SPOTLIGHT
The secret to DURABILITY
F O C U S
FA CI LI TY SU PP LI ES & PP E/ SA FE TY
German office products manufacturer is Durable by name, and most certainly durable by nature – by Michelle Sturman
www.opi.net
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he traditional office products industry has been called many things over the years, but fast-moving and experimental are unlikely terms to top the list. Until COVID-19 that is. For a sector more akin to a carthorse than a racing car, the pandemic caused some OP manufacturers to suddenly switch into top gear and rev into action to protect their business. Germany-based Durable was one such vendor. Like many other companies, Durable saw demand and sales swiftly collapse from Q2 2020 onwards as coronavirus began to sweep around the world. Simultaneously, customer interest shifted to solutions and products for infection control, hygiene measures and the containment of the spread of COVID-19. Charged with navigating the firm through the crisis was newcomer Rolf Schifferens, who took up the Managing Director position in early 2020. Having said ‘newcomer’, Schifferens is in fact a veteran of the traditional OP world – he had spent the previous 18 years at writing instruments vendor Faber-Castell, among them as Managing Director of its distribution subsidiary and as a board member. Preparing to build on Durable’s existing “very healthy pillars”, Schifferens had assigned himself the task of revising certain internal processes and undertaking some restructuring. He says: “A year ago, the effects of the pandemic were unforeseeable, so the challenges
brought about by COVID-19 caught Durable and myself out just as they did everyone else. “Needless to say, the mandate I had set myself had to wait as the focus shifted to mastering the crisis and being flexible in our response to the new circumstances. Hopefully, we will be able to work on the original goals this year.” THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX The pandemic induced unparalleled disruption for businesses, which created remarkable inventiveness at breakneck speeds rarely seen beforehand. Durable definitely fits into this category as it sought to stem the flow of sales flooding away. Referring to the company’s core strengths of flexibility and innovation, Schifferens explains that the venture into manufacturing PPE was indeed an idea hatched by a colleague. “In a very unbureaucratic move, we decided to pursue the concept. What followed was a creative and extremely efficient project. An agile team of experts from various areas such as product development and management, production and sales were put together at short notice to create a face visor.” Swiftly swinging into action, it took the Durable team just two weeks from proposal to prototype. Manufacturing then immediately commenced in Germany, making an urgently needed product from existing supplies. “Instead of folders and name badges, we were manufacturing face visors. They can be used as attachable shields to support those
DURABLE IN NUMBERS Office and manufacturing facilities: 15 Staff: about 700 Revenues: €100 million ($119 million) Portfolio: office supplies & filing; information & orientation; facility & warehouse equipment; new work solutions Product distribution: 80+ locations worldwide
