Andrew Berkhout, Chief Digital Officer Faber Group:
“We’re only scratching the surface of what we can achieve”
Andrew Berkhout, Chief Digital Officer Faber Group:
“We’re only scratching the surface of what we can achieve”
In March, Andrew Berkhout became Chief Digital Officer of Faber Group; a totally new role. It’s our pleasure to introduce him. He tells all about his ambitions for Faber Group, his first impressions and his own determination to make an impact.
Energy ‘I started on the first of March. And it’s been a joy, so far. I’m really enjoying all the new people I’m meeting, the issues I’m encountering, the new content, product, market… And I feel we’re only scratching the surface of what we can achieve. Every day, I see that the Faber Group is really living the family story – a story of striving towards sustainability and making an impact. I see it, and I believe it. All in all, there’s a lot of energy.’
A history in load carrying ‘I worked at Pon for 16 years. It’s one of The Netherlands’ most well-known businesses in the automotive sector. For the last 9 years, I was in charge of GreenWheels – a company of which Pon is shareholder. There, my aim was to reduce the amount of cars on the street, by offering a credible car-sharing alternative. After all those years, I was looking for a new challenge, but one with a similar focus on making a sustainable impact. Then, Faber Group came along.’
‘Of course, the context is totally different, but there are similarities, too. Because just like the load carriers of Faber Group, cars carry loads. And there’s another similarity. GreenWheels’ load carriers have been connected for years. The cars have computers that generate data which we used to optimize our processes, and find new ways to make our customers happy. Faber Group will also roll out its Connected Load Carriers, as part of its digital transformation. My experience in this field comes in handy, in making sure that we succeed in harnessing the power of data to improve our internal processes, performance and customer service.’
Purpose ‘As part of our purpose – carrying impact – we aim to optimize the lifecycle of our pallets. This means we have to keep track of them, so as to avoid losing them. If we succeed in doing so, we don’t need as much timber for new pallets, and we don’t have to fell quite as many trees. We’ve already made great strides towards this purpose, but if we succeed in connecting our pallets, we can really start reducing attrition to a minimum. And this is only one example of what we can do.’
We approach our purpose through what we call our ‘Green Triangle’; sustainability, value creation and digitalization. Digitalization – my side of the triangle – isn’t a goal in itself; rather, it’s an enabler of value creation and more sustainable business practices.’
In March, Andrew Berkhout became Chief Digital Officer of Faber Group; a totally new role. It’s our pleasure to introduce him. He tells all about his ambitions for Faber Group, his first impressions and his own determination to make an impact.
Energy ‘I started on the first of March. And it’s been a joy, so far. I’m really enjoying all the new people I’m meeting, the issues I’m encountering, the new content, product, market… And I feel we’re only scratching the surface of what we can achieve. Every day, I see that the Faber Group is really living the family story – a story of striving towards sustainability and making an impact. I see it, and I believe it. All in all, there’s a lot of energy.’
A history in load carrying ‘I worked at Pon for 16 years. It’s one of The Netherlands’ most well-known businesses in the automotive sector. For the last 9 years, I was in charge of GreenWheels – a company of which Pon is shareholder. There, my aim was to reduce the amount of cars on the street, by offering a credible car-sharing alternative. After all those years, I was looking for a new challenge, but one with a similar focus on making a sustainable impact. Then, Faber Group came along.’
‘Of course, the context is totally different, but there are similarities, too. Because just like the load carriers of Faber Group, cars carry loads. And there’s another similarity. GreenWheels’ load carriers have been connected for years. The cars have computers that generate data which we used to optimize our processes, and find new ways to make our customers happy. Faber Group will also roll out its Connected Load Carriers, as part of its digital transformation. My experience in this field comes in handy, in making sure that we succeed in harnessing the power of data to improve our internal processes, performance and customer service.’
Purpose ‘As part of our purpose – carrying impact – we aim to optimize the lifecycle of our pallets. This means we have to keep track of them, so as to avoid losing them. If we succeed in doing so, we don’t need as much timber for new pallets, and we don’t have to fell quite as many trees. We’ve already made great strides towards this purpose, but if we succeed in connecting our pallets, we can really start reducing attrition to a minimum. And this is only one example of what we can do.’
We approach our purpose through what we call our ‘Green Triangle’; sustainability, value creation and digitalization. Digitalization – my side of the triangle – isn’t a goal in itself; rather, it’s an enabler of value creation and more sustainable business practices.’
Andrew Berkhout ‘I started on the first of March. And it’s been a joy, so far.’
