BUILT TO LAST: OUR REMANUFACTURING STORY SINCE 1969

“In the late 60s and 70s, we mainly rehauled complete forklifts, a lot of them from the Belgian military,” Paul begins. “Then, gradually, we started deconstructing old machines for parts.” This practice still continues today in an area colloquially known as ‘the graveyard’.

“We hired a mechanic whose sole job was to disassemble old machines and remanufacture parts. Most rebuilt items we sold back then were parts like starters, alternators and cylinders.”

“Good technicians have always been the heartbeat of our operations,” Paul continues. “Back then, technicians needed a much wider scope of knowledge. Passion is what we were looking for, and we had a small but excellent team.”

Halfway through the 1990s, Lorenz Verfaillie (Director Electronics) joined. “Things were very different in the early days”, Lorenz smiles. “I had been hired to develop electronic test setups. I remember my desk was in a tiny office in the middle of the mechanical workshop. We didn’t have proper power supplies, so I had to repurpose old batteries I could find for testing. And when I repaired and varnished PCBs, I left them to dry in the window (laughs).”

Maintaining precious technical information was no easy feat in those pre-Internet (or even pre-PC) times. “We kept a big library,” says Joffrey Deylgat (Manager Remanufactured Parts). “Whenever we needed information, we had to sift through this vast ocean of paperwork to find the right parts manual or technical drawing. Today, it’s unimaginable; we have all the information just at our fingertips.”

“I’ll never forget my first Linde printed circuit board (PCB) repair,” Lorenz remembers. “Back then, the part was already 10 years old. Today, 30 years later—and 40 years since the OEM first built it—we still sell more than 100 of those boards every year.”

‘That’s what it’s all about for me,” Paul observes. “I want our customers to continue using their equipment for as long as possible. You can’t imagine how much old equipment is still going around. And I want TVH to be able to supply parts for them.”

A significant change came in the 2000s for the electronic remanufacturing department. “We hired an R&D engineer to develop a universal automated test setup for PCBs. This device should test all PCB functionalities within a two-minute timeframe and give us a simple pass or fail. The development took four years, but I believe it was the single best investment we have ever made with our department. This change differentiated us from the competition,” Lorenz concludes.

“When I started at TVH back in ‘96, I used to look up to the larger and more established electronics repair centres. Over the years, through hard-earned knowledge and technical prowess, we managed to close the gap and earn our place among the industry leaders.”

“For the electromechanical workshop, the puzzle pieces started falling together once we moved to Waregem,” adds Joffrey. “We centralised all the scattered little workshops, and we made some significant investments in test setups. This led to important partnerships with Danfoss, Parker, Carraro and others. We can now call ourselves an official repair centre for these brands.”

Today, TVH operates 2 electronic workshops and 3 electromechanical workshops internationally, employing nearly 400 people. The future looks bright: “Right now, the majority of the REMAN parts we sell are for material handling,” says Lorenz. “If you take into account the agri market, the construction market and the other markets we put our focus on, the opportunities are vast.”

“We’re looking at setting up remanufacturing in other parts of the world as well,” adds Joffrey. “We want to be able to supply the local markets with local remanufactured parts. We’ll be looking for local technical talent wherever we come.”

“It’s vital for us to stay at the forefront of technology to stay relevant,” Lorenz continues. “Our reman operations are built on talent. Talent that’s encapsulated in processes and expertise with our technicians at the very centre of it. The quality of what we deliver is not something you can build in a day; it is the result of decades of industry experience.