Social and responsible entrepreneurship is in Holbox’s DNA

Holbox in Echt has grown considerably and needs more space. The family business will therefore move to a new, larger building in Roermond at the beginning of 2024. Chantal Hol and her brother Martijn Hol talk about the success of the Limburg display specialist, whose people have sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) in their DNA.

text Harry van Deursen photos Raoul Limpens

Asign that says “Jan Hol Verpakking bv” adorns the windowsill in the office of managing director Martijn Hol. It refers to the early years when Holbox was still a wholesaler of corrugated cardboard boxes. “My father Jan’s wholesale box business was one big playground when I was young”, says Martijn. “The moment he became an independent entrepreneur in 1976 is something I remember well. I was eight years old. We played hide and seek between the boxes and climbed on pallets. My father never pushed me to get into the business. The decision to join the company as soon as possible was mine and mine alone.” Chantal Hol, commercial and marketing director, also started summer jobs at an early age. “I filled in as a receptionist and helped in the graphics department.” Today, brother and sister run the company together, which has become the market leader in cardboard displays. Together, they manage 225 employees and are responsible for a branch in Poland where about 200 people work.

Niches

“We’ve always looked for niches in the market”, says Martijn. “In the early days, it was the rapid delivery of customised corrugated cardboard boxes. Due to the emergence of large corrugated cardboard factories, we switched to cardboard displays. That’s our core business now. We make it easier for customers by taking care of the entire process for point of sale material. From design to production, setting up and filling and transport of the displays, if necessary. We manage all the production processes for this ourselves.” To find the niches in the market, you have to follow that market closely, says Chantal. “The trading environment can change quickly. We noticed this during the COVID period, when only the supermarkets remained open.

Their turnovers were excellent back then. We also benefited from that.” According to Chantal, these kinds of crises make it more difficult to make forecasts, but she sees plenty of opportunities. “New markets pop up during a crisis, such as emerging B-brands. To spot these trends, we regularly make store visits to all major retailers. We have a database that allows us to look back up to 15 years.”

Sustainability

Holbox is a leader in sustainable production. Ten years ago, the company developed an offset press together with KBA that applies water-based lacquers and thus replaced harmful UV lacquers. “Sustainability is in our DNA”, says Chantal. “We’ve been using bio-inks for printing for years and only use FSC-certified cardboard. We were the first supplier to make 100% FSC-approved displays. And if the customer wishes, we can also use grass paper. Eco design is another strong point of ours. This means we cleverly organise the punching plates with little production waste and we give parts of the transport packaging a second lease of life by using them as the interior construction of the display. This is how you extend a product’s life cycle.” “We have various patents for this”, Martijn continues. “It mainly concerns smart constructions that enable you to make large displays with a lot of carrying capacity with little cardboard.”

No more gas

The company will move to Roermond in 2024. With 30,000 square metres, the new Holbox building will be twice as large as the old building in Echt. The new building has the highest sustainability certification: BREEAM Excellent. Martijn says: “We’re moving away from gas and want to be completely self-sufficient.

During light hours, that’s no problem because we have 3,000 solar panels on the roof. We want to install battery containers for the evening hours. In addition, there will be a kind of central highway of 250 metres with electric AGVs for internal transport. That offers a considerable efficiency improvement.”

Advancement location

The new building is also necessary for the growing number of co-pack projects realised by Holbox. Setting up and filling displays requires a lot of space. During these projects, the company also works together with asylum permit holders and people from the sheltered workshop. “We’re the most successful advancement location in Limburg for people with disabilities in the labour market”, says Martijn. “Social involvement is important to us.”

Chantal: “As an entrepreneur, you have a duty of care. Both towards your employees and those around you. That’s something our parents taught us. Holbox therefore also organises projects for charity, such as End Polio Now, and has set up its own Navenant Foundation. On average, we donate around 200,000 euros a year.” “Making displays can be combined well with a social view of the world”, Martijn concludes.

“That feels good to us and also to our people. The nice thing about a company is that you work together with your people and your customers. And that we’re all proud of our product. That’s Holbox.” n