To understand the history of this family business, we need to go back in time to 1969. That year, Frans De Roovere – who was the CEO of Reynaers Aluminium at the time – founded Aluro, a company specialising in aluminium machining.
Over the following decades, Frans De Roovere’s company developed into a robust group with a wide range of activities, such as the production of thermal break machines, bending of aluminium profiles, and manufacturing of mechanical parts. His son joined the company in 1990.
A fervent advocate of automation, Helmut De Roovere was convinced that robots would become indispensable in machining. He bought the company’s first robot in the early 90s. He later admitted that it was first commissioned in 2005.
"}},{"componentType":"sectionTitle","title":"A spin-off’s journey to success"},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":"‘At the time, I was still working at Aluro, my father’s company,’ Helmut De Roovere recalls.
‘Given the rising wage costs, we found it increasingly difficult to compete with other international companies. Our margins were shrinking while the pressure on our employees was increasing continually. The situation was untenable. So I came up with the idea of reducing the pressure by having a robot free employees from repetitive tasks. Another advantage was that our employees could spend more time focussing on creative activities, which led to higher employee satisfaction. By then, CNC operators were already in short supply.’
"}},{"componentType":"paragraph","title":"The quest for the right robot","richBody":{"value":"At the start, we had no commercial objectives whatsoever. All we wanted to do was to create the most effective solution possible.
As Helmut realised that the robot failed to live up to requirements, he began to scour trade fairs and companies in search of flexible models that were better suited to small and medium-sized companies like Aluro. Much to his surprise, his search proved fruitless.
‘This made us think. While we hadn’t found the right solution, we knew where to find all the technologies we needed to create the solution we needed. So why not take the plunge? All the more so as we already had unique knowledge and experience in machine building.
All we wanted to do was to create the most effective solution possible for our sister company. We needed a dedicated environment where we could gather the right team.
The result was our first ‘in-house’ solution, which we tested at Aluro after which we optimised it. We soon realised that in addition to benefiting Aluro, it also met a major marketplace need. At that point, several talented young professionals came on board who were better at sales and marketing than I was. They started selling our solutions, and the rest is history, as they say.’
"}},{"componentType":"sectionTitle","title":"An all-in robot concept"},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":"Obviously, RoboJob was not the first company to design robots. But these other robots were intended for mass production, which had already been relocated to low-wage countries.
Thanks to their more user-friendly configuration, RoboJob’s robots and cobots are much better suited to the automation of small and medium production runs.
‘I like to compare it to a car,’ Helmut De Roovere says. ‘An engine is a key element in a car, but it will never get you from point A to point B. For that, you need the whole car: a chassis, wheels, steering wheel, easy-to-use controls, etc. We do the same with our robots: we supply the engine as well as an overall concept, which includes a user-friendly programming environment.
As a result, our robots and cobots are much more intuitive. So you can deploy them easily and quickly for the automation of small and medium production runs of anything from 10 to 50 pieces.’
And that just happened to be what the European manufacturing industry was looking for. RoboJob thus became a huge success soon after it was established. Today, 17 years later, the company has subsidiaries in Belgium, Germany and the United States, and has installed more than 1,800 robots in over 30 countries.
"}},{"componentType":"sectionTitle","title":"Family businesses are different"},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":"‘Since day 1, RoboJob has been a family business, and it still is, despite our spectacular growth and even a temporary acquisition by a Chinese manufacturer of robotic systems,’ says Helmut De Roovere.
‘Even if we didn’t always hold 100% of the shares, our approach never changed over the years: we are a family business, after all. My three sons all work as commercial and industrial engineers. However, we are not that big on hierarchy, for example. In my opinion, hierarchy is only a necessary evil if you don’t work with the right people. At RoboJob, hierarchical levels are not that important.’
Helmut’s son, Jelle De Roovere, who is a Business Manager at RoboJob, and who was also there during the interview, is quick to add: ‘We don’t focus on reporting. We find it, and hierarchy, not that important. By contrast, we really value collaboration, developing collective intelligence and making a concerted effort to tackle challenges as a team.’
"}},{"componentType":"sectionTitle","title":"A family atmosphere"},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":"Jelle thinks there is another major difference with other companies.
