Mobile factories of co-makers drive through the Netherlands

BSE Betonwerken from Ermelo has experienced considerable growth in recent years and at the same time professionalization. The main activities are still concrete works, prefab assembly, system floors and wide slab floors for residential and commercial construction, but the company is gradually becoming involved in larger projects. First as a subcontractor, but increasingly as a specialized co-maker. Large contractors appreciate this and are increasingly finding their way to BSE. Like BAM Wonen Nieuwbouw Concepten, which has included BSE as a co-maker in its efficient new construction concept.

Text | Tjerk van Duinen Image | BSE Concrete Works

About 25 years ago, BAM Woningbouw W&R started a new construction concept in which the contractor and its co-makers deliver a total product. The concept can easily be described as an itinerant mobile factory in which the participating companies make their contribution to various housing construction projects in the Netherlands according to a tight schedule. Tunneling is the common thread in this. Arjan Visser, coordinating superintendent of BAM Wonen Nieuwbouw Concepten and Mathé Vink, project leader BSE Betonwerken, explain the concept at the sprawling construction site of residential development Wickevoort in Cruquius.

Wickevoort

Pile driving for Wickevoort began in June. This extensive plan includes three phases where different construction and development combinations are realizing a wide variety of homes in eleven residential neighborhoods. The U-shaped Wickevoort is located between Kruisweg, Spieringsweg and Haarlemmermeersche Golfclub and around Cruquishoeve, a center for epilepsy and sleep medicine. BAM Wonen, BSE Betonwerken and the other co-makers are operating with two construction streams and are expected to deliver the first of one hundred homes in May 2021.

Mathé Vink: "Right after us, the tunnel crew can get to work."

Mobile factories

Arjan Visser: "The houses are on sandy soil, but are underpinned. Just like prefabricated first floors and tunnel construction, piling is an integral part of our concept. Because these are standard reference homes, our system allows us to build them very quickly and efficiently. We do this with forty executive co-makers and about the same number of suppliers. With those parties, we keep five construction streams active that go from project to project throughout the Netherlands. They are in fact five construction streams. To meet the high demand for homes, we have added additional co-makers so that we can deliver eight homes per week per construction stream."

Co-maker in concrete

In the meantime, BSE betonwerken has also become a regular player in BAM Wonen's New Construction Concept. Mathé Vink: "We have been a supplier since the 1980s, including Dycore floors. There was an obligation to also lay these floors, which BSE actually did. A few years back, Dycore took the strategic decision to only supply. It was then agreed with BAM that BSE came on board as a co-maker, so that the concept remained intact. Our job in Wickevoort consists of installing the first floor, setting the edge box, setting the bilge irons and pouring the floors. Immediately after us, the tunnel crew can get to work. We use our own equipment, so the contractor doesn't have to worry about it. BSE also makes the wet foundations and we set the precast tops if BAM requests it."

Continue to optimize

The co-makers are now so attuned to each other that the mobile factories run like well-oiled machines. Visser: "Projects are carefully planned and we are able to quote competitive prices and set up a proper division of labor. Once every three months we have consultations with the co-makers about all projects. This way everyone knows where they stand and we make agreements with all co-makers. On an annual basis, we still carry out about 150 optimizations. In the beginning these were more drastic, now it is more finetuning." BSE is also happy with the cooperation. Vink: "As a co-maker, you can follow everything in the KYP planning; you know exactly what is going to happen in two months. The lines are short, so if you see a bottleneck coming, you come to a good solution together. The sooner, the better. It's a cooperation in which you are economical with your partners but in which you can also be honest with each other."