Around the clock, RIVAL’s Mazak FH 8800 machines components to important customers in the defence industry. An innovative mindset and courage to invest has given rise to a very successful project.

Over several years, RIVAL has successfully worked with a to-sided production strategy that has expanded the offer to the customers. “The automated production on our FH 8800 is an essential part of the to-sided strategy, which has opened up for a production of much simpler components than those, we usually produce,” production manager Søren Djursland says. “We rely on the machine to operate as many hours as possible to create the best business for our customers and ourselves.”

New opportunities
Today, the FH 8800 works around the clock to machine components to the important customers in the defence industry. The production is managed by a couple of RIVAL’s unskilled employees, who have built up the competencies, it takes, to control to components on the machine. “This opportunity is valuable to us, as it is getting harder to recruit skilled employees to work night shifts,” Søren Djursland says. “At the same time, we are happy to offer this opportunity to employees with a slightly different educational background such as our Syrian colleague Dolovan and 33-year-old Ida, who are currently both training to become industrial operators.”

Innovation and courage pave the way
The project is a success today, because sales manager Christian Aarup saw the opportunity to produce the components to the customers in the defence industry. He later passed the idea on to the production technician Stefan Steensgaard who, with his innovative mindset, drew the contours for a possible solution. Then, he continued the work on the solution in close collaboration with his colleagues in the production.
“To get the solution implemented, we had to invest half a million DKK in new tools and clamping fixtures,” Søren Djursland says. “We had the courage to make that investment, because we believed in the project, and because we had an open and close dialogue with our customer, who also believed that the solution is sustainable in the long run.”

Team spirit and social responsibility
“This project is a really good example of the team spirit that exists at RIVAL, where we think “we” before “I”,” owner and managing director Henrik Holvad says. “Our employees are ready to think outside the box and start something new to create value for both the customers, their colleagues and RIVAL. Alongside a very transparent dialogue with our customers and other collaborators, it opens up new opportunities for close partnerships. Also, it creates the opportunity to hire employees with an unskilled background, which is also a high priority here at RIVAL,” he says.

 

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Long-term collaborations and mutually committing partnerships lead the way to success. That’s the attitude at RIVAL. “We don’t sign contracts to bind one another – instead, partnerships bind us together,” sales director Christian Aarup says.

RIVAL invests in strong and stable partnerships, in which value is created by relying on each other and by sharing the challenges together.

Open dialogues and trusting relationships
RIVAL recognises the value in entering into an open dialogue with both customers and suppliers when negotiating new long-term contracts to establish a trusting relationship from the beginning. “Everyone knows, it is expensive to initiate a new collaboration, and therefore it is important to openly discuss how the partnership can create value for both parties,” Christian Aarup says. “We have to look at the entire process with total cost in mind and have the courage to share challenges and solutions. We and our partners are only ready to do so, if we have a trusting relationship,” he says.

Partnerships create value for both parties
Today, several of RIVAL’s customers value the strong long-term partnerships. They experience, how a joint investment in the right start-up of new projects provides a smooth working day and thereby deliveries on time. “At the same time, we have an ongoing open dialogue about potential challenges,” Christian Aarup says.

“We have a shared interest in solving the problems, because it is for our common good. Of course, we also talk price, and here we can match an EU price level. Yet, price is rarely a part of the ongoing dialogue as we speak openly about things and trust that the price is set right, so both parties can have healthy business,” he says.

Close collaboration with suppliers
RIVAL has also built a valuable and strong partnership with several suppliers, who have become close business partners in the running-in of new machines and components. “It creates value both ways,” Christian Aarup says. “We obtain know-how for the benefit of both our employees and customers. Likewise, our suppliers obtain new know-how from us, which they can use in other contexts, and they get a strong and long-lasting partnership with us,” he says.

Strong partnerships with professional organisations
A professional organisation that collaborates with RIVAL on several levels is often the type of partner, RIVAL builds the strongest partnerships with. “Repeatedly, we have experienced the trust and building of common value it gives to have a dialogue with several contact points in the customer’s organisation,” Christian Aarup says. “It offers completely different opportunities to make things happen and develop the collaboration for the common good,” he says.

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In mid-august, DNV GL carried out an ISO audit at RIVAL. The company is now for the ninth time certified in accordance with ISO 9001, which meets the expectations of RIVAL’s chairman of the bord.

“The open and trustful approach that characterises RIVAL has spread out to the company’s quality procedure,” chairman of the board Bo Schöler says and continues:

“It is a pleasure to experience that DNV’s auditor commends RIVAL’s work and the way everything is organised. It is initiated with the spirit of the owners and managers and spreads to the rest of the organisation. There is a great focus on following the procedures, which are all structured in our management system and continually adjusted.”

Daily focus
At RIVAL, there is a daily focus on improving the internal procedures. “It is crucial for us to focus on the quality area in order to continue adding value to our business,” CEO and owner Henrik Holvad says. “That includes both deviations and customer complaints, follow-ups on measurements and plans of action, overview on employee skills and more. That’s why we are very happy with the positive feedback on the newest audit,” he says.

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