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ISSA Member Profile: Flash B.V.

Categories: ISSA Member Spotlight

Founded in the Netherlands in 1964, Flash B.V. is an Oss, Netherlands-based private label manufacturer and supplier of nonwoven wipes, cloths, mops, and pads.

The current form of Flash has existed since 1986, when Ruud van den Berge took control of operations as company CEO. Since then, Flash’s supply range has expanded from the Benelux region to the rest of Europe and beyond with its growth amalgamating in the acquisition of Factron—a manufacturer of abrasive pads, scrubbing sponges, and wipes—in 2006.

“Our company’s motto is ‘setting standards in floor cleaning, ’” said van den Berge. “This means that we continuously improve our products and strive to develop new systems and concepts that drive the floor cleaning industry forward.

“We can only achieve this by closely interacting with our partner-customers and partner-suppliers. The result? Innovative added value and top product performance,” he added.

Flash is committed to developing better products through consultation with clients, whom Flash regards as best placed to collect the most relevant information due to their first-hand experience with the products. These innovations can relate to product performance or ease of use and manufacturing greener or more cost-effective products.

“Flash sells its products to distributors in 50 countries,” van den Berge said. “We also have a lot to offer other cleaning companies in terms of sharing the experiences and best-practices that we have learned from entering different regional markets, and are able to give detailed information about our own portfolio and its differences from country to country.”

However, van den Berge grew increasingly frustrated that this vision seemingly wasn’t concurrent with some others in the industry. “We were finding that some biggest challenges in our region were the lack of willingness between distributors to cooperate, and most of all, to find distributors that are willing to invest time in the innovation of their portfolio.”

As a result, Flash’s outreach began to penetrate foreign markets—and ISSA membership soon followed.

Flash’s multinational successes have been enhanced since joining ISSA in 2008, as it has benefited from exclusive member privileges that allow for networking across the global cleaning industry.

“Networking is crucial in our industry, in order to meet professionals who can be valuable for our business,” explained van den Berge. “As such, the ISSA/INTERCLEAN® trade shows are a major benefit for us, bringing together exhibitors and visitors to meet and develop mutually-beneficial working relationships.

“Since participating in ISSA membership, we have sold to 11 new countries as a direct result. It’s a really helpful resource in the sharing of information and obtaining answers to any queries we have,” added van den Berge. “For example, we looked into exporting our products into both Russia and South Africa. Through ISSA we were able to identify the people who were best equipped to provide correct information that would help with this exciting venture.

“ISSA connects the industry by granting visibility to all manner of cleaning organization,” concluded can den Berge. “We hope it can continue to act as a platform in manifesting our key strategic aim: the importance of innovation.”

To learn more about Flash, visit the company’s ISSA Member Directory page.

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