im | welcoming you
We are glad to welcome you on the website of im | innovating and hope you will find all the information you are looking for. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. We are more than willing to assist you in all technical matters or requests. Please visit our online store and explore today.
Our mission
im supplies the technologic and innovative difference to support our respected customers by strong team commitment
Norway
Pakistan
India
South Africa
Mexico
Australia
Austria
Belgium
The Netherlands
China
Czech Republic
Denmark
England
Finland
France
Germany
Indonesia
Italy
Poland
Portugal
Scotland
Serbia
Slovakia
Spain
Sweden
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
Uruguay
USA
Vietnam
Norway
Pakistan
India
South Africa
Mexico
Australia
Austria
Belgium
The Netherlands
China
Czech Republic
Denmark
England
Finland
France
Germany
Indonesia
Italy
Poland
Portugal
Scotland
Serbia
Slovakia
Spain
Sweden
Thailand
Turkey
Ukraine
Uruguay
USA
Vietnam
"From a unique position, our team delivers technological and innovative solutions that will make a difference for the customer"
Kees Houtepen
Director Engineering & Projects
im | welcoming you
About
“In the fifties, sixties and seventies, the leather industry in the Netherlands was associated with the shoe industry in the south of the Netherlands.
Many small tanneries, mainly located in North Brabant, south of the Netherlands, supplied the leather to the large shoe industry around Waalwijk (Langstraat).
As prosperity and income increases, the shoe business moved to the south and east of Europe before moving to Asia. This also affects the amount of tanneries operating at the time. Some were able to switch from manufacturing leather for furniture to eventually producing leather for automobiles, while others were able to continue producing leather goods like shoe covers.
Due to the commercial spirit of the Dutch, the trade in shoes and leather has always remained important for the region. In addition to a few tanneries, various trading companies are also successful there.”
1974 : Intermedia was founded in Tilburg. Four individuals, including Marc’s father, formed a trade corporation with global operations. The market for sales was in Central and Northern Europe, and the entire purchase had already taken place in Italy. The installing of machines were a big step. Eastern Europe had a bigger market for sales than Western Europe. In the former GDR, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, agreements were reached with leather manufacturers and central purchasing offices that had a long-term focus and high margins.
1989 : Due to the fall of the wall, all state-owned companies in the Eastern European market were privatized, however, this also meant that the capital needed to continue investing disappeared quickly. Intermedia ancipated this and acted quickly, which is why only the two youngest continued running the company following a sound reorganisation.
1994 : Marc finished his studies so he was asked if he would be interested in joining the commercial team.
2000 : Marc expanded activities outside the leather industry by purchasing shares and establishing the technical service in a new BV.
2008 : In 2008, Kees Houtepen, the Project Manager of Ecco, works closely with Intermedia on the engineering, construction, and planning of all plants. The collaboration projects include complete projects for Ecco China, renovate Ecco Indonesia, restart Ecco Thailand following the Bangkok flood disaster, and a new logistics facility in Thailand. And at the end of the 1990s, he was named Head of TD at a major Dongen tannery. And then he began transforming for Ecco from a blank slate to a functioning production firm.
2013 : Name change from Intermedia to im | innovating to emphasize the roles of projects according to their positions. And to emphasize the roles of projects more so than the middleman, they change the name Intermedia to im | Innovating.
2014 : Kees Houtepen joins im | innovating to concentrate on the technical aspect of our activities, while Marc will focus on the commercial & marketing side.
2015 : Becomes the start of pre-engineering work for Kees in the the international leather industry.
2019 : Begin working with Stahl to create a new application technique for high-quality finishing of less-than-perfect hides.
2020 : Comes the major impact of Corona on IM’s international trade.
im | welcoming you
Today
- The working area of im | innovating has grown in recent decades. This is because the important leather producers have started to work more internationally. im | innovating has always aimed to be a so-called high-end supplier and to provide the most creative solution within a reasonable price range. Kees’ acquisition has strengthened this position. This has to do with the growing fascination with the up-cyclical transformation of skins, a byproduct of the meat and dairy sectors, into leather. An essential client is the automotive sector.
- With a turnover of nearly seven million euros, the company presently has about 15 permanent (im | innovating and im | automating combined) employees. While Kees primarily concentrates on operations, Marc Oomens primarily concentrates on sales, finance, and marketing. To ensure the best possible supervision over the group’s financial status, an interim controller was also recently hired.
im | on a mission
Mission & Vision
- im | innovating BV. strives to find the best solution for all technical problems in the field of mechanics, hydraulics, transport and industrial automation, from the smallest malfunction, to the relocation of complete production processes.
- The best solution is achieved through the implementation of the highest level of expertise, dedication, transparency and flexibility, and the degree to which the services meet or exceed customer expectations is used as a benchmark.
- We will accomplish our goal as a team by fusing excellence, specialization, innovation, and zeal.
