Knowledge center as the heart of the organization

Over the years, Van Berlo has grown into a total supplier for the realization of the substructure of a building. The heart of the organization is the Van Berlo Engineering division, which supports the internal organization but also clients with all its specialties on a technical level. Daniël Toonen - manager of the engineering division - talks about the added value of the in-house engineering office. A department with sky-high ambitions, as it turns out.

Van Berlo Engineering was founded in 2003 with a focus on the calculation and drawing of floor structures in particular for the Commercial Flooring division, begins Toonen. "Meanwhile, we have grown into a firm that supports the entire organization, from geotechnical advice to performing far-reaching structural analyses in 3D, with knowledge of all possible mechanical and physical properties of materials. For some time now, we have also employed our own concrete technologist to assess the quality of the concrete and direct it appropriately."

Daniël Toonen, manager of Van Berlo Engineering.

Short lines
Using examples, Toonen explains how the engineering department supports the various divisions of Van Berlo. "For the Industrial Floors department, we calculate the concrete composition, but can also, for example, take ad hoc decisions in case of 'problems' or calamities during execution. The lines of communication are short. It is a matter of making one phone call and within half an hour there is an answer. That won't work with an external engineering firm. All divisions benefit from this 'luxury'. For the foundation engineering division, we provide complete geotechnical control, as well as all drawings and calculations. We do the same for the System Foundations division."

Integral approach
Van Berlo therefore has all the technical knowledge in-house thanks to its engineering department. "Because we approach projects integrally, as engineers we also always have a picture of the situation on site," says Toonen correctly. "Everyone knows what is meant, so we can anticipate quickly. Our activities for 100% are focused on the execution apparatus. The advantage for us as an organization, but also for the client, is that they can contact us via one phone number for all questions about substructure construction. We also notice that the commercial department is increasingly calling on the expertise of the engineering department in order to be even better prepared in the preliminary phase."

Sugar Fields Etten-Leur: a total project commissioned by Heylen Warehouses.

Tekla
Van Berlo Engineering has sky-high ambitions. Toonen: "We are now implementing our products in Tekla Structures. By January 1, 2019, we will be able to provide our customers with an IFC file of our products. The year 2019 is further dedicated to deepening the program with the goal of ultimately generating drawings and work instructions from the model for our own execution apparatus. On the other hand, the execution can feed relevant information back to the work preparation, planning, et cetera. All information is thus secured in one model that results in one source of truth."