Van Dam Machine

Want to pick up a hot drink from your favorite coffee chain? Have you ever thought about what it takes to perfectly print colorful logos on a cylindrical cup?

For the past 60 years, Netherlands-based Van Dam Machine has been developing and building dry offset and flexo printing machines for cup manufacturers that serve some of the biggest food and beverage chains worldwide. Producing state-of-the art equipment in the most cost-effective and sustainable ways possible, the company always seeks advanced technology with higher speeds, better performance and more color capabilities.

“Every machine we build is engineered for performance and designed to last decades,” explained Wouter Malfait, the company’s CEO and director of operations and engineering. “Our first machines were running at 250 cups per minute with four-color printing. Today, we’re achieving 700 cups per minute with eight-color printing.”

Now with thousands of components per machine and an increasing market demand for highly customized products, managing data is no straightforward task. That’s why, when Malfait became CEO in 2023, he made it his mission to implement design and data management technologies that were as forward-thinking as the company’s products. To achieve this goal, he embraced the latest Dassault Systèmes’ solutions. 

Dassault Systèmes’ solutions have been game-changing for Van Dam Machine, enabling it to not only get its data under control, but its processes too. Powered by the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, ENOVIA provides a single source of truth through which every model of the company’s machines, every electrical schematic, and every data sheet related to those machines, is centrally managed. 

“In the past, there was less structure to our processes,” Malfait said. “Our engineers were designing too independently and creating their own revisions that they stored locally, leading to inefficiencies, poor revision management and, ultimately, mistakes.” 

Now, ENOVIA enforces structured revision control. Once a document, drawing or component is released in the system, any changes require a formal revision. This has helped prevent issues – like suppliers using outdated drawings – that can lead to costly production mistakes. 

“Having a well-defined approach to the way we work is crucial and makes our operations much more professional,” Malfait said. “The 3DEXPERIENCE platform on the cloud serves as the central hub for all of our intellectual property. This ensures everything is properly organized, secured and easily accessible, with standards that everyone must adhere to.” 

While Van Dam Machine has already transformed its engineering operations by using ENOVIA’s product data management capabilities, it wants to go further. The next step is automating the generation of a bill of materials (BOM) enabling a shift from engineering-to-order to customization-to-order. The goal is for its sales team to configure a machine with its components and have the system automatically generate the BOM. This will lead to a significant improvement in efficiency and reduce errors while improving overall productivity and accuracy.

“We currently deal with around 7,000 components, divided into an average of 120 sub-assemblies per machine,” Malfait said. “Manually entering each into the ERP system is time-consuming and prone to errors. A small typo, like entering a number five instead of a six, requires follow-up from the supply chain team, which doubles the time spent fixing the issue – and can require overtime and urgent deliveries to meet deadlines. Once the BOM is fully automated, we estimate saving about two hours per day across our eight mechanics, and around €10,000 per machine thanks to reduced overheads.” 

Van Dam Machine turned to local Dassault Systèmes business partner Visiativ Benelux for help with the implementation of the 3DEXPERIENCE platform – a decision that has been imperative to the project’s success.

“Transitioning to a new solution is a big undertaking,” Malfait said. “We needed a partner able to guide us effectively through the implementation. Visiativ has the expertise and when they don’t have all the answers in-house, they have the connections at Dassault Systèmes to bring in the necessary support. They’ve been instrumental in helping us, far beyond the typical support role. It’s a true partnership rather than a standard client-customer relationship.” 

Together, Van Dam Machine and Visativ outlined steps for implementation and, before long, were migrating data from CATIA V5 into the 3DEXPERIENCE platform.

“The full changeover took about 18 months, but the core setup and training for our engineers only required 3–4 weeks,” Malfait said. “Now, all the team is comfortable and efficient with the solution.”

Instead of an on-premises installation like it had in the past, Van Dam Machine chose to implement the 3DEXPERIENCE platform on the cloud. While security was the driver of this decision, it has resulted in multiple additional benefits.

“The cloud makes us less vulnerable to hacking, fires or accidental data deletion,” Malfait said. “It also simplifies access and ensures everything is always up to date. There’s no maintenance involved, so it keeps us future-ready.”

The cloud also has introduced more flexibility in the way the company’s engineers work, whether they are at home, at a supplier’s site or anywhere else. All they need is an internet connection so they can have constant access to the engineering database.

“It’s like having the company’s entire brain at your fingertips,” Malfait said. 

Sustainability has always been a focus for Van Dam Machine. The company has developed a patented Flexo Direct on Rigid technology which enables it to print directly on products in a single pass, reducing waste. It also has heavily invested in making its machines adaptable to print on recyclable plastics. Beyond that, its machines can also print on 100% plastic-free materials like molded fiber, which consists of pre-pressed fibers, fully recyclable.

Keen to continue to support customers who want to follow a more sustainable path through zero-packaging waste, Van Dam Machine’s relies on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform to help it to reduce waste. 

"For example, the platform allows us to estimate rough dimensions for parts, sub-assemblies and assemblies, as well as calculate theoretical weights,” Malfait said. “This helps us optimize our packaging so that we avoid using excess materials, something we couldn’t do before adopting 3DEXPERIENCE.”

Beyond this, there’s more potential Van Dam Machine can unlock. Malfait has great plans thanks to the capabilities offered by the platform, and his ideas are only getting bigger.

“I want to get to a stage where we have a virtual twin of every single machine that goes to customers,” he said. “With highly accurate digital models of our machines, including mechanical, electrical and software components, we will not only be able to iterate faster, but also improve design accuracy, maintenance planning and more.”

The company is also investigating how it might improve its manufacturing processes using the Dassault Systèmes platform, connecting it to milling machines, and even introducing 3D visualizations for the assembly team in its factory.

“This is a journey that never truly stops,” Malfait said. “While we’ve reached some milestones and we’re very proud of it, there’s always the next step to consider. The 3DEXPERIENCE platform has opened the door to a huge potential.” 

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