As a Sales staff member, I like to think I pull my weight within this interesting and dynamic business, where I work with great pleasure each and every day. My duties are very diverse; they include contact with customers and the entering and processing of orders, so I am involved right from the start up to and including the delivery of an outstanding product. Good communication and cooperation with customers and colleagues are key to me as I go about my work.

As a member of the active and innovative RIS Rubber team, I attend to all manner of customer business, which means that as well as visiting clients, I also maintain contact by mail or telephone. All members of our Sales department have their own tasks, but we all cooperate within a very well-structured system. One of my tasks is the handling of quotes. I feel that it is especially important at the time of the initial enquiry that we understand fully what the customer wants. After all, the better we can interpret the customer's question, the more successful our solution will be. Because the enquiries are so diverse this is always a challenge, but crucial for giving shape to the customer's idea.

As a Sales Manager, I maintain existing customer relationships, as well as seeking new clients. Customer satisfaction is always the starting point. I also have marketing-related duties, working with our Sales Director and Marketing department, and I lead the RIS Rubber sales team, which functions like an operations office. The lines of communication between the R&D department and our customers are short, so the complex issues, wishes and needs of our customers can be dealt with quickly and efficiently. The fact that we can develop, test and produce rubber products in Lelystad or Bulgaria is a major benefit, and reassures our customers that the company has everything it takes to meet all their needs.

RIS has a lot of knowledge and possibilities in the rubber field. From my role, I continuously try to bring supply and demand together in order to create a beautiful cooperation. The development, production and testing of rubber products is our expertise. This, in combination with the special properties of rubber, give us the opportunity to be active in many industries. The great diversity and the wide network make this work very enjoyable and challenging.

I am responsible for all the technical aspects of rubber and moulds. I develop new moulds with the design engineer and maintain contact with compound suppliers about existing and yet to be developed rubber mixtures. We are dynamic and flexible as well as highly inventive and innovative. Good advice about product design is important but the choice of a compound with the right mechanical and chemical properties for a dedicated application is definitely just as essential. The diversity of our product range and our expertise in rubber products makes us special In terms of dimensioning and weight, but also of function. One product will be loaded dynamically while another is loaded statically; almost without pressure or with a pressure that may run into millions of kilos. RIS Rubber stands for boundless production possibilities.

I have been working with RIS Rubber since 2005, when I finished my study in Technical Economics. My work involves the conversion of a customer’s idea into a functioning product. To do this, I need to make use of the proper resources. I might, for example, have to calculate the properties of rubber models by means of an FEM software package. In the follow-up stage, I assess the actual products by carrying out practice trials. This means I can match theory with practice at a fast pace. The scope of my work involves the whole of the process, ranging from the drawing board to final delivery to the customer. The wide range of product groups makes my job one big challenge. And this versatility is definitely characteristic of RIS Rubber.

The job of a Mould and R&D Engineer at RIS Rubber is to make sure that customer requirements are effectively translated into optimal products. We are constantly working to balance makeability and cost efficiency, while paying due attention to sustainability and user-friendliness. That is how we arrive at the best designs for products and moulds that will make both our customers and our production colleagues happy. We engineer the moulded-rubber articles and moulds in 3D and 2D using the SolidWorks plotting programme, whereby we calculate and simulate the rubber products and designs with a view to ensuring optimal efficiency in mould production. The nicest thing about my work is that I am involved from the concept right through to the production-technical solution.

I feel that the technical features incorporated in our products are a highly intriguing aspect of RIS Rubber. I had no knowledge whatsoever of rubber products before I joined the company; I simply thought that rubber was just rubber. But producing moulded rubber products entails much more than just the material. To my mind, the interesting part of my work is the devising and development of the moulds and parts from which a concrete end product ensues. I have been working with RIS Rubber as a trainee Mould Engineer since January 2019, and already I am entrusted with the drawing and repair of moulds.

