Meet Karhof Carrosserieën

Customer case

Karhof Carrosserieën

Small, large, open, closed, standard or special, with or without a tailgate: Karhof has been constructing loading bodies since 1938. The company produces around 1000 loading bodies a year from its bodyworks in Assen, Nieuw Vennep and Purmerend. Whether the vehicle is to be used by the municipality of Amsterdam, online retailer Albert Heijn or as a mobile branch of the Rabobank, the solution is always customised and fully tailored to the needs of the market.

The best solution; that is our main focus

“…and the body comes second”, explains Tim Visser (Director of Operations). “It is far more important for us to assess the customer’s logistics process and come up with the best solution together. Not by directly focussing on the loading body but rather on the people who rely on and drive our vehicles on a daily basis. And that also requires flexibility from our suppliers.” 

Supply reliability is everything

“Each production site has a limited number of square meters available for stock. The rest is stored by our suppliers. Each site produces a different type of body and that means different components. And we need them on time. Not too early as we don’t have room… and not too late as then we won’t be able to meet the delivery deadline. Supply reliability is everything.How often does a customer not ask us to deliver sooner? And then it comes down to stock and the flexibility of Imbema, among other things. It has never not worked out, fortunately.”

Consistent quality for satisfied customers

“How do you arrive at the best solution for the customer? It’s a process: “Take Reining, one of the customers for whom we have been building vehicle bodies for years. We carried out a study in order to improve the combis as much as possible. By testing, optimising, retesting, etc. Every inch of putty is accounted for, so to speak, in order to ensure that we always deliver the very best. Our suppliers’ products play an important part in this. We know the quality and are not willing to compromise on that. Innovation also makes for satisfied customers. We present a new solution and the customer says: we’ve never thought about that before. You only achieve that by really getting to know your customers.”

The company’s collaboration with imbema goes back a long way

“Customers value our reliability, quality and innovations. We expect our suppliers to demonstrate these characteristics too. This year, I was at the IAA, one of the largest automotive trade fairs in Europe. Imbema was also there to present its latest innovations. It was interesting. And to then walk round together and hear what they had to say about the major new developments that could be of interest to Karhof. That extra antenna is important: I can present that to our customers on a one-to-one basis.”