minerals. We also follow IFG’s ideas on sustainability. IFG is committed to the recirculation of the products they supply by taking the foam waste that we collect when delivering new materials. This waste is then ground up and reused for various other products. The foam we use most is a reasonably pure material anyway and is easy to recycle.”