"You can learn so much from each other"

“Paul, the first ten years are the worst ”

“Starting from scratch,” is how founder Paul Put remembers the start-up of SKP in 1975. Son and current manager Tom talks about “going all-in.” In other words: the decision to start a trade in hoisting materials based on steel cables in Limburg – far away from the booming business in the port of Antwerp – was far from a risk-free gamble.

Paul Put: “I wanted to invest in a cable press machine to press hooks onto steel cables, among other things , a huge investment. A good friend of mine, one of the very first master butchers in our country, warned me when I shared my plans with him. 'Paul,' he said, 'the first ten years are always the worst . As soon as they've passed, you're off.' He certainly wasn't wrong, because we also started right during the global oil crisis. In 1984, we also missed out on an annual contract with the Kempische Steenkoolmijnen, which at the time accounted for a good 15% of the annual turnover.”

“But we made it all the way through and, to be honest, I always believed in it. Because I had worked in the steel world before and I saw with my own eyes how poor the supply of steel cables was in Limburg. So I decided to take the leap, from a warehouse of just 150 m2 on the Kempische Steenweg in Hasselt.

“Father's business was literally my playground”

A period that Tom still remembers very well. If only because of the adventurous setups in the very first SKP workshop.

Tom Put: “As a child, I grew up with a warehouse in the backyard and was even allowed to help load and unload deliveries every now and then. That hall was literally my playground, with all those rolls full of steel cables. When I got a bit older, I was allowed to park the vans and as soon as I got my driver's license, I went out on the road for my father.”

“For years I did that in the company of my grandfather. He was my father’s very first employee. Of course I have very fond memories of that time. We had the greatest fun together and eventually knew all the roads in Limburg by heart. I also learned a great deal from my father on the road. How exactly does the world of steel cables and lifting materials work? Why do we work with manufacturer A and not manufacturer B? Which products do we ignore and which do we trust 100%? I learned it all in the truck.”

“It took 5 years to prepare the takeover”

However, Tom had not originally planned to take over his father's business.

Paul Put:  “Tom decided to study Finance, something completely different. Despite the banks trying to recruit him, he still seemed to have doubts.”

Tom Put:  “I turned out to be a late bloomer  (laughs) . At one point my father asked me if I wanted to come and work for him after all. I decided to take the leap and never left the company.”

Paul Put:  “I am proud of the path that Tom has taken here at SKP, because I was surprised when he said that he wanted to come and work for us. But look, he threw himself into it right away and has filled almost all the jobs here: warehouseman, head warehouseman, salesperson in the internal service, buyer, representative, you name it. Up to and including the manager that he is today.”

Tom Put:  “I am still happy that I, but also my sisters, were given the opportunity to freely discover where our interests lay and where we wanted to grow professionally. Hats off to my father himself for indicating that it was time to pass the torch to someone else. The fact that it took five years before everything was finalized was precisely because everyone was given the time to make the right decisions. And we really needed that time.”

Discover 50 years of SKP 

 Paul Put & Tom Put

“What have we learned from each other? Never give up”

Paul can look back on thirty years as CEO, Tom celebrated his twentieth year at the head of SKP this year. What do they remember from the last five decades in a rapidly changing world?

Tom Put: “Despite the technological and digital revolution , steel cable has remained a fairly conservative product. New designs and lashing materials appear regularly, but the biggest game changers are mainly in the strength and weight of the materials. Can you lift more mass with less and/or more efficient material?”

Paul Put: “That being said, our package is a very cyclical product. With SKP, we are right at the front of the supply chain. Major economic shifts immediately filter through to our business. The oil crisis, the closure of the last mines in our country in the late 1980s, the end of Ford Genk, the arrival of Saddam Hussein as president of Iraq and what all that caused… But where challenges arise, opportunities often also arise. After the mine closure, we surfed for years on the positive economic wave that the establishment of the Limburg Reconversion Company brought about.”

Tom Put: “What the last fifty years have shown above all is that we have always stood our ground as a distributor, regardless of the challenges that have crossed our path. I believe that this is not only due to the right vision – we have expanded our range of equipment enormously over the years, which has made us an extremely flexible player – but also to staying true to your values. My father taught me since I was a child that hard work and never giving up should be the absolute basis at SKP. Well, that is what will continue to define us yesterday, today, and also tomorrow.”

Paul Put: “I would like to add one more thing to that. Protect your employees and make sure they feel at ease. Tom is much more pragmatic in that respect than I am. For me, the customer always came first. I paid particular attention to the fact that we did everything together to service that customer. Tom takes the whole picture into account. Times have changed, of course. In the past, everything was focused on economic growth, today it is more important than ever to fully involve and keep your employees  in your story. He does that really well.”

“Trust that we have your best interests at heart”

Finally, what message would Paul and Tom like to convey to everyone who cares about SKP?

Paul Put: “The world of hoisting and lifting equipment is based on safety and trust. I want our customers to continue to realize that we are not just doing a commercial transaction with them, but also making a safety promise with them out of a genuine sense of responsibility. We really have the best interests of their company and their employees at heart.”

“As proof: we started in 1975 as a small company against the established values, but we have brought a unique legacy to the world. It was on our initiative that for the first time ever a safety label was put on the market in our country that ensured that all lifting equipment would be tested and put on the market before being put into use. This collaboration between SKP and an inspection body resulted in the VGS label. The rest had no other choice at that time than to follow.”

Tom Put: “In the meantime, Europe has also jumped on the bandwagon. But today, they place the total responsibility for safety and inspection entirely with the manufacturer. Since then, many suppliers no longer focus proactively on the safety regulations that come with lifting equipment. Not at SKP. We still provide – and as the only player – the necessary inspection documents for each commissioning and only do business with manufacturers who adhere perfectly to the rules and standards.”

“When we work with a manufacturer, we also go on site to see how their processes work. That means our customers can always sleep soundly. Our customers have to take so much into account these days. We want to make it as easy as possible for them, with complete confidence. Because let's be honest: what is more important than protecting the people within your company?”