From mechanic to screen specialist, this is the story of the enthusiastic Rob van den Ende. He is the man who has been taking care of everything screen related at Gakon for the past couple of years. Rob is involved from the early stages in the proposal process including a screen, and then continues to be involved for the entirety of the process; advice, work preparations, guidance, and build meetings. Together with his colleagues, he is busy working on the screen installation projects.
Renovating
A new trend is the renovating of screens. Rob gets more and more calls from a variety of parties to talk about renovation projects. Service contracts are being conducted by Gakon’s own screen team. Moving parts get checked, they make sure there's no holes, look for signs of wear, and repair where it is needed. Besides this, a full replacement of the current screens is also one of the options provided by Gakon. Rob: “As a former mechanic, I am quick to locate the cause of the problem; experience which often comes in handy. Because of this experience, I am able to link theory to practice.”
The requests for screen renovations vary, not each project is based on annual agreements. They also receive calls asking them to do replacement work caused by damages and other incidents.
Rob travels all around the world to conduct screen projects. From New Zealand and Colombia to Austria and... Rilland. Last month they completed a project in Austria, in the greenhouse of nursery Bauer, where they successfully replaced the drive axles as well as the screens. And back in the Netherlands, they have recently delivered the screen cloth at Limagrain in the town of Rilland.
Gakon used to be a greenhouse builder, specializing in realizing turnkey greenhouse horticultural projects. In order to be able to move quickly in a turnkey project, fast internal communication is needed. For this reason, nearly all of the departments have been integrated, among which greenhouses, heating, water and electricity and of course the screen department. Rob: “I have noticed that I enjoy working with all of these departments integrated. You are able to shift gears quickly, and this is good for progress. We have everything in-house, and because of that are capable to quickly and completely assist our clients.”
The Young Avag
Rob van den Ende has been asked to become a member of the Young Avag. In a group with studious and energetic contemporaries, he will start to work on answering the questions the greenhouse horticultural sector currently has. An example of this would be how the Greenhouse Technology sector will be developing in the next ten years.
During the 14 meetings organized by Young Avag, the group will attempt to find answers to these questions. During these sessions, they will also be looking into cluster formation, investment climate, sustainability, culture, technology, and “the international client”.
For more information:
Gakon Horticultural Projects
www.gakon.nl