Heesch, February 1997. Arno van de Ven and Hans Timmers establish Vetipak together, with precious little money in their pockets. The bank gives them a small loan, just enough to refurbish a cartoning machine destined for the scrapyard. The only other assets to their name are their courage, tenacity and contacts in the chocolate industry; these ultimately create the foundation for what is to come.
Today, almost 28 years later, Vetipak is virtually unrecognizable. It is no longer a two-man show, but an international organization with hundreds of employees and a suite of sophisticated robots. Based at multiple branches all under the Vetico banner, they work together for major brands from a variety of sectors. Arno’s role is also changing, as he prepares to pass the CEO baton to current COO Jeroen van Herpen. Time for a closer look at the man who put the ‘Ve’ in Vetipak.
Fiddling & tinkering
“As a child, I was always tinkering with something”, Arno begins. “Every day I’d get back from school, dump my bag, and head to the shed to fiddle with scooters. Even at an early age, I knew that I’d start my own business one day. And when it was time to start a career after I got my degree, my hunch was confirmed. I had multiple short-lived jobs at several companies and always struggled to fit in. Wherever I went, I’d find something wrong with their processes and methods, and I’d share my thoughts. Unsurprisingly, we often clashed. I discovered co-packing while I was still working for my final employer, a logistics service provider. Co-packing was still in its infancy at the time, but the demand for automated packaging was growing and production peaks were increasingly being outsourced. I spent twelve months there before deciding to start my own business.”
Key moments in Vetipak history
Customers? Equipment? Even a business plan? Hans and Arno had none of the above: they just knuckled down and got to work. “We were hopeful of a quick breakthrough, but that failed to materialize”, says Arno, who continued on his own after two years. “Still, we were making progress and I told everyone I knew at the major producers. After four months, Mars called with a problem that they couldn’t solve themselves. We solved it for them, and shortly afterwards, Nestlé reached out too. Within six months, we had contracts with the two largest chocolate manufacturers, and we still work with them to this day.”
Other key milestones followed. “Winning two tenders from Mars was an important moment for the company. It came as a surprise, if I’m honest, because offshoring production to Eastern Europe seemed considerably more economical than automated packaging in Veghel. In the end however, our proposal won us the tender and we built an entirely new plant specifically for that one client. That’s how our current business model was born, with a headquarters and multiple branches.”
the two largest chocolate manufacturers"
Pride
From state-of-the-art innovations and exceptional customer-centric solutions to talent development and long Vetico careers: there is plenty for Arno to be proud of. “The thing I’m proudest of is our culture”, he begins. “Vetico people are down to earth, passionate and flexible. They’re all open to new developments, which is what keeps us and the company as a whole so lively and full of vigor. In fact, the Vetico companies are a reflection of our employees. We are healthy and agile because our people are.”
CEO succession
Another success factor, Arno adds, is the freedom and responsibility given to employees, culminating in the man appointed to succeed him as CEO, Jeroen van Herpen. “We had two choices: someone new from the outside or someone from within our own organization. Thoroughly vetting potential candidates you don’t know is a complicated prospect, so it didn’t take us long to eliminate the first option. We already knew that Jeroen was cut from the right cloth. Moreover, we felt it was important to factor in the engineering and people side of things when making major decisions, rather than focusing only on a financial or commercial point of view. After all, we’re an engineering company that relies heavily on its people. Jeroen knows and understands our production side better than anyone else.”
with new developments."
The future
Arno has full confidence in the new management and the future. He will remain involved, but in a different role. “I will focus on complex customer requests, supply chain challenges and “the machine that can do it all”. From building closer ties with universities and startups to visiting trade shows, I’ll continue to feed the organization with new developments. There’s no other field quite like engineering.”
“On top of that, I hope to have more free time”, Arno concludes. “I’d like to go hiking with my wife more often. We’re already training for one of the most beautiful trails in Europe, the ten-day West Highland Way in Scotland. I’m also looking forward to getting back to tinkering, just like old times. Get home, dump my bag and get to work.”
