Typically, we see the water market segmented into two: municipal and industrial. Most small manufacturers will specialise in one of these sectors to offer solutions to their clients.
Kemco System’s CEO Tom Vanden Heuvel doesn’t think that’s specialist enough. He believes that, in order to provide true value to customers, companies should be looking to dive deeper into subcategories of those two, then become excellent at serving those categories.
That’s exactly what Kemco have done. Originally founded as a heat exchanger business in 1969, they subsequently moved into the water treatment space and today have strong footholds in the laundry, concrete and food processing markets.
Once Kemco find themselves in a niche, they let themselves be led by either the technology, their customer, or both. In Tom’s words they aren’t led by any ‘grand strategy’, it’s just about listening to customers and catering for their needs.
Then, as the customer needs evolve, the technology evolves with it, investing their R&D spend into highly targeted areas that will have a direct benefit to these niche clients. As the technology develops, it can then naturally open up new applications in new markets, which then opens new doors for the business.
It’s a strategy that ensures fewer failures and happy customers, as well as new revenue streams for Kemco when they find a hit.
Efficiency is Everything
Kemco were founded in 1969 and, according to their website they are on a mission to provide “the world’s most efficient systems by delivering long lasting equipment at lower operating cost and the best service and support”.
All those statements are geared towards reliability and cost-saving for the customer. In markets where water and wastewater are becoming more expensive than ever, efficiency and, subsequently green credentials are a cornerstone of the businesses ethos.
In April this year Kemco announced CONSERVE, a programme which enables customers to invest in water recycling as a service. This includes equipment, installation, parts and servicing but on a monthly basis therefore eliminating the high up front capital equipment costs.
“We can make this model work by using the client’s savings from high water and wastewater costs to cover the programme,”
said Vanden Heuvel.
*You can read the entire article, Exploiting Your Niche In Water, by clicking the button below.
* From an original article published by English writer Alex Mason on May 21, 2020 on https://www.searchingindustrial.com/media/1065/exploiting-your-niche-in-water May 21, 2020