“ Our drive is your machine”
im | business
Business
- Due to COVID in particular, the investment climate for the leather industry has almost come to a standstill in 2020. To keep a leather factory running, the purchase of hides is a must and chemicals are needed for the production. Investments in capital goods were postponed. The supply chain for electronic components in particular continues to have an impact on the production of automobile leather, but the results of 2021 already show a clear recovery.
- Our industry is spending a lot of money on improving communication, and it was well-represented at the recent environmental conference in Glasgow. It is clear that industry is becoming more aware of its environmental obligations.
- As an alternative to plastic and other things made from fossil fuels, leather is gaining in prestige. We are predicting a benefit in terms of technical margin.
- In addition, a further development is the launch of the Ascender technology, for which im | innovative has global sales rights and can work closely with Stahl’s extremely effective and world-spanning organisation. These interactions and the one-stop-shop nature of im will enable us to generate an additional spin-off in turnover from new clients with an interest in the Ascender technology.
Sell / Buy
The brand awareness of im | innovating is big at the top of the leather factories. The commercial staff collaborates closely with the centralised buying offices and is always active in the worldwide market. Along with Tanning Tech in Milan, the biggest exposition of tanning and leatherworking equipment in the world, im | innovating also participates annual fairs in Dubai and Shanghai. In nations like Pakistan and India, agents are the primary suppliers of the used machinery market. Every actual machine and part sales opportunity is monitored by Exact online, and the information from this monitoring yields a quotation with a reasonable chance of success based on prior success statistics.
Due to the international scope of Marc’s work, Gijs Quispel has been appointed as an internal commercial manager to supervise the daily activities of the commercial team and keep an eye on opportunities and procedures. At the end of 2021, im becomes more actively accessible on various social media platforms. In addition, a website redesign is scheduled for 2023.
The combination of activities of the back office and the constant presence of the front office (Marc and international sales engineer Stefan Magielse) in the market provides a very clear picture of possible sales opportunities in the leather sector in Central and Northern Europe. The sales opportunities in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Scandinavia have been almost completely mapped out and are being continuously updated. For some of the global players in the leather industry, this also applies to Asia, South Africa and Central America.
im | Board
Meet our board
The management of im | innovating consists of Marc Oomens and Kees Houtepen.
In his role as director of sales and marketing, Marc acts as the foreman of the company towards the customers.
Marc is the account manager for the largest clients and takes on a large part of business development. In addition to sales and customer contact, Marc is also involved in finance. Marc is passionate about ‘working on the business’ and is open to learn from others.
Kees acts as director of engineering and projects. He oversees the majority of projects that do not relate to the ‘simple’ installations. Specifically: pre-engineering, specials, etc. and is a specialist in solving difficult situations. The two men complement each other.
Marc Oomens
Director of Sales
Kees Houtepen
Director of Engineering
Meet the rest of the team
Stefan Magielse
International Sales Engineer
Gijs Quispel
Commercial Manager
Bilal Bajwa
International Sales and Marketing Engineer
How we think
Corporate Social Responsibility
Helping the leather industry in Zimbabwe was one of our PUM missions
our collaboration to PUM activities in the Leather Industry to support the industry globally to innovate and produce leather in a responsible manner.
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- PUM is a volunteer organization established in 1978 by the Dutch employers association (VNO-)NCW.Since then, they have supported over 45,000 entrepreneurs all over the world.
- Since many years im-innovating support and contribute PUM on voluntary base.
- We have 3 senior experts who share their knowledge and experience in the leather industry sector.
- We can supply the technology and the correct expertise to produce leather in most economic and sustainable way which also meet government’s criteria regarding many aspects.
- Our experts are focused on corporate social responsibility and advise especially on machinery, work-flow and safety, but also take into consideration environmental awareness, quality/process control and corporate sustainability.
- With the aid of our professionals, im-innovating enables leather companies to innovate by, among other things, developing better processes, giving them technical guidance and support, not to mention advising them on the best possible, safest, most dependable, and simple machinery.
- We share knowledge to strengthen businesses and improve the quality of your leather.
- Our volunteers work with SMEs in emerging markets to create positive impact on the economy, environment and society and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals.
How we think
Unique Selling Proposition
One Stop – Shop
- im | Innovating strives to offer the best options for your manufacturing machinery and lines by utilising our engineering department. Aside from the fact that im has been providing technical solutions and machinery to the leather industry in various parts of the world for 45 years, im | automating has long provided these services to other sectors of the economy. These sectors include agriculture, plastics, logistics, the flower trade, and the production of building materials.
- im | automating has been providing technical solutions for branches such as food, plastics, recycling, logistics, flower trade & construction components manufacturing for some time now.
- These tailor-made technical solutions, production lines and specials are engineered in-house by im , assembled , programmed and ultimately delivered completely Turn- Key.
- The one-stop-shop approach is upheld since im is a master of all disciplines, including engineering, PLC programming, mechanical, and electrical engineering. As a result, the customer only needs to deal with im once.
“im will supply the best possible technical solution for their customers”
innovation
position
principle
Our responsibility
Corporate Social Responsibility
Our collaboration to PUM activities in the Leather Industry to support the industry globally to innovate and produce leather in a responsible manner.
