Just a Saturday night in 1996, club Rodenburg in Beesd. Henk Swijnenburg, like so many young people in the Betuwe, has gone to the popular discotheque for an evening of entertainment. Janica Janssen also wants to dance and swing. Henk and Janica bump into each other and it is an encounter with great consequences. The spark is passed on, dates follow and 26 years later they run Swijnenburg Transport together.
Straw, beets and pulp
The company has its origins in 1930. Henk's grandfather, who was also named Henk, started a company in the Alblasserwaard in the fur trade. Initially he transported straw, beets and pulp, after the Second World War the focus shifted to transporting building materials. When Henk died in 1976, his sons Ap and Dick continued the business. 22 years later, Swijnenburg Transport moved from Brandwijk to Werkendam, and the transport company still sits in the village south of the river Waal. Although in 2016 it did move to a new and larger location in the industrial area De Bruine Kilhaven.
"Driving was something I grew up with," says Henk, Ap's son. Henk was ten years young when he started washing cars and soon learned to drive the truck as well. "I liked that so much that I wanted to become a driver. At 18 I got my first truck, a few years later I was already driving abroad." Henk got more and more involved in the company, and when he was able to take over the shares of Dick, his father's brother, he didn't hesitate for a moment. In 2014 he also bought his dad's shares and now he and Janica own Swijnenburg Transport.
In what other ways are you a family business?
Henk: "Dad is still active and Leoni, one of my two sisters, is our office manager. In addition, we regard our staff as family. We want them to enjoy working here, and Janica and I try hard to achieve that."
Janica: "People are not a number with us. I know the wives and children of our staff members, every other year we organize a family day with bouncy castles for the children, the employees get nice Christmas presents and around Easter we organize a workshop for the wives of our mostly male colleagues, including a high-tea."
Henk: "I'm not the type of person who only comes in at 9 and is the first to leave. If it's busy, I get on the forklift myself and don't go home until the work is done. The employees see and appreciate that we take the lead."
What is it like to work with each other as marriage partners?
Henk: "We go to work separately from each other, but fortunately that's not because we fight all the time, haha. We have two children, who also deserve our attention. So we do not have the same working hours, moreover Janica and I have our own tasks: she takes care of the finances and personnel matters, I do the planning and I am in charge of the daily management. We complement each other well, don't interfere with each other's work, but we both like to know everything."
Janica: "At home we often talk about the business. Of course we sometimes have disagreements, but quarrels never really. We have respect for each other, for each other's jobs and we actually do it together."
In short: a good business and a good marriage?
Both, in chorus: "Yes, exactly!"
Would you like to describe each other?
Henk: "Janica is very organized, extremely driven, always eager to learn new things and an excellent listener. Moreover, she does not consider herself an entrepreneur, but she is enterprising. I could easily go away for a few months while she keeps things running here. One drawback: if something has to be done, she wants it done immediately. Sometimes I can't stand that."
Janica: "I can't stand procrastination and I sometimes catch Henk doing that. At the same time, I admire his thoroughness. In our profession you have to be able to bang your fist on the table, Henk can do that. Whether he had the same determination in Rodenburg? He can answer that himself, haha."
Henk: "I kept calling Janica and I have absolutely no regrets about that."
What does Swijnenburg Transport transport and who are your clients?
Janica: "Since 1952 we have supplied outsized goods to DIY stores and hardware stores. We have also been transporting outsized wood, house and garden-related goods to individuals for web shops since 2007. These include saunas, hot tubs, scaffolding boards, floorboards, fences, garden sheds, closet walls, panels, etc. We mostly drive for other family businesses who, like us, like long-term relationships. We speak the same language, the lines are short and most have our mobile number in case there is anything outside working hours."
Entrepreneurship is looking ahead, how do you see the future of the company?
Henk: "We don't want to get too big, but grow with our customers. Delivering directly to individuals has increased enormously in recent years and has its own challenges. The development, professionalism and modernity of our company combined with our short lines of communication and service orientation makes us think that there will always be a place in the market for our type of transport company. The step from diesel to electric or hydrogen remains a challenge, especially as long as not all of the Netherlands is accessible. We don't necessarily want to be at the forefront of this, but we certainly don't want to be at the back of it either. We want to carefully determine the moment we make the switch. The first electric transportable forklift will soon be on the road."
Janica: "We are a training company that trains our own drivers. Our employees are home every night or have occasional two-day trips. Still, attracting and retaining good staff is quite a challenge now, especially during the busy seasons. We don't want to work harder but smarter, which is why we are further digitizing certain things."
Is succession already in place?
Janica: "The continuity of the business is guaranteed if something unexpected happens to us, but Henk and I hope that one day our children will take over the business. We see their development and recognize their talents. Our 14-year-old daughter is a potential entrepreneur, our 12-year-old son very much wants to become a driver."
Henk: "It's hard work, but if it goes well you can also enjoy it. In any case, I never go to work reluctantly."
Janica: "We love to travel (far away) and then we can go more to our second home in Spain. But for now we continue to work very hard for our company. The reputation of Swijnenburg Transport is important to us because our family name is very big on it.
