Jos and Marianne with their parents and founders of Cartec in the background: Johan and Anne Marry, during the celebration of the first pole – May 2025.

From seven locations to one: why this family-owned business is building new premises

“What prompted you to build a new building?” A question that Jos and Marianne can quickly answer:

“Due to continuous growth, we have been tight on space for a long time,” Jos explains. “In the last 15 years, we have had to rent more and more locations. We now use seven different premises.” A jumble of locations scattered throughout the street: a neighbor’s building, another small building down the road, pallet locations for storage, a location that serves as a film and photo studio, and recently a warehouse was added elsewhere.

“Actually, since 2007 we’ve been working to find a place where everything would come together again,” Marianne adds. “But for all kinds of reasons, it kept falling through. Fortunately, however, an alternative solution always came along so that we could continue to grow.”

The new building has a prime location next to the highway and streetcar in the shadow of Rotterdam and The Hague – January 2025

From procrastination to breakthrough

In recent years, a lot has happened around new construction. “We bought a piece of land in 2020 and developed a fantastic new building. Unfortunately, due to the company takeover followed by covid, global raw material shortages and skyrocketing prices in construction, this step became too risky and we decided to postpone the plan at the time,” Jos explains.

The pressure to make a decision increased. Within three years, the municipality required them to build, or else they had to sell the land back.“So we sat down again in 2023 to weigh the options,” he continues.
Are we going to build anyway, will there be a new design, what is the best suited construction in terms of financing…?
Eventually the company Hardeman from Veenendaal crossed our path. After the introductory meeting, this quickly felt like the right route and a reliable partner to further develop our future plans with. We took the step and made the decision: there will be a new building, practical and functional, supporting Cartec’s growth and is ready for the future.”

“Because of the input we had on the design, it was a building tailored for us. Every choice we made consciously, always asking: is it functional and efficient? This also makes it really feel like our own building. We are proud of that,” says Marianne.

New construction in full swing – May 2025

Scattered work in seven properties: chaos and valuable insights

What was it like working spread out for so long? “Making do with the resources we had,” laughs Marianne. “We used every space to the maximum and always looked for opportunities to still innovate. Every inch was maximized.”

“It also had its advantages,” Jos says. “Because the processes were more separated, we saw much more clearly where things could be improved. That gave us insight and helped us take steps toward automation. In just the first two premises, we never could have achieved that development.”

But managing seven buildings is also restless. A lot of driving back and forth, inefficient consultations, colleagues who hardly see each other anymore… Sometimes it prevented them from really getting down to business. They are really looking forward to bringing the whole team together and making another big step forward in terms of efficiency.

Proud of the new building

What will soon be the best thing about everything under one roof? Jos doesn’t think for a second: “The workplace we can give people. I am sometimes ashamed now of how some departments are: worn-out, bad wifi, lack of meeting rooms. In the new building we can finally do our people justice. Everyone spends a lot of hours at work, then I begrudge everyone a nice workplace.”

Marianne nods. “And the team feeling. Building atmosphere and culture, having lunch together in a good canteen, being able to welcome customers and partners properly. How much we look forward to that!”

Jos and Marianne at the property under construction – May 2025

Smaller footprint for the earth

Besides providing a much nicer working environment and helping Cartec to grow, the building is also a big step forward in terms of sustainability. All workplaces are well insulated according to the latest building standards, the building and systems are partly powered by solar energy, all waste flows from the production process are collected and reused in a circular way wherever possible.
“In terms of logistics, we are also going to work more sustainably by minimizing transport movements. This is possible because we have everything under one roof and larger storage facilities,” Jos explains.

Warehouse – November 2025

A place to develop, test and experience

The siblings beam as they tell of the plans: “We are very much looking forward to the beautiful new production environment and training area, both of which are closely connected to the new laboratory. These departments are the core of Cartec. This is where our product takes center stage and where new developments are created.
We can do our testing even better and it is a great place to demonstrate to our customers how our products work. Besides training others, this will also be a fantastic place to wash cars ourselves and let the entire team gain hands-on experience with all the products.”

Jos in the office under construction – November 2025

A workplace that does justice to our team

For employees, a lot is changing. “Everything actually,” Jos says. “A fresh new location, new technologies, a professional workplace. Climate control, triple glazing, improved extraction in production and the lab, good wifi everywhere.”
“And of course the canteen as a cozy living room and meeting place,” Marianne adds. “With cooking island, terrace and perhaps a barbecue in the future. Food connects, we think that’s important.”

Building the future together

The team has been closely involved. “In the beginning, everyone contributed ideas,” Marianne says. “It was frustrating when the new building kept failing for various reasons. But everyone’s ideas have been incorporated into this new building. The team now gets regular updates: timelapse videos, drone footage and a monthly progress report. We celebrated the first pile together; everyone wrote their name on the piles. That really makes the building belong to all of us.”

More experience and efficiency for customers and visitors

Much is going to change for customers and visitors as well. “We’re creating an inspiring place where they can see and experience our products. An experience that shows what we stand for. Even webinars and demonstrations will eventually become possible.”

The key word is efficiency. “In operations, we now have shuttle trucks going back and forth between the premises with our products every day,” Jos says. “Soon chemical production will go directly into cans and bottles through the filling lines and then directly to the warehouse. There will be loading and unloading docks, larger tanks and better inventory management through our systems. Everything will be more efficient, safer and clearer. When all team members work in the same building, it promotes collaboration and increases efficiency.”

Impression picture of the canteen

A nice place for everyone

And the team also benefits from little things: “For example, there will soon be a place to wash your own car or relax in the cafeteria. The building is really for all of us.”

In five years, Jos and Marianne hope the business will run like a well-oiled machine. “If our motivated team can soon work with efficient systems and processes, we can put all our focus on innovation. That’s where we can really make a difference. We want to show the world who Cartec is. And who knows … maybe in 10 years we’ll be too tight,” they say with a laugh.

Impression image of the office

A new beginning

Summarizing this whole journey in a few words, Marianne and Jos complement each other: “Confidence and a new beginning.”

For the brother and sister, the new building symbolizes the takeover. “As a new generation, we want to continue to grow the company on our parents’ shoulders,” Jos says. “The key to that is thinking and working based on processes and scalability. The new premises will soon bring all that together: standardization, automation, professionalization and perhaps most importantly: room to innovate.”

Finally, Jos and Marianne would like to address their team, “We are grateful for everyone who has helped build and continues to do so daily. The hard work of many makes this possible. The new building is a place where we may work together for an inspiring future.”

We celebrated the first pile with champagne, treats, confetti and, of course, with each other. The involvement of the entire team is very important to us at Cartec.