By birth I am a real techie and love to be creative. I like to work from complex to understandable, from resistance to enthusiasm. The visible result is my reward. I go 'ON' when something doesn't seem to work, seems complex or when the intended goal makes perfect sense and won't let go. A game changer.

At TRIBOO, I am responsible for the NeverEnding KITCHEN.

Circular kitchens for a lifetime of cooking pleasure. TRIBOO stands for making an impact in realizing the zero-waste society and becoming the circular economy. I felt very connected to this mission and wanted to get involved and make an active contribution. The NeverEnding KITCHEN, with my game-changer mentality, was therefore right up my alley.  

The task of handling health, resources and responsibility differently is huge.

A new value chain should ensure that waste stops and cost streams turn into value streams. There is also the health of materials. Construction and integrated logistics play a crucial role in this and this is precisely where my passion and expertise lies.

Over the past few decades, almost all of our kitchens have been made of MDF and particle board. Because these products are not designed to be reusable, they are a major stream on the waste mountain. Worldwide, this amounts to no less than fifty million tons a year. In the Netherlands, approximately 300,000 kitchens are sold annually and about the same number are discarded. As a result, some 1.5 million kitchen cabinets end up on our garbage heap every year. The throw-away society is no longer sustainable and something needs to be done about it.

Where did my interest come from?

My first project in the construction sector after HTS was the realization of Beursplein Rotterdam (the 'shopping channel') and at 21 I almost literally jumped into the deep end. This was followed by many other, often inner-city, projects in which my fascination for the dynamics of the 'big picture' increased. I was attracted by the unused opportunities in the chain of cooperating companies, but also by the repetitive costs of failure that apparently nobody owned.

This was exacerbated by the construction crisis that took hold after 2008. Many construction companies went bankrupt. The sense of urgency to do things differently was now at an ideal level, but a feasible plan could not be found. I seized this opportunity and worked intensively for years on far-reaching chain integration. During that period I met Marc van der Heijden. With the right focus and the many hours we spent, together with others, on this learning curve, we eventually saw the cost price level drop by some 15%, both on paper and in practice. Without loss of margin. We surprised friend and foe, it really can be done!

Gripped by this virus and the desire to explore, I left the construction industry to explore what the industrial sector could offer me. Different people, different habits and different suppliers and clients. There, too, I and my colleagues were able to demonstrate that, on the routine segment alone, we could save up to at least 20% on a TCO basis.

During that time I kept in touch with Marc a lot, we both kept feeling that what we had started was far from finished. Marc started TRIBOO over 4 years ago. Together with his partner Martijn Vinke we had a common click that now ultimately forms the basis for starting a business together.

It was time for me to choose the very things that I find important and that give me energy.

I am now back in the construction industry where my roots are and that feels good. Even better chain integration, and I'm working on that again, starts with choosing the right product(s). Constantly creating a problem for later does not fit in with that, and certainly not perpetuating health risks with the wrong products. We make sick buildings healthy again and solve the waste problem, the approach to the chain could not be more integrated.

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