Jack | Sales Office Manager
My daily tasks include answering emails, making and following up on quotes, selling projects and finalizing for production and logistics, managing and updating price lists and telephone consulting. I also receive clients in the office and visit them both across the country and internationally. Additionally, I give presentations and tours of the premises and keep the calculation tool up-to-date. It is a versatile and dynamic role that brings new challenges every day.
Since about 2009, I have regularly visited our business partners in Canada, where the horticultural sector has seen significant development since 2004. I have experienced up close the transition from poly greenhouses to glass greenhouses and the large-scale projects with our systems such as the ValkTrussRail ventilation mechanism, the ValkTwinRail ventilation mechanism and the ValkScreenVision 2.0 screen system. These systems are widely used in new greenhouses for vegetable cultivation. Since 2017, they are also used for growing marijuana for medicinal purposes. The projects are complex and take a long time to build. Therefore, I regularly fly over to Canada to check in on the projects over there and to make sure everything is going well, to answer questions and to invest in our relationship with our customers there.
Over the 36 years that I’ve been working at Van der Valk Systemen, I have seen the organisation evolve. In 1988, I started at the sales department in a portacabin. Since then, Van der Valk Systemen has developed into a leading supplier of ventilation mechanisms and screen materials for greenhouse builders and screen installers. Automation has played a significant role in in both office operations and production processes. In 2009, a second business unit was set up alongside Van der Valk Horti Systems: Van der Valk Solar Systems. This unit concentrates entirely on the manufacturing and supply of assembly systems for the solar industry.
What I enjoy most about my job is the contact with the customers, participation in trade shows, traveling, the responsibility and the collaboration with various departments within the company. Always innovating and scaling up projects in this industry is what makes my job so exciting and challenging. Van der Valk is a genuine family business, with an informal working atmosphere and really nice colleagues, which makes working here extra enjoyable.
