Catching up is going to come in the profiles and frames industry

Lots of robotization and even more efficiency in production lines will be the focus in 2025 and the years beyond

Optimism prevails at Kruba in Baarn, supplier of production lines for processing plastic and aluminum in the window frame industry. Cees and Niels van Essen see a new political wind in The Hague that seems to be setting a flywheel in motion in the industry. Yes, indeed: in January there was a court ruling that came out in favor of Greenpeace, which may yet again cause (temporary?) delays. However, the positivity remains. Because the cabinet stands for a forward-looking approach anyway.

"There were too many rules, the cabinet recognizes that we have to let them go in order to get housing construction moving again. We see the market getting ready to catch up. People are investing in machinery again."

According to the pair, however, the problems in the housing market will not be solved 'one-two-three' but it is possible to think ahead again. Niels: "Right now you see a lot of work in the area of preservation and renovation. Especially the homes from the 30s through 90s are going to take a hit. In addition, if you look at all the new construction ambitions: the goal is to make them as maintenance-free as possible. The industry is anticipating this. Investments are being made in machinery. We also see, for example, that the plastic frame industry is starting to get orders again. I don't know if 2025 will be the year of the "ultimate recovery," but in 2026 I certainly expect a big step forward. After all, the housing shortage is very high. That can't go on forever."

Labor Market

A bottleneck certainly remains. Because even if many rules are loosened or legislation is relaxed, it remains to be seen whether builders will be able to find enough personnel to cope with the demand. "So that's where the challenge for us as manufacturers lies right now: how to set up production lines as efficiently and smartly as possible so that you need fewer workers. Robotization will continue at an even faster pace, which will also reduce the error rate to almost zero. We see this awareness in the market. Such investments - in preparation for the catch-up to come - also increase your competitiveness."

When Cees and Niels are asked to compare the year 2024 with this coming year 2025, the past twelve months are mostly described as "hectic," "many requests" and "interesting trade show participations. Niels gives the report grade 8. "But 2025 I now estimate at least an 8.5 or even a 9."

To what extent Artificial Intelligence is going to impact industry processes, Cees and Niels find it difficult to pinpoint. "We are working on it, but to be perfectly honest, we don't know what this will literally give us. On the one hand, we are an innovative company: for example, in the past year we have had many production lines modified for the Dutch market. For example, we have introduced other HVL connections to the market such as HVL and Straight-on-Slope. And we latched on to innovations generated by customers. On the other hand, AI is so new that this area of play is really still one big voyage of discovery. But I'm sure that a year from now we will have grown into this. You have to. Because when the pace goes up in the market, you want to be smart and efficient to keep up with that pace. Preserving, renovating and building ... there are certainly busy years ahead!"