Manufacturing for progress: expanding Antonius’ capabilities

Many companies struggle when they are moving their product from design to series production. Why is that? Especially in rapidly developing markets, time-to-market and production costs are key factors that determine a project’s success. But how do you incorporate these considerations in your development process? Antonius has been expanding its engineering, sales and project management capabilities to further support companies that are developing new or updated products. These skills are crucial in markets such as Renewable Energy and Carbon capture as the Managing Director and Commercial Director of Antonius explain in this article.

Both the machine building and the (pressure) vessel markets have been developing rapidly. Demand is changing and production is shifting, sometimes geographically but often simply from one supplier to another. Instead of just production capacity, customers are looking for a manufacturing partners that offers significant added value. Companies that do not adapt run the risk of being left behind:

“Before Rob Derix and I acquired the majority of shares of Antonius in 2018, we had already been implementing our own strategy for years,” explains Richard Hamersma, Managing Director of Antonius. “In our management roles, we had been responsible for daily operations and strategy for years and saw the direction of the market clearly. And in the past few years, we have simply seen these developments continue and Antonius develops as planned. Our engineering and project management capabilities have grown significantly and, as a result, we have attracted new customers that make full use of both our specialized expertise and manufacturing experience. Vessel heads are still an important part of our business, but we are now deploying that know-how to other markets as well.”

Manufacturing for progress: manufacturability is key

Antonius has been steadily improving the quality of its services such as Engineering, Sales, and Project Management to leverage its knowledge of working with exotic materials and the production of complex shapes in other markets. In these markets, complex assembled products are created through a close collaboration between a customer and their suppliers. The company increasingly takes responsibility for a larger part of the process and the resulting product, as Rob Derix, the Commercial Director, explains:

“Antonius has a more prominent role in the supply chain of these complex, assembled products. We are now starting to work with clients early on in the development process and add our knowledge of materials and manufacturability to the engineering team. Subsequently, we help companies build and iterate prototypes before moving the finalized product towards series production. A key consideration in that process is manufacturability; can the product be manufactured easily and for a competitive cost price? Clients know that they can count on Antonius to add that value and get their product to market on time.”

Renewable Energy and Carbon Capture

Two growth markets that Antonius has identified are Renewable Energy and Carbon Capture. Renewable Energy has been a major theme for years, but Carbon Capture has recently regained its prominence due to new regulations from the European Commission. Heavy industry needs to improve on its ability to both capture and safely store the carbon dioxide that is a side product of their primary processes. This has given a boost to that industry and has led to many new initiatives for the capture, transport and storage of this greenhouse gas. But why are these the markets Antonius is focusing on?

“Of course, we want to help solve the challenges that our world is facing. Who doesn’t? But that is not what makes Antonius the ideal partner for companies that are building a product or service for these markets,” say Derix. “Pressurized transport and storage are at the core of many of the processes in these markets and there are many similarities with the Oil & Gas and Ship Building industries for which we have been a leading supplier  for decades. Combined with our engineering and project management capabilities it means that we can provide companies with the know-how, experience, and expertise as well as the manufacturing capacity they need to get their product or service to market.”

Are you wondering how our manufacturing expertise can add value to your product or service? Get in touch with our sales team via sales@antonius.nl +31 (0)475 439 000.