‘Because we work as a family, we are more sensitive to specific needs and values within our company. We believe that our colleagues’ families are part of the RoboJob family. That is why we regularly organise events such as the inauguration of our new building, inviting employees’ partners and children to celebrate with us. We also encourage our teams to do activities together.
What’s more, we operate in an international market, and our employees regularly have to work abroad. We know that our employees sometimes miss their families. As a family business, this is something we want to avoid. That’s why we want to work more locally, with subsidiaries in Germany and the United States, to guarantee our employees a better work-life balance. While other companies also do this, perhaps they don’t always do this because they share our sensitivity.’
"}},{"componentType":"sectionTitle","title":"The transition to the next generation"},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":"Now that Jelle and his other sons are on board, Helmut De Roovere is certain that the company will be in good hands when he retires. All the more so given that RoboJob has felt the consequences of the current war for talent.
‘We really focus on product development and engineering. Activities that attract highly qualified young graduates who want to work in their region. So clearly, we are in a good place. But our customers, the manufacturing companies, are finding it increasingly difficult to hire employees with the technical skills they are looking for. Many baby boomers like me are leaving the labour market. Replacing them is almost impossible for the simple reason that there is a shortage of secondary school graduates with a technical degree. Companies are turning to automation to deal with this labour shortage and make them more attractive to the much larger number of workers with higher education degrees.’
"}},{"componentType":"sectionTitle","title":"A new and encouraging era"},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":"Besides an ageing workforce, Helmut De Roovere also noticed a positive development after the pandemic.
‘During the pandemic, we noticed that those customers who had already opted for automation could continue to produce without a hitch, even if the majority of their employees had to stay home. Others had to halt their production. During this exceptional period, many more people realised that automation is a necessity.’
‘The pandemic also made us realise something essential,’ says Helmut De Roovere. ‘Many European companies realised that they had become too dependent on other major powers for the production of goods and other important strategic needs. Automation offers us the chance to repatriate these supply chains. We can face our international competitors head-on again because this production is no longer impacted by the higher wage costs in Europe. Manufacturing is one of the cornerstones of our prosperity. Services alone are not enough to drive growth.
"}},{"componentType":"sectionTitle","title":"Artificial intelligence: RoboJob is already preparing for the future"},{"componentType":"paragraph","richBody":{"value":"When we mention artificial intelligence and its use within the company, our very animated conversation suddenly grinds to a halt for the first time during the interview. Father and son exchange a furtive, almost imperceptible glance, which is all they need to convey to each other how to proceed.
Helmut De Roovere reluctantly answers the question: ‘Yes, we are working on it. We have two engineers with PhDs in AI who are working full-time on this in collaboration with universities. We are convinced that AI will play an increasingly important role in automation. It can make our systems easier to use and even self-learning, which could relieve the burden on the workforce even more. But for now, I can’t say much more. It’s top secret.’
Insisting would be a waste of time. Clearly, RoboJob is determined to maintain its pioneering role in the international market.
"}},{"componentType":"sectionTitle","title":"A bank that goes the extra mile"},{"componentType":"highlight","richBody":{"value":"At RoboJob, they attach tremendous importance to innovation and family values. Something they have in common with ING, the bank that has been providing satisfactory service to them for many years already.
‘It’s only since 2017 that we fully realised the added value of this bank,’ Helmut De Roovere explains. ‘That year, a Chinese group acquired 80% of the shares of RoboJob. At the end of 2022, we bought back these shares and became a family-owned business again. ING played a key role in this buy-back operation. We really appreciated their guidance. In my opinion, they take a broader view than traditional banks. They go that extra mile.
They don’t just look at the figures; they also take the people into account. Who are we dealing with? What is their history? Those kinds of questions. What’s more, our collaboration with ING has proven very smooth. They make decisions very quickly, just like a family business. There also appear to be few hierarchical structures. While they may exist internally, we don’t notice them in our business with ING. We really like this, as it makes for a very dynamic collaboration,’ Helmut concludes.
"}},{"componentType":"accordion","accordionList":[{"title":"RoboJob in brief","richBody":{"value":"www.robojob.eu
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