At Dalsem Mushroom Projects they can talk for hours about the technical aspects of their activities for the mushroom sector, but in the run up to the Dutch Mushroom Days Jan Berings wants to emphasise the working method at his company. What it all boils down to apparently is exchanging information.

“Here in Horst we work with a small group of people, 10 to 11 employees, and we are unlikely to ever become much larger. Our costs for labour are very low and during a recession this offers the advantage of flexibility. No one can produce as economically as we can”, according to Berings.

“We go to a customer who has building plans, and we know how to turn the plans into reality. Dalsem’s aim is enabling the customer to complete a project locally, and within the scope of the budget. We help here by supplying air treatment systems, automation and shelving, for example. But also by arranging possible local solutions, together with the customer. Producing installations also entails a financial component. What this means is that we contract out welding, for example, to Poland or Romania. However, since quality is always our main priority, we devote a lot of time to improving our network and exchanging information on all levels. On a local level people have to have a good understanding of how we want things to be built.”

Dalsem uses the so-called ‘IKEA’ concept. Berings: “As well as reliability with exports, it is also extremely important that the material is easy to transport and assemble. Shipping heavy loads has to be limited to a minimum, and once on site it must be possible to assemble all the components as easily as possible. What helps here is that we provide very good, detailed documentation. Customers are supplied with high level technical documents; something other constructors are quite reticent about doing.”

Berings compares the way Dalsem works with companies like Nike or IKEA, who also work with a variety of smaller companies. “We use the same idea. New developments, software, crucial matters, are kept in-house. Our strength lies in combining all the separate components of the jigsaw, from air treatment, machines, growing rooms, cultivation practice, and that knowledge is part of the mind set of our team, in the engineering, in the organisation.” And the many years of experience have only served to strengthen the company says Berings. “We’re still learning, it’s always a matter of trial and error, but as well as being a supplier of hardware we also consider ourselves to be the partner that supplies added value.”