As a Mould Engineer, I work on designing moulds for customer-specific rubber products. The challenges in mould production are the initial investment and the production time. The acknowledged sweet spot is achieving the optimum balance between quality, use, cost and makeability. I have an affinity with engineering in the manufacturing industry, and from my industrial design background I have experience of the use of materials, production techniques, ergonomics and innovation, both within the sector and multidisciplinary.

The special thing about RIS Rubber is that all our products meet the prevailing quality requirements. This can only be achieved with a motivated team and a well-oiled process. And I liaise with all our departments every day to achieve that. I take care of stock management, plan orders, optimise capacity utilisation and carry out recalculations. This necessitates close contact with our Quality Service and Sales department, but I consult intensively with the production coordinator in particular and, obviously, with the production people. On the other hand, I also assist our customers by monitoring the specified delivery times and ensuring that all aspects of orders in progress are carried out accurately. My biggest challenge? Making the impossible possible.

In my role as a Production Coordinator I am responsible for the smooth running of the production process. As such, I am always in close contact with the Production Manager, while also being a source of information for my colleagues on the shop floor. Some important key words for my role would be: product optimisation, quality assurance, and the efficient organisation of work. Working at RIS means that no two days are the same thanks to the great diversity of duties and products. Enjoyable, but also a huge challenge!

My name is Jan Kroonenburg and I work as a quality controller at RIS Rubber. Among other things, my work includes performing first product checks, intermittent checks, entry checks on metal parts and final checks, as well as measurement reporting. I also sample the products from new and adjusted moulds to check that they conform to the measurements specified by our customers. The performance of trial mouldings (compression set measurements) is another of my tasks. My other duties include calibrating measuring equipment and producing work instructions for my colleagues to ensure the smooth running of the production process.

To my mind, what is really special about RIS Rubber is the technology that is hidden behind seemingly simple products. After all, we jointly develop and produce innovative, high-quality industrial moulded rubber products whereby we also take seriously our footprint on the environment and people. It is my duty to realise those objectives in terms of quality, health, safety and the environment, and to secure them throughout our development and production process. Being the QESH (Quality, Environment, Safety & Health) Manager, I am co-responsible for the company’s quality and HSE strategy and its implementation. Its main objective is to supply a 100% quality product to our customers. And obviously we want our stakeholders to be aware of our accountability for operating safely and responsibly.

RIS Rubber supplies high-quality products, and in order to be able to manufacture them, the production machines must be kept in good repair. Only then can operators perform their work safely and correctly. I am responsible for maintenance and troubleshooting. I am also the contact for those outside companies that perform periodic maintenance and (mandatory) inspections in our factory. The Technical Department is fully digital, and we also have a good system for preventive maintenance. Both systems comply with RIS Rubber’s policy of ensuring ongoing professionalisation. My passion lies chiefly in the diversity of the various techniques that are needed within the production process. Something new is always happening at RIS Rubber, so no two days are ever the same!

RIS Rubber is, and has always been a marvellous business, and the team of great people working for us deserve most of the credit. Day in, day out, our people work with the sort of passion you might expect from them if it were their own business. I therefore consider it a true privilege to be able to head RIS Rubber. To my mind, one of the most intriguing aspects of our business is the first product stemming from a new mould. Not only does it reflect the end of a conceptual pathway that usually begins with an idea, a drawing or a sketch, it also marks the beginning of a product's life cycle, and often of a longstanding collaboration with a customer.

Long-term vision is undoubtedly the strength of RIS Rubber. We have built up a network of quality suppliers, with whom we have solid price agreements both at home and abroad. This means we can offer competitive prices to our clients ourselves. At the same time, thanks to our transparent provision of financial information and the outstanding delivery reliability of our suppliers, we can meet the delivery times agreed. That’s why RIS Rubber is known as a reliable and flexible partner for high-quality moulded rubber products. What appeals to me is that every product – whether large or small – is underpinned by the extensive technology delivered by a technical team of 160 people, whereby all employees contribute to achieving the high quality of all our products.