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Callens, a warm company with human values
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This time we went to visit an out-of-touch customer entrepreneur, Callens, a Belgian family business in Waregem, founded in 1966.
Belgian family business
Even before you walk into Callens, you notice the strong human touch of the company. A giant poster with the faces of the employees stares at you. And once inside the reception area you cannot miss the photos of the founders, Willy & Lena Callens, flanked by the strong slogan:
"Behind this company is a history. By this history there is a family."
Bam! A great entry point. In over half a century, Callens has grown into an A to Z integrated partner in heat and air technologies for the process industry.
Warm and decisive
With great respect for what Willy and Lena Callens built up, today the 2nd generation is at the helm of a, literally and figuratively, warm family business.
CEOs Annick Callens and Windy Moerman make no bones about it. "Delivering top quality, from a thorough knowledge, with the right timing and a decisive service, is in our DNA. This enables us to always offer our customers what they expect from us: speed, reliability and certainty!"
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"Titeca is the party for family businesses to take away the emotionality where necessary and approach everything in a business-like way with a human approach. It is also the ideal party to allow the emotionality a little bit where necessary."
Pur sang entrepreneurship
At the start, this company specialized in central heating and sanitary applications for residential villas, apartments, restaurants, ... In the 70s Willy Callens entered the industry. And so, over the years, Callens became one of the leading providers in the industrial heat world in Belgium.
"Willy was a West Flemish entrepreneur pur sang. He really dared to take risks. Willy was close to his customers, known for high quality, speed, good service and that day and night.
In 2003, we took over a company with important values and standards. Customer intimacy is still one of the most important basic values of this company. At the time, the company had customers in many different sectors: private individuals, schools, restaurants, industry, government, etc. We quickly made the decision to focus solely on the industry. Now we don't just bring the temperature to the right room. Today we mainly bring the temperature to the right machine, to the production process of companies."
From beer to car
"Our customers are large industrial companies that need heat or cooling in very different sectors such as food, breweries, textiles, wood and construction. Just think of the production of floor coverings, for example. We also support the pharmaceutical, automotive and petrochemical sectors.
And all of this mainly in Belgium. Callens is the market leader in Flanders and wants to become the same in Wallonia. We have a small branch in the Kempen region (Geel) and still have ambitions for the Netherlands and northern France. For our Belgian customers with companies abroad: Portugal, Lithuania, etc., we provide 'containerized solutions'. These customers then work with a local partner for service and maintenance. Callens follows the growth of its customers. Recently, we took over the Dutch company Optimum, which specializes in odor combustion and heat recovery technology."
From beer to car
"Our customers are large industrial companies that need heat or cooling in very different sectors such as food, breweries, textiles, wood and construction. Just think of the production of floor coverings, for example. We also support the pharmaceutical, automotive and petrochemical sectors.
And all of this mainly in Belgium. Callens is the market leader in Flanders and wants to become the same in Wallonia. We have a small branch in the Kempen region (Geel) and still have ambitions for the Netherlands and northern France. For our Belgian customers with companies abroad: Portugal, Lithuania, etc., we provide 'containerized solutions'. These customers then work with a local partner for service and maintenance. Callens follows the growth of its customers. Recently, we took over the Dutch company Optimum, which specializes in odor combustion and heat recovery technology."
"We jeunen us!"
The tasks between Windy and Annick are well divided. Side by side they work complementary to ensure the operational functioning of the company. Windy and Annick are each other's sounding board to monitor the further strategy of Callens in the short and long term.
"We make all the decisions together. There is a strong cross-pollination between Annick and me. It is the combination between, my sometimes impulsive entrepreneurial instinct, and the rather cautious controlling approach of Annick. This golden mean ensures that we have made a nice growth path without losing continuity.
We 'jean' ourselves here, for us it is not about money. Above all, we would like to successfully pass the ship from the first generation to the 3rd generation. With our conversations about Callens, we stimulate the interest of our 3 children. We answer their questions, but above all we give them the freedom to be children.
True
"Annick and I added a lot of human values: honesty, cordiality, loyalty, openness, transparency. In this way, the 200 Callens employees also become our ambassadors. If family businesses no longer work, it is because they have the wrong emphasis. Callens is a 'family business', not a 'business family'. The company always comes first, there should be no personal issues on the table when decisions are made."
Big enough to cope, but small enough to care
"Over the last 50 years, we supplied 3000 industrial customers. We are the market leader with 50% market share. We do not impose a fixed growth target on the company. We grow organically and look for interesting opportunities and company acquisitions. We don't want to be held hostage by the company. We enjoy watching our children grow up.
Seeing our employees grow also gives us satisfaction. If you're driving your car and you feel like you're driving fast enough, then a car is guaranteed to pass you. And if you feel that you have everything under control, then you are not driving fast enough. In short, Callens is growing in order to stay ahead of the competition. Of course, growth is not an end in itself. We opt for rooted and reasoned growth without losing continuity. That's entrepreneurship!"
Far beyond the numbers
"Emmanuel Titeca sits on our advisory board. We got to know him in 2001 when we acquired a competitor. Emmanuel had so much knowledge that we couldn't find anywhere else. We grew as customers with Titeca. We quickly entrusted Titeca with our accounting and contract management. We also get social, legal and financial advice... Veerle is our file manager. Emmanuel was also a good ally to accompany the emotional milestones, which there undoubtedly are in every family business."
"Titeca is the party for small and large family businesses to take away the emotionality where necessary and approach everything in a business-like way with a human approach. On the other hand, it is also the ideal party to allow the emotionality a little bit where necessary."
We have been working with Titeca for 17 years now. Emmanuel Titeca also understood the emotionality of the founder Willy Callens during the generational change. So a very close relationship."
Delegation is life
"We are fantastically well supported, by partners like Titeca, our advisory board and other consultants. This allows us to delegate more and more and we also continuously monitor the balance in life. Annick's free time goes to her family. She provides a safe and warm home environment for the children. Besides the family, I also like a sporting challenge; every few days it itches to go and play sports. Thank goodness for that because I greatly enjoy going out for culinary meals. Twice a year I try to take the belt off and travel with the kids."
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