Drabor

Iron wire

More than 40 years ago, Jacques van Bortel started his business with three machines on the site of the erstwhile concrete factory in Terwolde. Back then, he discovered there was a market for bespoke wire deliveries. His son, Onno, completed his business studies degree before taking over the business, initially with a partner and later on his own. For the past eight years, he has been the director of Drabor, a business with 33 employees and locations in Terwolde and Vaassen.

Whatever type of wiring you’re looking for, chances are Drabor can make you a fitting offer. Drabor is the leading specialist in wiring of various qualities, whether in bar, pattern-laid coil, coil or ring form. Their speciality is bar straightening and cutting. For this purpose, their factory houses a modern machine park with 50 bar straightening and cutting machines. With this equipment, they are able like no other to supply wire bars quickly in the desired quality, at the requested length and in the correct quantities at competitive prices, regardless of order size.

Drabor’s selection includes the following:

· Bright wire

· Galvanized wire

· Copper-coated wire

· Stainless steel wire

· Black annealed (baling) wire

The wire coils are mostly purchased in Europe but also in India, Indonesia and China, depending on the market prices for iron, scrap and zinc. The wiring is mostly sold to existing customers.

Products for which they supply wires include items such as suspension wires for galvanising plants, bucket brackets, machine parts for conveyor belt installations, shop shelving and displays, paint rollers, fencing and annealed wire for baling. Wiring is also frequently supplied to the recycling industry; the entire environmental sector is an important sales market.

The director is proud of his long-standing relationships with customers, and the business has practically no employee turnover. The business’ growth is another source of pride, as are their technical innovations regarding wire cutting and straightening.

Drabor sees that their products must meet increasingly rigorous standards with the increase of robotised production. Maintaining quality standards is therefore becoming increasingly more critical as margins for straightness and length tolerances become smaller.

The increased automation and robotisation of production processes is one of the constantly evolving processes, in addition to in-house developments. The business now also makes use of packaging robots.

Sustainability

In terms of sustainability, scrap metal, paper, plastic, oil and other waste streams are carefully separated, and the reduction in packaging materials is also a key goal. Moreover, the plant has been heated for years by biomass fuel.