Time for action ‘There are lots of ideas floating around the organization. Now, we have to turn these ideas into actionable concepts, to strategize, and to execute. That’s my number one priority right now. When I arrived, I felt our plans hadn’t reached maturity. In the end, we need to be able to implement our ideas as efficiently and effectively as possible. This means that we need to be perfectly clear about what needs to happen. This strategy is currently taking shape and will be finalized by the end of May. This means it’ll be ready by the time our business units have their Division Boards. The new digital strategy will be something that we’ll discuss together, support together and execute together; we’ll be completely on the same page, so to speak. And we’ll be in a great place to work together towards Faber Group’s sustainability ambitions and towards enhanced value creation.’
‘By mid-June, then, all of our division boards and other stakeholders will be completely up to speed with all of our initiatives, and the ways these initiatives will interact and impact their own goals. In the remainder of 2024, I want to find out what our organization needs in order to execute all our plans effectively and efficiently. This might also mean adding roles that we currently don’t have. This digitalization thing is a big step for us; it requires an organizational structure that can support it.’ Poolwise ‘One of the biggest developments we’re working on is Poolwise. By now, the readers of Impact will be familiar with it. We’re currently implementing a single front end for our customers; a front end that will be used across our divisions. This saves us a lot of time and effort, because developing and maintaining one front-end is cheaper and more secure than four. PAKi is spearheading this effort. Our colleagues in Ennepetal are currently migrating the requirements of their own portal to Poolwise. Next, they’ll start migrating and onboarding their customers. And at the same time, we’re developing functionalities that will allow us to onboard more customers. All in all, a lot of work is being done; the time and effort spent now will help us to speed up the roll-out towards our other business units. Onboarding Meanwhile, I’m still onboarding. I’m familiarizing myself with the business model of Faber Group and with the company, and I’m getting to know the people. It’s a whole new world for me, and quite a dynamic period. I’m educating myself, but also laying the groundworks that we will be building on in our digital transformation. It’s a really fun phase; to work with new, inspiring and ambitious colleagues towards a new phase for all of us, and to make sure everything works out as we planned.
My two daughters Fiep and Cosette used to say, when we were walking down the streets of our hometown Rotterdam: ‘Look, Dad! A GreenWheels!’ And they could explain why a driving GreenWheels was a better than a GreenWheels that was just parked by the side of the road. Now, they say, ‘Look dad, pallets!’ And they can already tell the difference between pooled pallets and single-use pallets. Their onboarding is complete! And me, I’m enjoying myself – and excited about what’s next.’
Time for action ‘There are lots of ideas floating around the organization. Now, we have to turn these ideas into actionable concepts, to strategize, and to execute. That’s my number one priority right now. When I arrived, I felt our plans hadn’t reached maturity. In the end, we need to be able to implement our ideas as efficiently and effectively as possible. This means that we need to be perfectly clear about what needs to happen. This strategy is currently taking shape and will be finalized by the end of May. This means it’ll be ready by the time our business units have their Division Boards. The new digital strategy will be something that we’ll discuss together, support together and execute together; we’ll be completely on the same page, so to speak. And we’ll be in a great place to work together towards Faber Group’s sustainability ambitions and towards enhanced value creation.’
‘By mid-June, then, all of our division boards and other stakeholders will be completely up to speed with all of our initiatives, and the ways these initiatives will interact and impact their own goals. In the remainder of 2024, I want to find out what our organization needs in order to execute all our plans effectively and efficiently. This might also mean adding roles that we currently don’t have. This digitalization thing is a big step for us; it requires an organizational structure that can support it.’ Poolwise ‘One of the biggest developments we’re working on is Poolwise. By now, the readers of Impact will be familiar with it. We’re currently implementing a single front end for our customers; a front end that will be used across our divisions. This saves us a lot of time and effort, because developing and maintaining one front-end is cheaper and more secure than four. PAKi is spearheading this effort. Our colleagues in Ennepetal are currently migrating the requirements of their own portal to Poolwise. Next, they’ll start migrating and onboarding their customers. And at the same time, we’re developing functionalities that will allow us to onboard more customers. All in all, a lot of work is being done; the time and effort spent now will help us to speed up the roll-out towards our other business units. Onboarding Meanwhile, I’m still onboarding. I’m familiarizing myself with the business model of Faber Group and with the company, and I’m getting to know the people. It’s a whole new world for me, and quite a dynamic period. I’m educating myself, but also laying the groundworks that we will be building on in our digital transformation. It’s a really fun phase; to work with new, inspiring and ambitious colleagues towards a new phase for all of us, and to make sure everything works out as we planned.
My two daughters Fiep and Cosette used to say, when we were walking down the streets of our hometown Rotterdam: ‘Look, Dad! A GreenWheels!’ And they could explain why a driving GreenWheels was a better than a GreenWheels that was just parked by the side of the road. Now, they say, ‘Look dad, pallets!’ And they can already tell the difference between pooled pallets and single-use pallets. Their onboarding is complete! And me, I’m enjoying myself – and excited about what’s next.’