<!–[if !mso]> <! st1:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } –> A decade after establishing its North American headquarters in Atlanta, Netherlands-based logistics software developer ORTEC is doing about a quarter of its worldwide business in the U.S., but the company’s chief executive here sees even better things ahead.
Corné Aantjes, CEO of ORTEC North America, told GlobalAtlanta that he was the Dutch parent company’s 25th employee when he was hired out of college in the early 1990s.
ORTEC now employs about 600 people worldwide, including 50 in the Georgia capital. The company has operations in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, Romania, Singapore, and the United Kingdom, but the Atlanta office is its only location in the Americas.
As substantial as this growth has been, ORTEC North America is poised for further expansion.
“We’re proud of what we’ve achieved, at the same time we’ll triple our operation probably in the next several years because there’s untapped potential,” he said, adding that the anticipated expansion will mean more jobs in Atlanta.
“We will add 10 to 20 people in the next 18 months; I think some on the sales and marketing side and definitely on the operations side.”
The growing business led ORTEC North America to move from the Concourse Corporate Center into larger offices at 3630 Peachtree St. in Buckhead in February.
When deciding where to establish ORTEC’s North American headquarters, Mr. Aantjes said the Georgia capital’s global connectivity through Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and the large number of Fortune 500 companies in the region made it a prime location.
Atlanta’s status as a logistics hub means that there are many potential clients for ORTEC’s software, which is designed to increase trucking efficiency by maximizing carrying capacity and streamlining drivers’ routes.
Mr. Aantjes said increased efficiency lowers fuel consumption and the number of vehicles on the road, reducing costs and carbon emissions.
“Fuel is up to four dollars a gallon again, so if we can save them 5 percent on their fuel that’s going to pique some interest, and our software does generate that type of savings,” he said.
ORTEC was nominated for the Franz Edelman Award for outstanding operational research in 2007 for saving Atlanta-based Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. $45 million annually in its direct store delivery trucking routes.
The company is succeeding in the U.S. despite periods of sluggish economic growth and recession since opening its Atlanta offices.
“We’ve had our challenges. 2001 wasn’t the perfect year to start business in North America,” Mr. Aantjes said. “We haven’t grown as fast as we projected to grow but we’ve continued to grow in North America and globally.”
There was also a learning curve in establishing ORTEC in the U.S., particularly in identifying a need to market the company’s software more aggressively.
“We had the attitude that if our products were so good people would come to us and buy it, but that’s not really how you win the market,” Mr. Aantjes said.
Despite these difficulties, the prominent Dutch business presence in Atlanta helped to ease the transition.
“I continue to be surprised about the number of people I meet who have Dutch heritage in Atlanta,” Mr. Aantjes said. “There are a lot of large companies who’ve had their presence in Atlanta, lots of large organizations have put their footprint in Atlanta, and we interact with these on a regular basis.”
ORTEC is a member of the Atlanta-based Netherlands American Chamber of Commerce for the Southeastern United States, a group of Dutch companies and American businesses with ties to the country.
Visit www.ortec.com, or for its North American operations, www.ortec.com/us For more information on the chamber, visit www.naccse.org.