Arminius delighted with visitor reaction to their quality products
Questions – Ian Gillam
Answers – Heiko Lange, Arminius Managing Director
What are you trying to achieve during your time at Ligna?
Firstly we’re really surprised what’s happened this week because the last show was four years ago of course, and then along comes the Corona virus and nobody knows really what might happen to this show – I have to say we are really excited and pleased with how the first day went. From early on in the day we were meeting old customers of course, but what came as a bit of a surprise was that we were also attracting with new companies in good numbers. So it was a really good start.
What sets you apart from your competitors?
For industries and companies large and small, we have tools fit for purpose – different tools for a wide range of applications. The difference is our tools, our very high quality tools, and some of them are unique to us. Arminius is about quality. We have a full range of standard sanding tools of course, but we have many that I would say are not available elsewhere to the standard we produce. Yes, quality and this kind of structure, the kind of profile, I mean there are other ones, they have straight profiles, but not profiles like ours. It should be pointed out that it’s really difficult to create this quality – but that is exactly what our customers need.
One area where we have invested recently which differentiates us from the standard sanding tool offer is our EcoFlex range, which is easy to spot with its rich green colour. The EcoFlex sanding disc set consists of two EcoFlex TB25 bases and individually selectable EcoFlex B20 spacers – together they form the basic body. This is supplemented by the abrasive applied to the black carrier, which is adapted to the contour of your work piece. This is easy to change thanks to a plug-in system – both the profile and the grain. The profiled sanding elements coated with abrasives, which can also be ordered in different common grain sizes according to customer requirements, complete the set. The EcoFlex TB25 base, like each individual EcoFlex B20 spacer, is made from sustainable, bio-compatible raw materials.
What does the future looking like for Arminius?
Our company has a subsidiary located in the United States, through which we deliver almost half of our production to customers in the US and to Canada. While this allows us to expand our market reach, we acknowledge the potential negative impact on our carbon footprint due to increased transportation. Although delivering to Europe and Germany is relatively easy for us, delivering to the US and Canada presents a unique challenge. Nonetheless, we remain optimistic about potential clients from the East.
Sometimes we have really big orders, and big orders are of course good for our production but sometimes it is also good if you have lot of small customer orders then we have a wider base. The customers or people don’t know exactly our product and all the reasons because we go in trade magazines and we see it at every show. The people come and say, oh, we don’t know this or that happened yet …
What has been the customer reaction to the EcoFlex range?
People are surprised about our product – firstly, we make everything normally by hand and they are surprised and say ‘great, that’s our future too’, and that is our main idea. Our customers understand and share our values in that regard. In terms of performance it speaks for itself, and additionally there is a weight saving of course, and this matters especially in shipping costs and the safe delivery of the products.
We take orders for the EcoFlex system online via our new web page all the time – www.tools4everybody.de – there customers can upload measured drawings specific to individual orders. It’s clear and easy to order. We think it’s a great idea and our customers agree.
When it comes to the UK market for Arminius, what would you like to see moving forwards?
In the past the UK has been a more successful market for Arminius, primarily because we had a dealer in UK, but this is approaching retirement so we have work to do there. And then Brexit happened. Nobody knows, really what’s happened in UK, what’s happened with the Europe-UK relationship and so on.
We have good news though in that we now another dealer for the UK market – the East Midland Saw & Tool Company (EMST), based in Rutland Mill, Chapel St, Long Eaton. We currently have two or three direct customers in the UK and we are optimistic that the market will continue to grow for us, but we understand that it will take time. The UK is considered a part of Europe to us, and if we ship anything there, we handle any challenges that arise with customs and so on. We are confident that with the help of our new dealer, we will further develop the UK market for Arminius Tooling.
