How do you go from working out of a garage to becoming an industry-established, medium-sized company within just two generations? With patience, dedication and passion, creativity, perseverance and much more. Founder and trained car-body manufacturer Richard Brink had all these characteristics – and if he was ever lacking in one of them, he could always rely on his wife, Annegret, to make up for him. What began as a one-man operation in the home garage in Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock grew into a medium-sized family-run company known within the construction industry, which still handles all its processes under one roof today, from design to sales and distribution right over to marketing. The change of generations in 2007 quite fittingly marks the transition from the analogue to the digital era. During the almost two decades that have passed since, a dozen members of staff have grown into more than 160, with automation of the production processes proceeding at the same rate.
Regional roots, international orientation
This growth was accompanied by an ever increasing range of products, which in turn caught the attention of entirely new groups of customers. The former metalworking shop started out making ornamental products such as weather vanes and wrought iron, until the first chimney caps extended its range of goods in 1982. The first edge profiles were then produced in 1996, following the company’s relocation to its present headquarters. Gravel stops and additional drainage and dewatering systems were added in the 2000s and now represent the largest product group offered by the Eastern Westphalia-based metal products manufacturer. Planting systems also found their way into the assortment as a whole new product line a decade later, while heavy-duty drainage was substantially expanded on in 2016 with the production of concrete channels. This meant that all kinds of target groups – from roofers to landscape gardeners right over to road builders and civil engineers – counted among the company’s client base following the turn of the millennium. What’s more, Richard Brink had continuously worked on expanding its sales and distribution activities, opening up international markets in Europe. This kind of development is only possible when many small pieces click into place and the right people come together in the right place at the right time.
Past and present
One of the latest milestones was the expansion of the company’s factory areas in the form of a recently inaugurated two-storey production hall and warehouse with a floor space of 3,400m² complete with an adjoining office wing. Today’s premises might bear little resemblance to the origins of the garage workshop nestled within a housing estate, yet one thing certainly remains from those early years: “We don't sell anything we wouldn’t buy ourselves”. This has been the manufacturer’s motto from day one. Throughout its many years of existence, the company has always focused on developing comprehensive solutions and finding out how a given problem can be solved more easily and practically from a construction perspective. This is reflected today in one of its key guiding principles: to be “simply better”. The handcrafted wrought iron products, which also included window grates and banister rails, were always made to measure. Still today, the managers want their company to be able to adapt a large proportion of its products to enable bespoke solutions that can be implemented in line with customer specifications, an approach that has secured the manufacturer’s reputation as a specialist within the industry.
“It’s sometimes hard to believe just how much our company has developed over the years and comprehend the opportunities that have emerged on the back of new production spaces and machines, especially considering how comparatively modest and small everything began,” comments Stefan Brink, who took over management of the company together with his two brothers Matthias and Sebastian Brink at the turn of 2006/2007.
“Even as teenagers, we were involved in a lot of the processes at our parents’ workshop, a garage attached to our house. The workshop was an integral part of our home and this personal, private connection to our company is still felt today, also in the production areas that were built later on. Our first tasks at the company back then included smaller production activities at the drill press, where the threads were cut into the support rods of our chimney caps, as well as mailing campaigns for our first advertising circulars, which we took care of together with our mother. Our parents’ enterprise was always a family affair – the kitchen acted as the family conference room and continues to do so today.
We are of course very proud of everything we’ve achieved since then. One of the secrets to our success is undoubtedly our ability to remain connected to our roots despite the company’s growth. Being able to uphold the trust our customers place in us over such a long period of time motivates us to continue along this path. We would like to thank all our customers, our suppliers, service providers and everyone else who has accompanied us along the way, but first and foremost of course our colleagues, for everything we have achieved over the past 50 years!”
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