20 December 2023

The year has flown by at RIS Rubber. We have experienced, improved and produced an incredible amount this year. Naturally, we are proud of that! Ready for a little review? And some inside information?

Team RIS Rubber

This year, we were able to add 10 new colleagues to the RIS Rubber team. 3 colleagues came back after a (sometimes very) short period with other employers! For RIS it is great that they are part of our team again. Furthermore, 7 new colleagues joined us in various departments, all of whom we warmly welcome.

The team continues to grow steadily, as it should given all the plans for the new year!

Investments in the factory hall

January was a good month for RIS Rubber Bulgaria; they received 3 new presses. One injection press and two compression presses. The latter two are widely applicable thanks to their large dimensions.

In March, a compression press came to Lelystad to expand the production of zinc dilatation profiles. This took our maximum capacity to 180,000 running metres per year.

In April, all 242 fluorescent lights in the factory hall were replaced by LED lighting. The savings are huge: the factory saves 290,000 watts every day, equivalent to almost 70,000 kW per year.

And we ended the year with the biggest refurbishment; the expansion and improvement of the metal pre-treatment. The new spray booth is no less than 200m² and equipped with a heat recovery system. Thanks to the optimised environmental conditions, drying times will be shortened and will always remain constant, ensuring even more consistent product quality.

Quality Environment Safety Health

In 2023, RIS rubber was tested by KIWA regarding our KOMO sealant certification on a certain type of sealing rubber.

Re-certification for ISO9001, ISO14001 is scheduled for early 2024. Subsequently, certification according to ISO45001 and CSR Performance Ladder is planned.

In cooperation with the Marketing department, the Personal Protective Equipment on the Shop Floor project was carried out. The result is impressive! Clear posters and a PPE bucket for every operator. A personalised bucket in which all PPE should be kept. A great success!

Production

2023 was a year with exceptionally many new projects and moulds for RIS. The many new collaborations ensured that we made many moulds, with which we are now producing in abundance. Because we expect this trend to continue in 2024, we are looking for a new colleague in mould engineering.

The Europort exhibition in Ahoy Rotterdam in November was a super fun and exciting exhibition for RIS. We received many customers and interested parties at our revamped stand. As a result of the fair, new collaborations were started for complex rubber products. Production in Lelystad is busy!

Sponsorship 2023

RIS Rubber likes to sponsor social and sporting projects or individuals. Consider the local tennis club of our colleague Edgar or, for example, the Neighbourhood Concierges of Lelystad. Individual talents are also sponsored by RIS Rubber; take for example football talent Ruben, son of our colleague Jitze, who plays at SC Cambuur. We are happy to contribute to this.

And since the entire board comes from Enkhuizen, we sponsor the Jazz Festival, the cycling club West Frisia and football club S.V. Enkhuizen, among others.

Company parties and treats

There have been a lot of parties in 2023. Big ones and small ones. These included a bowling evening, a pre-summer barbecue and the big RIS party where we raced across the Veluwe in old timer Mini Coopers. We ended the year festively with Ugly Christmas Sweater day.

We also enjoyed delicious snacks. We ate fresh Hollandse Nieuwe together, had croquettes on National Croquette Day and many sausage rolls, pudding rolls and fish patties were treated on birthdays. All employees also took home treats around the holidays. A huge chocolate Easter bunny, a box full of Saint Nicholas treats and of course the well-deserved Christmas hampers.

For 2024, many ideas are already in the pipeline! The party committee is eager to implement these ideas.