Vincent guides top tier company through a challenging phase

Paques, based in Balk, Friesland, has been a global pioneer in biological wastewater and biogas treatment systems for over forty years. The company delivers innovative solutions that are both environmentally and economically sustainable. In over sixty countries, Paques has supplied more than 3,300 installations to customers in sectors including food, petrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals. To minimize its own environmental footprint, the company transitioned from a production to a purchasing organization in 2023. This meant not only a change in working methods but also in mindset, processes, and responsibilities. Vincent Klein Koerkamp is helping the company navigate this challenging phase.

At least as high quality standards

Anyone who talks about “the shop floor” at Paques these days is no longer referring to the production halls. The shop floor consists of project teams, where engineers, purchasing, and quality professionals work together to achieve something great. This shop floor also houses the sales and service departments, which contribute significantly to the core processes of Paques today.

The engineers translate customer needs into innovative solutions. They further specify these solutions to ensure they meet both customer and Paques-specific requirements. The purchaser ensures that the necessary assets are obtained from a growing network of suppliers, whereas previously, Paques-specific assets were primarily sourced from in-house production. The biggest challenge lies in specifying the Paques-specific assets and ensuring their quality, which must be at least as high as the quality previously achieved from in-house production.

When Vincent Klein Koerkamp was hired by the company in Balk in December 2024, he mapped the status quo of various projects and built a dashboard that provided clear insight into the status of engineering, planning, purchasing, and progress for each ongoing project.

Quality Assurance

Vincent: “In a purchasing organization, the focus is on engineering, sourcing components, and delivering customer-focused solutions. In the past, as a supplier, you could guarantee the quality of your product: you built it yourself. But for a purchasing organization, it’s essential to be able to guarantee the quality of your suppliers upfront. If you don’t have a clear picture of that, you can encounter unpleasant surprises. We’ve done a lot to ensure quality through Q-plans and ITPs, which were reviewed with the customer and then shared with our suppliers. In addition, I worked with the Quality Manager to map out various processes within a (purchasing) organization. Who needs what and when? Which templates are appropriate? For example, how do we ensure that engineering and purchasing seamlessly integrate? And how do we guarantee that the engineering BOM (bill of material) is fully purchased, so we don’t encounter any surprises during assembly and commissioning anywhere in the world?”

Solution Oriented

Because the internal organization demanded all our attention, customer contact had somewhat waned under my predecessors. Due to the internal transition, we were temporarily unable to deliver what we had promised. That’s not a good sign for a company that values ​​reliability globally. We therefore invested a great deal of energy in this area. We had difficult, honest conversations with customers. Open and solution-oriented. Customers appreciated our approach and especially the realism in the revised schedules that were shared weekly to demonstrate that we were back on track.

Dashboards

To guide the organization through this challenging phase, Vincent Klein Koerkamp temporarily took on a broader role than just project manager. “I also took on some of the purchasing management for my own projects, working closely with the Purchasing Manager. Because they had switched to a new ERP system, we also encountered problems and challenges in that area. To maintain an overview, I created my own dashboards, which I reviewed weekly with the project teams. This way, everyone knew exactly when something needed to be ordered and delivered. This allowed suppliers to be tracked and managed more quickly and efficiently to ensure timely deliveries, allowing Paques to meet the schedules issued to customers. That dashboard was key to maintaining control over the processes.”

Grateful assignment

“It’s a very rewarding assignment,” is how Vincent describes his work at Paques. “Everyone is open to ideas for improvements and is willing to adopt them. Paques-specific and customized. This means I see immediate results from the actions taken. Not just me, but everyone I work with as well. The shift is also visible on the work floor. People feel a new wind is blowing. That the processes now support a purchasing organization. Every project starts with a clear scope definition, and the teams ensure that the outsourcing strategy is implemented. What can this client expect from us and when?”

Navigeren naar de toekomst

What’s Vincent’s biggest challenge? “Guiding the organization in such a way that they can continue independently in the new structure. They need someone to help them navigate the process and who brings experience from similar organizations. Someone who understands how a purchasing organization works, who helps them align the processes accordingly, and who connects the teams.”

Meanwhile, Paques remains a globally leading company. With innovative technology, a rock-solid product, and a market brimming with potential. Thanks in part to the efforts of Vincent Klein Koerkamp, ​​the transition to a future-proof organization is now underway. With the same reliability, quality, and customer focus as before, but with a reduced global footprint. Something that’s firmly in Paques’ DNA.

Valuation

The fact that Vincent Klein Koerkamp’s efforts are appreciated at Paques is clearly reflected in the words of Willemien Wink, Project Manager at Paques:

Vincent is tenacious, doesn’t let up until everything is perfectly arranged, and has a keen eye for processes. He helps us deliver ongoing projects successfully. But above all, he uses his knowledge and experience to establish a true project organization. He has a clear vision of professional project management and what we can expect from each other. He presents this in a very friendly and approachable manner. That makes people want to join in. A professional project manager and a great colleague.