Interview with Bauke van der Molen Kuipers, Royal Kartoflex

Interview with Bauke van der Molen Kuipers, Chairman of Royal Kartoflex and Folding Carton Platform

"We want to look in a different way at how we can get our companies CO2 neutral through the association'

Bauke van der Molen Kuipers is chairman not of one trade association but of two: Royal Kartoflex and Folding Carton Platform. He has held this position for five years alongside his position as director of production (a.i.) and his work as a pastor for the religious-humanist faith community in his hometown Hilversum. In this interview, Bauke talks about his life, his career and his work for these industry organisations.

 Bauke van der Molen Kuipers on site visit to new Kartoflex member AtéCé. 

Who is Bauke?

'I am often asked: where did you get that long surname, van der Molen Kuipers, are you of nobility?’ No, I'm not. Five generations ago you could buy an extra surname, the name van der Molen, was added and the actual family name Kuipers was stuck behind it. I have now been carrying this name for 62 years. I married Carla 40 years ago and together we have two grown-up children: a son aged 32 and a daughter aged 30. We live in Hilversum, but actually I have spent my whole life wandering around the Netherlands and just outside it. I was born in Rijswijk and moved to Haren in the province of Groningen when I was eight years old. My father was working for the Gasunie (the energy network operator) there at the time. Living in a village was really a transition. We went from a two-bedroom flat to a detached house with a garden. Right opposite us were just four farms. I had a wonderful time there.'

How did you get into the industry?

'After studying Commercial Economics at the HES in Groningen, I started as a junior representative at Kappa Golfkarton BV, a corrugated plant in Hoogeveen in 1983. I never became a sales representative. Because I did things slightly differently from others, I stood out and was soon assigned a number of large accounts. As a result, I became assistant sales manager.

After a phone call from a former colleague, who was looking for a commercial director for SCA's location in Barneveld, we moved to Apeldoorn. That is where our two children were born. After four years, I was transferred to Gent in Belgium. We then moved to a small town below Gent, De Pinte.

When I was transferred to Zaandam, we chose to live in a central place in the Netherlands and that became Hilversum. Good choice because, when started working in the location in Tilburg, my family and I didn't have to move again. After a total of nine years at SCA, I started working at Ons Belang, part of VPK: wholesaler in flowers and bulb packaging in Noordwijkerhout and now part of De Jong. Again, Hilversum came in handy as a central residence. After eighteen months, I was called by one of the owners and asked if I wanted to manage the corrugated board company in Raamsdonksveer to make it profitable again. In the end, I also worked at VPK for nine years.'

How did you come into contact with Kartoflex?

'Nine years working for a company seems pretty much the norm for me. At the end of my nine years at VPK, someone from Smurfit Kappa called and asked if I wanted to manage four of their companies: one in the UK, one in Belgium and two in the Netherlands; Pekela and Bergen op Zoom. The moment I said yes to this job in 2007, I immediately got in touch with Kartoflex. As they were in charge of the collective labour agreement (in Dutch: cao)  negotiations, I had a meeting with two people from Kartoflex, who said: 'You are now a director so it would be nice if you joined the Kartoflex board. I then started with two portfolios: health and safety and the collective labour agreement. Then I became chairman of the collective bargaining delegation. After the familiar nine years, I stopped working at Smurfit Kappa in 2017 and therefore immediately with my work for Kartoflex. I then did nothing for several months, spent a lot of time on the tennis court, playing golf, doing odd jobs around the house and working in the garden. Just something completely different.

So how did you become president of not one but two industry associations?

'After a few months in my not working period, I was asked if I wanted to help wind up an insurance company's healthcare label. I accepted this assignment without payment with the agreement that we would have dinner at a good restaurant if the dissolution was successful. It did and we dined at a starred restaurant. This was also immediately the start of my own consulting business. I currently work as interim production director at De Jong packaging in De Lier. At some point, Peter Klein Sprokkelhorst, Kartoflex's former chairman, and Hans van Schaik, Kartoflex's general secretary, approached me to ask if I would succeed Peter. They indicated : you did our cao negotiations and chaired the Health and Safety Committee and also you have a background in this world. Long story short: I have now almost completed my first five-year term.'

What changes do you see because of Covid?

'Besides working three days as a freelancer, the other days are for the associations, my family and my contribution as pastor of the religious-humanist faith community in Hilversum. Here, in addition to the Sunday service, I assist the 300 or so members of our community. Often this is at a crossroads in their lives, such as, marriage and death. I have noticed whether it's churches, football clubs or associations, somehow we have started to arrange our time differently after corona. The group event, which we knew before, has come under pressure. When organising the general membership meeting, it is quite a job to make sure people actually come. Knowing that people are more careful with their available time, the programme for a meeting is of great importance. Just like I have to do my best as a pastor on Sundays not to stand in the pulpit with only empty chairs in front of me, like in corona time.'

