'Those who cannot share, cannot multiply'

Marc Vorsselmans, CEO Vorsselmans (B)

With over 30 years of experience in the now 50-year existence of our company, it is my pleasure to take up "The Pen" for this fine trade magazine. I did not have to think long about the title of this text. In fact, this is the first thing I learned from my father when I was allowed to follow in his footsteps at a young age. 

As a typical Flemish family company specializing in aluminum windows, facades and solar panels, based in Loenhout near the Dutch border, we have been very active in the Dutch market since our early years. As Flemings standing our ground among our eloquent Northern neighbors was initially quite a challenge, yet we quickly learned that "cooperation" is the key to success in all situations. Working together based on trust, sharing knowledge, making a commitment, ... all concepts that have their place in working in a 'construction team'. Well, let that be precisely the big difference between the Dutch and Belgian markets, where the concept of 'construction team' has a totally different approach.

This collaboration quickly proved to be an enrichment for our company and our employees. Being active in different markets creates different challenges for our people. The trick is to make optimal use of good experiences from one market in other markets. Thus, after Belgium and the Netherlands, we have also taken the step to the English market. Again, a major adjustment that quickly created a new dynamic in our project teams (because who is not proud to realize projects in Brussels, Amsterdam or London?!). Our motto #trotsoponswerk is therefore due to the challenging projects that we are privileged to realize together with our clients.

Over the years we have also learned that working together not only with customers and suppliers is a necessity, but also with colleagues can lead to successful projects. Partly due to industry organizations such as VMRG and FAC, the last few decades have seen an elan of sharing more knowledge and organizing training together. This leads to increased quality of the final product and better control of processes. However, there still lurks a great deal of risk in our field; namely, the combination of technology, planning and price pressure requires enormous effort and flexibility. Collaborating with colleagues for large and complex projects allows for better control of risk. And, let's face it, most facade builders' bottom line is often affected more by one or two bad projects than by all the other good ones. We all then call that failure costs - a nasty word but oh-so-difficult to control.

Finally, let's take a moment to think about our people. AI, chat GPT, BIM, ... one comes faster than the other but we must not forget that the realization of a construction work is (and remains) human work. Starting with a developer or client, a beautiful design by the architect, a sustainable realization by the contractor with his partners, ... lots of links that are managed and executed by people. We therefore find it very important that our people perform their work with pleasure, can be proud of what they realize and can also treat each other with respect. We do not build for ourselves but rather for the sustainable future of our environment. Our core values "cooperation - commitment - excellence" should be present in everything we do.