Founded 25 years ago, Dutch timber trading company Houthandel van Deuveren is now one of the leading distributors of timber products in the Overijssel region of the Netherlands.
The company supplies timber and fasteners and also carries out mechanical processing: material can be sawn to size, profiles milled or wood planed to the desired thickness. Houthandel van Deuveren also manufactures window frames, cabinets and panels in customised dimensions. The company’s aim is to offer customers a complete solution in timber construction.
As its previous location had reached its limits, the storage capacity could no longer be expanded and access was difficult due to the location in a residential area, van Deuveren decided to move to the new company headquarters in Dedemsvaart. Here, it has installed racking systems from OHRA.
In addition to the technical features, the main deciding factor was the opportunity to customise the colour of the racks. The façade design of the various buildings and the interior and exterior racks form a harmonious unit thanks to repeating colours, “reflecting the modernity and quality of the services provided by Houthandel van Deuveren,” said the company.
Because of the positive experience van Deuveren had already had with racking from OHRA, the new company headquarters was also equipped with OHRA cantilever racking. OHRA manufactures the rack uprights and cantilever arms from solid-walled, hot-rolled IPE steel profiles, which means that the cantilever racks remain permanently stable even when fully utilised and ensure a high level of safety for staff and customers. OHRA always manufactures the racks individually according to the customer’s requirements – at van Deuveren this applied not only in terms of dimensions and load-bearing capacity, but also in terms of colour.
The racks for the outdoor area were painted in the colour RAL 7016 “anthracite”. They pick up on the colour scheme of the façade of the buildings between which they are positioned. The window frames of the halls and the steel structure of the main building are painted in RAL 3000 “fire red”. This hue is repeated on the racks inside this part of the building. The racking is light grey (RAL 7035) in a third complex, where products are stored primarily around the roof and façade.
OHRA offers its racking in the colours RAL 5015, 2002, 3000, 6011 and 7035 as standard, but other colours are also available as options. The colours are applied in the form of a high-quality powder coating, which protects the material and is significantly more durable than a wet paint finish.
“Companies are increasingly opting for a customised colour scheme,” says Berry Vanneer, sales manager at OHRA Netherlands. “This allows the corporate design to be taken up and a harmonious overall image to be generated for customers and visitors. But it’s not just design reasons that speak in favour of an individual colour scheme, there are also practical benefits. For example, companies also use different coloured racks to indicate different load-bearing capacities of the racks or as signposts for logistics.”
