DIPP Professional

Trigger sprayers are very important for Innovis’ DIPP Professional brand, which specialises in professional kitchen hygiene products. Any products that are applied directly and undiluted are sprayed onto the surface to be cleaned. Innovis is therefore only too happy that Houweling Group was able to supply its high-quality trigger sprayers as of autumn 2020: need was high at the time.

Shortage

Bjorn Mertens, Supply & Product Development Manager at Innovis, explains that the shortage of trigger sprayers was all to do with an enormous growth in the demand for disinfectants, obviously as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak in March. This also led to Innovis itself increasing its demand in 2020 tenfold compared to 2019. In addition, many new players entered the disinfectant market. Gin and rum distilleries for example, which saw their sales in the hotel and catering industry dwindle, started to make disinfectants from their alcohol as an alternative. Initially, Innovis was able to rely on its own stock or that of its suppliers. According to Mertens, that explains why it took a few more months before the problem became really acute. “But from September onwards, we occasionally had to supply products with sprayers of inferior quality or in different colours than people wanted, out of necessity.”

Solution was ‘close at hand’

To solve the problem of finding the right triggers with smaller capacities for cleaning products, Innovis had to look for another supplier. And it wasn’t far away – literally and figuratively. Parent company WVT was already happily doing business with Houweling Group in Aarschot and the same was true of Bjorn Mertens himself. “I’ve only been with Innovis since last year, but at my previous employer I always worked well with Dries Branders, Houweling Group’s Sales Manager for Belgium. The quality and price are good and they could always deliver, which are only positives. That’s why, since the end of February, we’ve been buying trigger sprayers for smaller capacities from Houweling Group.” There were no issues when it came to trigger sprayers with larger capacities used by Innovis for degreasers. Mertens says that the mismatch between supply and demand of trigger sprayers with smaller capacity is now also a thing of the past. “Manufacturers have ramped up capacity and beverage companies have gone back to their core business.” But because of its quality and delivery reliability, Innovis remains a loyal customer of Houweling Group.

Under the brand name DIPP, Innovis supplies companies in the wholesale and catering sectors, as well as bakeries and industry, among others. The market is mainly the Benelux, but the company also delivers to France and Switzerland. With its complete product lines of cleaning supplies, it helps its customers meet food safety standards.

Bjorn Mertens, Supply & Product Development Manager at Innovis

Top quality

Innovis expects its packaging supplier to offer quality products at a competitive price along with the certainty that they can be delivered, explains Dries Branders, Sales Manager at Houweling Group. “In 2020, when suppliers were having stock problems due to coronavirus, Houweling Group was able to supply trigger sprayers and other packaging.” Innovis is extremely satisfied with these trigger sprayers (type ATOM-Z and TS5) according to Branders. “They are beautifully designed and have a patented pre-compression technology. This means the trigger is always ready to use. Liquid comes out of the trigger sprayer at the first squeeze of the lever. The technique is patented by the manufacturer Guala Dispensing. With trigger sprayers that don’t have this technique, you have to press the lever at least once, maybe several times, before any liquid comes out of the trigger. The TS5 even has a guaranteed output of 1.25 ml. Both types fit perfectly into DIPP’s product lines.”