Continuous social responsibility that improves
As a family business, with the third generation now involved as well, we know that continuity and flexibility are circular concepts. These qualities enable us to offer optimum support to our customers.
Our high quality work and close collaboration with customers and suppliers provide the basis for an extensive flow of knowledge and experience. We are able to advise governments on educational and economic issues.
Thanks to our involvement and support for teaching programmes, we kindle enthusiasm among young people for technical subjects. At West End, our passion helps our customers to innovate. And that helps us make other businesses future-proof as well.
West End Technologies also does its best to promote technology among girls, and facilitates assignments in technical secondary school education at science and technology colleges and senior secondary vocational education and training (VET) and preparatory secondary vocational education courses.
Involvement in the Bollenstreek is very important for West End. It is a form of interaction that allows us to make progress on an international level.
Sustainability
West End attaches great importance to optimal customised solutions for our customers and uses many new technologies for this purpose. These include technological developments relating to waste streams and sustainable production technologies. At West End, we sort the different waste streams for paper, cardboard, wood, aluminium, steel, stainless steel, oil and paint. By handling materials smartly, from detailed engineering, during manufacture and through to the collection of residual material, we are able to save a great deal.
‘25 years before it became a hype, West End already had international certification for environment-friendly design and manufacturing for the processing industry.’
West End invests in a better environment by always using cleaner production resources.
One example is the ice blasting of aluminium constructions for aerospace: a low energy and dust-free activity. We have been nominated several times for regional CSR and sustainability prizes for this reason.
Learning and working
Our employees are important for our business and we promote this. We are very proud to have trained two employees to the level of engineer (BEng). West End is an approved work placement company. We do our best to promote technology among girls, and support secondary school and science and technology colleges in kindling enthusiasm among young people for technical subjects.
What we make at West End is often so complicated that you will never learn it at school. That is why we train our people ourselves: they learn and work at the same time.
Every year, around 15% of the people employed at West End are working on graduate or other internships or are connected with West End for longer periods through apprenticeships. We cooperate closely with the Leiden Instrument makers School (LiS), Regional Training Centres in Amsterdam and Hoofddorp and KTS (Knowledge Transfer System) Voorhout. In 2017, West End became part of the LiS aerospace cluster.
We share our knowledge and experience in customised solutions and manufacturing with university students. We do this by sponsoring innovative projects, such as the hydrogen-powered racing car of the Forze team and the solar-powered car of the Nuon Solar Team, both from Delft University of Technology.
What we make is so complicated that you won’t learn it at school. So at West End, we train our people ourselves, whereby they work and learn at the same time. That is also why we pay so much attention to getting young people interested in our profession.
Sponsorship
West End is closely connected to the Duin- en Bollenstreek: the dune and bulb growing area of the Netherlands. We sponsor countless initiatives related to the themes of education, sport, young people and the disabled. Our sponsorship usually involves supplying special hardware.
On a national and international level, we are proud to sponsor the cutting edge and environment-friendly projects of Delft University of Technology. A well known example is the solar car of the Nuon Solar Team. We are particularly proud of our close cooperation with Team Forze. This student team is developing a hydrogen-powered racing car which aims to take on the battle against fossil fuel-powered racing cars.
Thanks to the preventive maintenance and internal refurbishment of our own machinery, West End leads the way as a sustainable machine works.
What we make is so complicated that you won’t learn it at school. So at West End, we train our people ourselves, whereby they work and learn at the same time. That is also why we pay so much attention to getting young people interested in our profession.
West End organises numerous open days for primary school children and secondary school students for that purpose. West End wants to promote our profession: it is a great profession and we need the next generation to keep it going with us.