Fast-growing GMP prepares expansion investment in De Prijkels

In the corona year 2020, the GMP group (Generale Maatschappij voor Plastiek, Deinze) invested more than 2 million euro in expanding its production capacity by some 30%. The SME recently bought an additional 4,500 m² storage warehouse from its neighbour in the Karrewegstraat. The fast-growing extrusion company also acquired a 12,175 m² industrial site from the intermunicipal company Veneco, directly opposite its existing premises. The expansion investment, worth almost 10 million euro, is intended to absorb future growth. The group’s production capacity is currently close to its limits.

Since Bart Cnudde took control of GMP in 2008, the extrusion company has posted steep growth. Founded in Oudenaarde in 1948, Generale Maatschappij voor Plastiek started as a small extrusion company with a limited number of extrusion lines producing plastic profiles for construction (read: corner pieces and small edging strips, ed.), mainly in PVC. In the 1980s GMP moved to the De Prijkels business park in Deinze, where activities were steadily built up. Four expansion investments have since taken place in the Karrewegstraat in Deinze. GMP currently has a building of some 8,000 m² there.

Before Cnudde acquired full ownership of GMP, he was active in the textile sector and in the family business, since sold, that produced meat products. “I knew nothing about chemistry. Fortunately I could rely on the support and craftsmanship of the former owner, with whom I worked for a good eight years,” says CEO Bart Cnudde. Since the takeover, production capacity has more than tripled.

Two product groups

GMP is active in the extrusion of industrial profiles on the one hand and garden profiles on the other. Since GMP Garden mainly makes bulky products, an acute need for additional storage capacity emerged. Three years ago Cnudde acquired Rolvaplast N.V. in Gottem. “That gave us the chance to diversify the product range and made it possible to expand our production capacity. Today Rolvaplast, as our second production site, accounts for about one third of total production capacity,” he explains.

Half of the Gottem facility is now used as production space, the other half as storage. In the Karrewegstraat in Deinze the production/storage ratio currently stands at 80/20. That is why Cnudde recently bought a 4,500 m² warehouse from his neighbour. Where garden profiles previously played a fairly limited role in GMP’s activities, with just one extrusion line, that division has grown strongly in recent years. Cnudde has since arranged his machinery so that both product groups can be made on the same extrusion lines. “We gain a competitive advantage from making our own dies. That allows us to use the capacity freed up from garden profile production during the winter months for industrial profiles,” he says.

Plastec brings high-tech profiles

The next step in GMP’s journey was the acquisition, two years ago, of Plastec, also located in the De Prijkels industrial zone. Bart Cnudde: “As a producer of larger extrusion profiles with specialised applications such as co-extrusion, Plastec offered us the prospect of considerably expanding our range of high-tech profiles that meet specific customer requirements. That allowed us to work even more to specification for our industrial customers than before.”

Since the takeover of Plastec as a wholly owned subsidiary of the GMP group, more than 20% additional capacity has been brought into use here as well. In 2008 GMP recorded a turnover of 4 million euro. Last year the group as a whole closed at more than 25 million euro.

Export focus

About three quarters of production is sold across the border (read: mainly the neighbouring countries, ed.). Buyers of the Garden range include distribution centres, landscapers, DIY stores, wholesalers and so on. For the industrial products, the in-house range mainly finds buyers through the large construction chains. In addition there are direct buyers of made-to-measure products at home and abroad, active for example in the sun protection, window or panel construction industries.

A niche player in need of room to grow

The GMP group positions itself in the market as a genuine niche player for the production of specific profiles. “Among other things, we make profiles that other parties turn their noses up at,” says commercial director and co-shareholder Arnaud Surmont. “The core values in our approach are quality, flexibility, service, open communication and humility.”

This is reflected in GMP’s deliberate choice not to take on a single new customer during the corona period. “Taking on new customers in a time of crisis always carries the risk that loyal customers have to settle for less than the service quality they are used to. And you may not be able to live up to the expectations of the new customers either,” says Surmont.

Even so, Covid-19 did not stop the GMP group from investing further in its machinery and preparing for the future. More than 2 million euro was invested in a 30% capacity expansion. The new lines were started up last autumn. The company is now beginning to reap the benefits of these investments. “Over the past three years we have managed to quadruple the number of large customers. We also struck a good balance between industrial and garden activities,” the commercial director emphasises.

All of which does not alter the fact that GMP is once again approaching the limits of its production capacity. Demand in the European market for plastic profiles – a very diverse market with endless applications – is still growing. On top of that, GMP cannot keep turning away new customers who come knocking. The manufacturer therefore bought a 12,175 m² site from Veneco, directly opposite its existing premises in the Karrewegstraat in De Prijkels. “We will develop it in phases, with the aim of further increasing our production capacity. All in all that easily requires an investment of some 10 million euro. We hope to be able to start up operations there within two to three years,” Bart Cnudde concludes.