Interview with Kenji Vervisch (ERIKS)

Hey Kenji, thank you for taking the time to talk with us today! We would like to start with a short introduction. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself? 

Well, I’m Kenji Vervisch. Proud father of two boys. I am with ERIKS Belux (Belgium-Luxembourg) since about 5 and a half years. And in that period I have moved between several roles. Currently, I am end responsible for Customer Oriented Services (like Onsite services and Vendor Managed Inventory) and for the Business Unit Tools, Maintenance & Safety. 

You have been working for ERIKS Belux for over 5 years now. What makes your job so exciting? 

“Let’s make industry work better!” That’s the company mission of ERIKS. And that’s what makes my job exciting; continuously looking how the technical and supply chain challenges of our customers can be further improved. 

As one of the big players on the market, ERIKS supports a large number of customers in a wide range of industry segments in making their value chains more efficient. Which sector are you personally very interested in and what role does solution selling play in ERIKS business model?

ERIKS indeed supports a large number of customers with complex needs. Not only by helping them with their supply chain challenges but even more so, by bringing our in-depth product and application knowledge to the table in order to help our customers reducing their TCO, increasing their uptime, improving their product performance.  

I personally have an affinity with the (Petro)Chemical industry but with ERIKS we also focus on other industry segments like Food, Pharma and Machine Construction. 

Solution selling is a vital part of our approach because without listening to our customers and clearly understanding their challenges, ERIKS won’t succeed in its mission that is making industry work better. 

On 21.09.2023 the ERIKS Experience Day will take place in Moorsele. FORMAT will also be represented at the Experience Day – we are already very excited about the conversations with numerous visitors. ERIKS has been a FORMAT dealer since 1998 and is therefore a long-standing and loyal FORMAT dealer. How have you experienced the successful history between ERIKS and FORMAT so far? 

FORMAT and ERIKS have indeed had a longstanding and very fruitful partnership, gradually building our business together over the past 25 years. And we are eagerly looking forward to making the next 25 years of our collaboration even more successful. Being able to welcome FORMAT at the ERIKS Experience Day in Moorsele on 21 September, is the perfect way to celebrate that! 

Back to the Experience Day! What highlights can visitors especially look forward to? 

The main theme of the ERIKS Experience Day is Food Safety and the EC1935 standard. Around this theme, there will interactive workshops where customers will be able to learn about our products and technologies in a hands-on way. There will be inspiring keynote speakers that will share their insights on future trends and challenges within the Food & Beverage industry. 
And last but not least, customers will be able to discover the solutions & innovations of our partners like FORMAT. 

What makes the food and beverage industry different from other industries and why do the smallest details matter, especially in this work environment? 

There is no compromise possible on food safety. I have two children myself and I want to be sure that the food I serve to them is healthy and safe. At ERIKS, our technical experts help our customers in the Food & Beverage industry complying with the EC1935 standard and achieving the highest food safety norms. 

Which FORMAT products are preferably used in the food & beverage industry? 

Examples are FORMAT tools in stainless steel and with plastic handle, not wooden handle because that would not be compatible with a food safe environment. 
Moreover best with handles in blue color because typically no or very few food products are blue and therefore tools in blue color are clearly noticeable.

ERIKS is the exclusive distributor of FORMAT in Belgium, which makes it the only FORMAT dealer in the country. What role does this play in your sales activities and what advantages does this give you over other dealers? 

This gives ERIKS in Belgium a unique benefit within the competitive MRO landscape, to strategically position ourselves in a different way from other distributors and to explore more TCO opportunities for our customers. 
As such, FORMAT plays an important role in our sales activities, for example through teaming up for the ERIKS Experience Day or through the FORMAT catalogue that has become a household name among our customers. 

As we know, ERIKS not only sells FORMAT products, but is also a convinced user itself. In which business units do you use FORMAT products and for what purpose? 

One of the business units using FORMAT products is our production unit of industrial hoses in Asse, Belgium. Format tools are used to assemble hoses and couplings or in the welding units where metal hoses are manufactured. The production colleagues at ERIKS Hoses in Asse love FORMAT! 

Last but not least the most important question: Will you visit the FORMAT Stand on 21.09.? We would be very happy to welcome you at the FORMAT stand.  

Of course I will visit the FORMAT stand at the ERIKS Experience Day on 21 September See you there!