COMPANY PROFILE
2015
Monnaie SA
www.monnaie.be | + 32 64 46 02 60
The Belgian coatings specialist Editorial: Ajuanne Payne
Monnaie SA is a Belgian coatings company with over 130 years of experience and a reputation for successfully tackling complicated projects. Specialising in anticorrosive applications for the energy, industrial and construction industries, the company has a diverse range of projects under its belt and an eye on international expansion‌ Originally founded in 1884 in the South of Belgium, Monnaie S.A. started out as a business focused on painting applications for steel structures. Today the company has expanded its expertise in this area and is able to provide solutions for
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anything from high voltage electrical facilities, to the restoration of famous architecture. Current CEO and owner of Monnaie, Damien de Dorlodot, bought the company in 2004 and has since led it through successful
projects and over a 50% increase in revenue. De Dorlodot began his career in the energy sector and it has been his entrepreneurialism that has ensured success for the coatings company over the last decade. “Today Monnaie S.A. is the main
Monnaie SA subsidiary of the Belgian family group Decube. We have our headquarters in Strépy-Bracquegnies and we employ 230 persons,” explains de Dorlodot. “The company’s core business is the application of anticorrosive coatings. We have three technical departments, all supported by our efficient administrative staff.”
TECHNICAL EXPERTISE A company that has somewhat of a reputation for enjoying a challenging project, Monnaie’s primary business segment dedicated to working at height, deals with exactly that kind of work - contributing about 38% of the revenue. The other two are its industrial and private building segments, which contribute to the remaining 33% and 28% respectively. “Our first, the Great Heights sector, is specialized in coating applications in electrical
environments,” explains de Dorlodot, “so - high voltage pylons, high voltage power plants and cabins, antennae, catenary systems and on steel superstructures. This sector is also specialized in the mounting of pylons and pulling of cables on high voltage power lines. “Next, the Industry sector applies to anticorrosion paint on sites,” continues de Dorlodot, “steel bridges, railway bridges and gas pipelines. In our industrial workshop we also do surface treatment such as shotblasting, sandblasting, shotpeening and metalizing. The workshop has a significant capacity of 5000m². The Industry sector also has competences in industrial floor protections with anti-acid or antistatic coatings. “Lastly the House Painting sector - which is specialized in interior and exterior house
painting, anti-rust paint for buildings, wall and floor coverings, in the covering and treatment of concrete floors and in the fireproof decoration for buildings.” Working mainly in the energy, industrial and construction industries, Monnaie has had industry leading clients such as AREVA, Elia and Tractebel and has invested in the business significantly in order to take on this specialist kind of work. In an area where it is not always easy to find skilled and experienced employees, Monnaie recognises the importance of investing in the future of the company by training and developing its staff members. “Fortunately we developed a partnership with the competence centre located just right next door to our facility to train our workers in specified work fields, such as industrial painting, sandblasting and metalizing processes,” explains
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de Dorlodot. “It is important to me that our personnel have the opportunity to train themselves and evolve during their career within our company.”
KEY PROJECTS Monnaie’s personnel are active daily in the acrobatics of working on high voltage pylons and other hard to reach surfaces. One of its company mottos: ‘the unattainable, at your fingertips’, is born of this history of completing projects on hard to reach structures. Aside from the industrial applications, some of Monnaie’s key projects have certainly been unique. They have been entrusted with working on breath-taking architecture, such as the Philarmonie in Paris and the iconic Atomium building in Belgium – a steel structured design based on the shape of an iron crystal, magnified 165 billion times.
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“There is a demand in France for Belgian knowledge and quality of work in coatings. The location in Bordeaux will also help to cover the entire French market”
“We have been involved in great projects in Belgium, such as the renovation of the Atomium,” explains de Dorlodot, “but also abroad with a two-phase project in Equatorial Guinea where we sent some of our workers to paint on steel structures of bridges. “More recently we took part in the building of the Philharmonie in Paris which first opened to the public two weeks ago. We also did the wall painting of the Palais des Congrès in Mons, Belgium, built for the cultural event Mons, European Capital of Culture 2015. It is important for our company to get involved in big projects abroad as well as in our original region.”
PLANNING FOR GROWTH Monnaie is a leader in the protective coatings industry in Belgium and has expanded nationally as well as completing
Monnaie SA projects in neighbouring countries. The next step for the business strategically is to further its international expansion. “The painting application market is highly competitive because the market is decreasing due to the relocation of industrial activities outside Europe,” explains de Dorlodot. “We are leaders in Belgium, however, we are not as big as a company compared with the rest of Europe. That is the main reason why we have great ambitions to expand ourselves in the future. “We are definitively planning for international expansion in the energy and industrial sectors,” de Dorlodot expands, “the Belgian coating market is getting smaller for us and it is thus important to develop our activities outside our country. We would like to first expand in the Benelux and in Germany as there is going to be great energy projects in those regions, such as the building of new high voltage power lines.” Damien de Dorlodot has already taken steps towards broadening his company’s reach – recently opening an office location in France. With projects already coming from that region, it was the most organic first step into expansion outside of Belgium. “In an international perspective of development, we decided to open a subsidiary in Bordeaux in June 2014. It was a good start to test our capacities and competences on another European market,” explains de Dorlodot. “We began with France because there are no language barriers and it is close to us. “The presence of our subsidiary in Bordeaux might be
beneficial to our company due to a demand of Belgian know-how on the French market.”
INVESTING IN THE FUTURE The future for Monnaie looks exciting following its first expansion into the international market. Damien de Dorlodot has plans to invest in other areas of the business, in order to strengthen and build upon the high level of expertise the company has already had and ensure its future success. “Consolidation of the company has already begun and is in implementation,” de Dorlodot explains further, “we are going to provide new services to our customers such as a complete offer of industrial sealing services. We have also recently acquired another Belgian coating company, which will enable us to diversify our professional expertise and services in coatings. “We can now apply classic fluid anticorrosive painting as well as powder painting. We are also investing in R&D projects to improve and modernize our equipment. “We have a development plan for the next three years,” explains de Dorlodot. “We are planning to invest in state-ofthe-art infrastructures, new equipment for our sandblasting activities, a new workshop to develop high quality paintings. We would also like to innovate in the services we offer to the customer. That is the reason why we are currently establishing partnerships with research centres and universities. “We have recently acquired
an ISO 14001 certification for the environmental system of management we implemented within the company.” In 2011, Monnaie invested €1.3 million in photovoltaic shade structures at the office’s carpark which will cover 50% of its energy consumption. It is the largest private facility of its type in the region and has contributed significantly to the company’s operations being environmentally friendly. For Monnaie, growth has definitely been organic. The company has invested in honing its expertise and building up a high level of trust with its clients. It is no small matter to have the competence to complete difficult projects at height for pylons and electrical structures, while also being able to take on the delicate work of restoring nationally important architecture. This really contributes to the feeling that this is a company that can handle anything in the field of coatings applications – however complex. “I think we have built our company’s success on six main points. Firstly, an entrepreneurial spirit and secondly a constant drive towards quality of work. Thirdly, the acquisition of European certifications such as the ISO norms, fourth a focus on our workers’ training and fifth, the development of new market segments like the montage of pylons on high voltage power lines. Lastly there is the constant research of new acquisition opportunities to diversify our competences. Those key things have allowed us to stand one step ahead of our competitors and to have the capacity to respond to great infrastructure projects,” concludes de Dorlodot
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