So what does this mean for the associations?

'These days, the first question is how do we have meetings: live or via Teams? If we have a meeting where we mostly transmit and almost no interaction is needed, we choose Teams or Zoom. An example: we are now in the middle of preparations for the new pension system. We have regularly meetings where there is knowledge transfer from the Graphic Industry Pension Fund (PGB) or other organisations with knowledge on the subject. Nine times out of ten, this is simply going through sheets. We no longer sit together in a room for that. We log on to Teams or Zoom. We listen and ask questions via the chat function. It's just much more efficient. Before Covid, these meetings were always live, now we ask ourselves: is getting together functional or non-functional?'

Do you think this is a good development?

'Yes, I think this is a good development. I don't have to get in my car, stand in traffic jams or drive two hours to a meeting location. However, you do have to keep thinking carefully about what you want to achieve with the meeting. Are we as a trade association planning a brainstorming session or a meeting with unions on specific and sensitive issues? Then I prefer live meetings because I want to see some emotion or experience. That doesn't work on a screen with 20 or 30 people at once.'

Has the association role changed in recent years?

'Not in the past two Covid years. Our main tasks for Kartoflex are still collective labour agreement, pension and worker health and safety. Covid did bring horizontal supervision to a standstill. These are so-called safety checks, in which fellow members visit other companies to see what the state of safety is. This peer supervision, is now being taken up again.’

What does sustainability mean to you?

'An important topic that we are rolling out with the SmartTrackers programme. We want to look differently at how we can get our companies carbon neutral through the association. This is necessary to meet the legal obligations set in Europe for 2030.'

How is the `SmartTrackers' programme going?

'It takes some getting used to. This is not something you put on your agenda now and finish tomorrow. You start with the introduction, which we did with Luc Lejeune. We are trying to get members excited about this method, where they have to see for themselves that they will benefit from it. It is not our intention as an association to come across as pedantic. We try to get members to look at reality in a different way around the deployment of energy and resources that cannot be redeployed.'

You have been chairman for five years now, including two Covid years. What have you achieved in the meantime? What are you proud of?

'We welcomed the first woman, Sabrina van der Hoeven, to the board two years ago. That took quite a bit of searching. There are not many women in this industry and not in the association business either. So yes, I am quite proud of that.'

What are the association goals for the coming years? What challenges do you see?

'For the Folding Carton Platform, we are looking at merging with the Belgian folding carton companies. Belgium has relatively few members. We have a reasonable membership, but we don't have as many resources to put folding carton on the map properly. If we can merge the Netherlands and Belgium into one association, it would increase our clout. Another thing the members themselves have indicated as important is that we stay in touch with each other. Like the meeting in September at our new member AtéCé in Alkmaar (see photo). Knowledge was shared about inks and lacquers: very useful for our members. We were also able to talk to each other about sustainability and of course just catch up during and after the tour.'

'For Kartoflex, the biggest challenge for the coming years is: the transition to the new pension system. In this, we have to make some fundamental choices. Employers and employees, in consultation with the Grafische Bedrijven pension fund, must ensure the system changeover goes well. We must think carefully about what is collective and what is individual in a new pension.

In addition, I sincerely hope we can start seeing a decrease in terms of LTA ('Lost Time Accidents').

We are doing this with a learning programme that allows members to make their businesses safer, because we are on the high side with the number of accidents. We are now at 12.5 per 1,000 employees for 2022. In all of 2019, we were at 10 accidents per 1,000 employees. Most accidents are: falls, trips and cuts. These are often consequences of actions people have to do in the workplace. For example, reflexively trying to fix something in a running machine. Purely from motivation, people try to act quickly instead of acting safely. The awareness to work safely has to go up.'

What does Lejeune Association Management mean to your association?

'It's a very loyal club, a family business, from Mans to Jules and now Luc has also joined. It seems like they don't just talk about associations there from Monday to Friday, but also on Sundays. This generates a kind of loyalty and continuity. They are stable and the service they provide towards the board and members, they do it neatly and correctly. With style if I may call it that. The way they treat both board members, committees and ordinary members exudes respect. 

I also like seeing Lejeune in transition. Transforming into a new organisation where talents are hired in a very specific field. You don't deploy them for one branch association, but for all associations! Just look at how we are now working with Luc Lejeune, for example. We have put Luc very emphatically on the subject of sustainability.

Lejeune's team has had a fixed core for years: secretary Hans van Schaik and Management Assistants Hélène Hahn-van 't Hoff and Angela Ashruf. For finance Cora van der Lek and now Luc Lejeune for sustainability. In the background, Jules Lejeune is of course also involved. In this team, everyone knows what to do and there are good intensive ties with our members. This team will remain in place for years to come.'

By: Ria Luitjes