Social and sustainable business is in our DNA

On the windowsill in general manager Martijn Hol's office is the sign "Jan Hol Verpakking bv". It refers to the early years when Holbox was still a wholesaler of corrugated cardboard boxes. "My father Jan's box wholesale business was one big playground in my youth," Martijn says. 'The moment he became self-employed in 1976, I can still clearly remember. I was eight years old. We played hide-and-seek among the boxes and climbed on pallets.

My father never pushed me to get into the business. I wanted to get into the business myself as soon as possible. Chantal Hol, commercial and marketing director, started vacation jobs early on. "I filled in as a receptionist and helped out in the graphics department. Today, brother and sister together run the company that has grown to become the market leader in cardboard displays.

Together they manage 225 employees and are responsible for a site in Poland that employs some 200 people.

'We have always looked for the niches in the market,' says Martijn. 'In the early days, that was the fast delivery of customized corrugated boxes. With the emergence of large corrugated cardboard factories, we then switched to cardboard displays. That is now our core business. We unburden the customer by taking care of the complete process for Point of Sale material. From design to production, any set-up and filling and transport of the displays. For this we have all the production processes in-house.' To find the niches in the market, you have to follow that market closely, Chantal believes. 'The trade climate can change quickly. We noticed this during the corona period when only the supermarket stores remained open. They had top sales at that time. We benefited from that. Chantal believes that these types of crises make it more difficult to make forecasts, but she sees plenty of opportunities. 'In every crisis, new markets emerge, such as emerging B brands. To spot those trends, we do regular shop visits to all the major retailers. We have a database that allows us to look back up to 15 years.'

Holbox is at the forefront of sustainable manufacturing. Already ten years ago, the company developed together with KBA an offset press that applies water-based lacquers, replacing harmful UV lacquers. 'Sustainability is in our DNA,' says Chantal. 'We have been printing with bio-inks for years and use only FSC certified board. We were the first supplier to make 100% FSC-certified displays. And if the customer wants it, we can also use grass paper. In addition, we are strong in eco design. This means that we cleverly lay out the punch plates with little production waste, and we give parts of the transport packaging a second destination by using them as the inner structure of the display. That's how you extend the life cycle of a product.' 'We have several patents for this,' Martijn continues. 'These are mainly smart constructions with which you can make large displays with a lot of carrying capacity using little cardboard.'

In 2024, the company will move to Roermond. With 30,000 square meters, Holbox's new premises will be twice the size of the old premises in Echt. The new building has the highest sustainability certification
BREEAM Excelent. Martijn says: "We are going off the gas and want to be completely self-sufficient. In the light hours this is no problem with 3,000 solar panels on the roof. For evening hours we want to install battery containers. There will also be a kind of central highway of 250 meters with electric AGVs for internal transport. Which makes for quite an efficiency gain.'

The new building is also needed for the growing number of co-packing projects that Holbox handles. Setting up and filling displays requires a lot of space. In these projects, the company also works with status holders and people from the sheltered workshop. 'We are the most successful flow-through location in Limburg for people with a disability to the labor market,' says Martijn. 'Social involvement is important to us.'
Chantal: 'As an entrepreneur, you have a duty of care. Both to your employees and to the environment. We inherited that from our parents. Holbox therefore also organizes charity projects such as End Polio Now and has set up its own Navenant Foundation. On average, we donate about 200,000 euros a year.' 'Making displays combines well with a social view of the world,' Martijn says in conclusion. 'That feels right to us and also to our people. The nice thing about being in business is that you work together with your people and with your customers. And that we are all proud of our product. That's Holbox.

Source: Verpakkingsmanagement December 2022