Yanmar: ”We help each other to improve”

Shipping containers, pleasure yachts, truck cooling units, excavators or agricultural pump units all have one thing in common: chances are the beating heart of these machines is a Yanmar diesel engine.
heart of these machines is a Yanmar diesel engine. Bert Boom has worked at Yanmar Europe since 1996. “Before that, I worked at Fokker for 28 years, but when it became clear that Daimler Benz was going to cut off the money supply to the aircraft manufacturer, I started looking elsewhere.” He was just in time: on 15
March 1996, Fokker went bankrupt, and three days later the current Director of Customer Service “Parts” at Yanmar started setting up the purchasing department. Bert Boom was then responsible for production and logistics. Soon, the spare parts department will also fall under his responsibility. “I was the first non-Japanese department manager in management and the first non-Japanese director. Not a bad choice for the company. Although I see it as a challenge, the Japanese way of managing personnel did not really fit in with the Dutch. Yanmar Europe was ready for Dutch leadership.

Although Van Duuren Districenters had been transporting freight for Yanmar for some time, Bert Boom came into personal contact with Stef Blommaart of Van Duuren when a shipment to Italy threatened to go wrong. “I was involved as managing director and was able to resolve matters well with Stef. That was also the moment when I started coordinating more of the logistics myself. Not only because of this shipment, but also because our volumes were increasing significantly. We went from 7500 motors to 12,000 motors that also had to be delivered with a shorter delivery time.” The number of countries and the number of countries and deliveries for which Yanmar uses Van Duuren Districenters is steadily increasing.

The routes are usually set up in consultation. “Many routes are obvious,” says Stef Blommaart, “but some are more difficult. For Bert and me, these logistical challenges are the real eye candy. Recently, Blommaart and Boom were in Japan together to sign contracts for the transport of parts manufactured by Kanzaki, a sister company of Yanmar. Boom and Blommaart consulted intensively in advance to plan these logistics. The result is a well thought-out construction in which the handling of VAT, the import documents and the time in which the transport must take place play a crucial role. Boom: “Actually, I am only an intermediary in setting up this route. The most important contracts are between Kanzaki and Van Duuren, Yanmar is only indirectly involved. Nevertheless, it was useful to be there; after all, I also benefit from the sister organisation’s route going smoothly. he meeting with Stef was also inspiring. As I said: we help each other get better.”