Company Reports - KLG Europe
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KLG Europe
The European Focussed Freight Forwarders
Written by Darrel Moore & Produced by Ollie Moy
KLG Europe is an international operating company with key locations in Western and Eastern Europe. It is an integrated logistics provider that offers a large range of services, from road, air and ocean freight to warehousing and value-added services, with focus on solutions for the markets in the Western Europe and CEE.
The company is focused on planning, organisation, management, control and execution of operations in the supply chain, from road, air and sea/ocean freight transport or warehousing to contract logistics.
With the increasing sophistication of transport and logistics, KLG has evolved over the years, making sure that all parts of its well oiled machine work in perfect union. Transporters, warehouses, container handlers, value added services providers are all parts of the total supply chain management of the comapny – aiming to ensure that all businesses they work with reach the highest performance possible.
HOW KLG BEGAN
Kees Kuijken, KLG Europe’s Managing Director, says: “KLG was formed by my grandfather in 1918. In World War II, all the trucks we had at the time were confiscated by the Germans, so we had to start over. In 1964, my grandfather’s business was split into three and my father and two of my uncles each took a part of the business. In 1998, my brother and I took over the shares from my father and in 1992 we bought the company off one of my uncles. From the mid-90s our growth has been quite substantial. We grew at least double digits year on year, apart from 2009 where we had a drop in growth.
“The main business is European distribution and part loads. We have extended services from Holland, the UK and Romania into Europe. Apart from that, we have over 120.000 square meters of warehousing in Holland and Romania. Air freight and sea freight, are also substantial businesses in our group.”
EUROPEAN FOCUS
The aim of KLG is to ensure its customers receive the highest care by focusing on the largely European territory. This, the company believes, gives it an edge with partners in Asia. “Through our network, we have very good access to Asia,” says Kuijken. “We feel the difference between KLG and a lot of our colleagues and competitors is the fact that most of our colleagues are active in air and sea freight, whereas we are focused on European distribution, so that, in our view, is definitely a bonus to our partners in Asia.”
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
KLG saw a drop in business over the economic crisis as the need for freight forwarders dropped with the decline in business orders. As a result 2009 saw a drop in the steady growth they’d been experiencing since 1993. “In 1993, we had group turnover of about 4 million euros and in 2008 it was 83 million euros,” Kuijken says. “The manufacturers saw a drop themselves due to the fact that all our clients had fewer orders and shipments.
“We are very active in the electronics, in the chemical industry and in the fast moving consumables, and all three of these businesses have been affected quite badly by loss of sales. As a consequence of that, we felt the same.”
“We expect, at the end of this year, to be back on the same level as we are in 2008 in terms of revenue and number of shipments.”
EXPASION
With over 600 employees, and many big contracts currently underway, KLG is set to expand even further. “We are working on one quite big project in Holland for distribution all over Europe for a big electronics producer. In Romania, we just concluded a deal with Vodafone for their distribution throughout Romania through our distribution network.” Kuijken adds, “We are extending our business into Eastern Europe; trying to acquire a few companies in the Netherlands and one in Romania with a view to extending our business into Eastern Europe. Through our new office in Turkey, we will also preserve the market in the Middle East and former CIS Countries.”
With a rapidly expanding business, KLG is aware of the customer care policies and employee training that must be placed in order to build a strong foundation on which they can build. Kuijken explains: “We can have quite a flat organisation which also means that people have to be able to take the responsibility. In order to do that, they have to be trained and want to be trained, so we do spend quite a lot of money on training every year.
“We are a very active member of several co-operations within Europe for Germany and a big part of Europe, we are a shareholder of the German 24 Plus system. We are also member and shareholder of the co-operation Astre in France. Worldwide, we are a member of the WCA.”
He concludes: “We don’t see revenue as our target; we see profit as our target. At the moment, we are able to reduce costs for our clients."
The company is focused on planning, organisation, management, control and execution of operations in the supply chain, from road, air and sea/ocean freight transport or warehousing to contract logistics.
With the increasing sophistication of transport and logistics, KLG has evolved over the years, making sure that all parts of its well oiled machine work in perfect union. Transporters, warehouses, container handlers, value added services providers are all parts of the total supply chain management of the comapny – aiming to ensure that all businesses they work with reach the highest performance possible.
HOW KLG BEGAN
Kees Kuijken, KLG Europe’s Managing Director, says: “KLG was formed by my grandfather in 1918. In World War II, all the trucks we had at the time were confiscated by the Germans, so we had to start over. In 1964, my grandfather’s business was split into three and my father and two of my uncles each took a part of the business. In 1998, my brother and I took over the shares from my father and in 1992 we bought the company off one of my uncles. From the mid-90s our growth has been quite substantial. We grew at least double digits year on year, apart from 2009 where we had a drop in growth.
“The main business is European distribution and part loads. We have extended services from Holland, the UK and Romania into Europe. Apart from that, we have over 120.000 square meters of warehousing in Holland and Romania. Air freight and sea freight, are also substantial businesses in our group.”
EUROPEAN FOCUS
The aim of KLG is to ensure its customers receive the highest care by focusing on the largely European territory. This, the company believes, gives it an edge with partners in Asia. “Through our network, we have very good access to Asia,” says Kuijken. “We feel the difference between KLG and a lot of our colleagues and competitors is the fact that most of our colleagues are active in air and sea freight, whereas we are focused on European distribution, so that, in our view, is definitely a bonus to our partners in Asia.”
ECONOMIC RECOVERY
KLG saw a drop in business over the economic crisis as the need for freight forwarders dropped with the decline in business orders. As a result 2009 saw a drop in the steady growth they’d been experiencing since 1993. “In 1993, we had group turnover of about 4 million euros and in 2008 it was 83 million euros,” Kuijken says. “The manufacturers saw a drop themselves due to the fact that all our clients had fewer orders and shipments.
“We are very active in the electronics, in the chemical industry and in the fast moving consumables, and all three of these businesses have been affected quite badly by loss of sales. As a consequence of that, we felt the same.”
“We expect, at the end of this year, to be back on the same level as we are in 2008 in terms of revenue and number of shipments.”
EXPASION
With over 600 employees, and many big contracts currently underway, KLG is set to expand even further. “We are working on one quite big project in Holland for distribution all over Europe for a big electronics producer. In Romania, we just concluded a deal with Vodafone for their distribution throughout Romania through our distribution network.” Kuijken adds, “We are extending our business into Eastern Europe; trying to acquire a few companies in the Netherlands and one in Romania with a view to extending our business into Eastern Europe. Through our new office in Turkey, we will also preserve the market in the Middle East and former CIS Countries.”
With a rapidly expanding business, KLG is aware of the customer care policies and employee training that must be placed in order to build a strong foundation on which they can build. Kuijken explains: “We can have quite a flat organisation which also means that people have to be able to take the responsibility. In order to do that, they have to be trained and want to be trained, so we do spend quite a lot of money on training every year.
“We are a very active member of several co-operations within Europe for Germany and a big part of Europe, we are a shareholder of the German 24 Plus system. We are also member and shareholder of the co-operation Astre in France. Worldwide, we are a member of the WCA.”
He concludes: “We don’t see revenue as our target; we see profit as our target. At the moment, we are able to reduce costs for our clients."
