Insight

In 2021 Don Quichotte celebrates its 100^th anniversary, having become a world leader in hardened steel nails and being known as a ‘one stop shop’ for fastenings, fixing and electrical installation material, as well as its full private label service. Here we speak to Sales Director Jan-Willem van der Wijngaart and Product Marketing Manager Naj van Galen about the last 100 years, the current market situation, as well as goals for the future.

The company behind Don Quichotte, J.H de Wit & Zonen B.V, was founded in 1921 by Johannes Hubertus de Wit and was originally named Ned. Kleinijzerwarenfabriek Jan de Wit. From the very beginning the focus was on the production of standard nails. However, by the 1950s/1960s standard nails had started to become more of a commodity and it was hard to achieve the necessary margins. 

Due to this, the De Wit family introduced hardened steel nails, which could be directly used in concrete. The company had to use all its know-how and experience when introducing this specialised product, as it requires a precise hardening process to ensure the highest quality. Due to the capabilities of the hardened steel nails they became hugely popular, which made the business stronger and enabled it to become an expert in this product field.

Through its hardened steel nails the business also became more international, although this created its only challenges as J.H de Wit & Zonen B.V was particularly hard to pronounce for foreign speaking customers. With that in mind it was decided that a trade brand would be established – Don Quichotte.

“The name Don Quichotte as a brand name came about from the son of Mr J.H De Wit one day visiting a market in Paris – where he stumbled upon a statue of Don Quichotte made from steel thread – the main resource of our product. He fell in love with the statue, bought it and named the trade brand Don Quichotte after it. This statue is still shining bright at the entrance of our firm,” explains Jan-Willem van der Wijngaart, sales director at Don Quichotte.

With the brand name Don Quichotte, the company continued to grow to become the internationally recognised leader in hardened steel nails, which it still is today. Alongside its hardened steel nail range, Don Quichotte has also diversified over the years into plastics and combined products, such as nailplugs Speedplug, cable clips and other electrical installation material.

This expansion of its product range also led to its sales channels growing, from just hardware wholesalers and traders to include electronical wholesalers. “We were growing at such a fast pace that we had to move from our old location to a brand new business park in Helmond in 2004,” points out Jan-Willem. “Nowadays, we have a very diversified portfolio, but our core will always remain in nails for which we are still producing over 10 million per day.”

Meeting today’s challenges

Even with 100 years’ experience, nothing could have prepared Don Quichotte, or any company, for the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic. “Like everybody the pandemic had a big impact on us. However, we were able to quicky adapt and believe we handled it quite well,” mentions Naj van Galen, product marketing manager at Don Quichotte. “In the beginning we worked a lot from home and whilst we did have some issues with production, due to Covid-19 cases within our employees, the team came together with office staff even helping to pack products and get orders to customers.” 

Naj continues: “Thanks to the hard work of our staff, we did everything we could to meet the orders that kept coming in. Of course, the pandemic made business a lot harder, with increasing shipping (container) prices, material price increases and not being able to travel. We have done everything we can to ensure a consistent supply chain to our customers. Thanks to the investments we have made, and our
in-house capabilities, we are able to produce and source almost all our goods in Europe, which is a big benefit. This saw us receive a lot of requests from European companies during this period, which was of course very interesting. However, we were very aware that we needed to keep our current customers happy – so it was about getting the right balance.”

Ongoing investment

Through its experience, capabilities, and production range, Don Quichotte has positioned itself at the forefront of the industry as a supplier for not only the nails sector but also electrical installation material. Even so, the business is still committed to investing in its future and growing its capabilities and markets.

“Investment and innovation are amongst our key pillars for the future,” states Naj. “Without investments and innovation, the company will very quickly come to a standstill and in business that means you are falling behind. We have to keep innovating our product range, our processes, and keep investing in our personnel and preparing ourselves for the future.”

That is why Don Quichotte has made several significant investments over recent years that have enabled it to continue to develop and grow. This includes a high rise warehouse with over 9,400 pallet locations, as well as investing in full LED lighting for all the whole site – which combines with the heat regeneration system from the hardening furnaces to help the company save energy. Don Quichotte has also installed several new machines, including three new packaging lines, a bag packaging machine, as well as some cobots (cooperative robots). Plus, it has created a new subsidiary, with its own warehouse, in Germany for cable routing and trunking products.

“We will keep innovating and expanding our product ranges and we will continue to offer better tailored services to our OEM/private label customers,” concludes Jan-Willem. “We are continuously developing ourselves and also talking with our customers, in our key markets, to see and experience what they need. By doing this we can develop and expand our products and services in accordance with their wishes. However, we are famous for our hardened steel nails and this is where our heart will remain.”