Opinion - Planning Ahead
David Hinds, I Holland's Director
EPM: What's I Holland's focus for the rest of the year?
DH: I Holland currently exports to 97 countries worldwide with a global network of agents and distributors enabling a local presence in most markets and areas of the world.
Our focus for this year is to continue to deliver the highest quality tooling and technical service to our customers. We will also continue to offer first class lead times, and value for money tooling to fit all types of press. We are also concentrating efforts in agent and market visits to ensure we understand what the industry requires and provide advice and information to answer any requirements.
We will also continue to innovate and offer new solutions to tackle common tabletting problems within the industry. This will be achieved by continuing Research and Development into tablet sticking problems via our TSAR initiative, and by looking at increasing our unique range of coatings to deal with both sticking and wear issues which we commonly come across.
2015 has already been a very busy year for I Holland and this will continue with a number of exhibitions planned, including ACHEMA in June where we will be introducing some new additions to the portfolio. We will also continue to share our expertise with customers with troubleshooting courses planned to take place this year. This support continues with technical support available worldwide for our customers through meetings, conference calls and site visits.
We will also be expanding our PharmaCare product portfolio and we are looking forward to introducing customers to new initiatives later in the year which will benefit manufacturing capacity. As a part of this will are continuing to focus on the 7 Step SOP programme which helps to promote tooling care and longevity.
The future of growth of I Holland is important so we can provide an unparalleled service and support system. As a part of this focus we will be upgrading all internal computer systems to further improve processes and reporting.
It is important that we offer the best possible service and products and our focus will always be to the market leading provider of innovative tablet tooling and complimentary equipment, underpinned by our understanding of tabletting science. This approach will always be at the heart of our future plans.
EPM: With the first six months behind you, what's going particularly well for the business?
DH: We have already had a very successful year and have seen growth within the company with new Agents in Mexico, Turkey and Peru. We have also expanded our market reach, which in turn has resulted in a healthy order intake.
We have introduced new systems allowing us to improve quote conversion, order intakes and due date performance to ensure our service is unsurpassed.
EPM: How do you see the pharma sector at the moment - its strengths and weaknesses?
DH: The pharmaceutical market is still very strong and continuing to grow and many areas are consolidating to reinforce the market. Another strength is the continuation for product transfers from one market to another within the major global pharmaceutical market.
We are continuing to see a great demand to reduce pricing and lead times to get products to market so companies have to ensure they are competitive and use their knowledge and expertise to provide the service that the industry demands. This may be seen as a weakness but it does help to push innovation, with companies having to have advanced processes in place to meet demand.
EPM: Which exhibitions are you attending this year and what will your focus be?
DH: We will be attending Ipack IMA in Italy in May, Achema in June and be exhibiting at Interphex Japan in August. We will also be in Columbia at Andina Pack at the start of November.