Built to Last: 30 Years of DECRAN
Thirty years ago, DECRAN started with no factory, no production line and no employees.
The doors were bought unfinished, painted by hand with a roller and sometimes left to dry in the kitchen of the Decraene family home. The first installation took almost an entire day. And almost immediately came the first lesson: some things could be done better.
That willingness to learn, adapt and find a better solution has remained part of DECRAN ever since.
Today, the company works on projects involving hundreds of doors, delivers made-to-measure steel solutions for demanding buildings and has developed production capabilities far beyond anything that could have been imagined in those early days.
Yet, according to Anne and Dieter Decraene, something essential has remained unchanged.
Building a company one lesson at a time
In the beginning, DECRAN was very much a family endeavour. Founder Lode Decraene brought the technical expertise and determination to make the business work. Anne combined her own job with helping the young company, while weekends and evenings were often dedicated to building the business.
There were difficult moments too. Projects they expected to win went elsewhere. The first employees brought the realization that other people would not necessarily do things exactly the way the founders did. Growth meant learning to delegate, to accept different ways of working and to keep moving forward.
As Anne recalls, DECRAN gradually moved from the family home to a small workshop, then to larger premises. Eventually, the company made another decisive step: instead of buying doors, it started producing them itself.
Machines were acquired, welding capabilities developed, painting evolved from the original roller to professional facilities, and production continued to expand.
Later came another ambitious chapter: developing production in Slovakia. It required years of commitment, travel and knowledge transfer, but it gave DECRAN the capacity to grow further.
More than a steel door
From the outside, a steel door may appear to be a relatively simple product. It is anything but. Different dimensions, locks, security systems, fire resistance, burglary resistance and acoustic requirements can turn every door into a technical project of its own.
As Dieter explains, the client does not always know exactly which solution is required. DECRAN’s role is therefore not simply to manufacture a door, but to understand the need, navigate the technical possibilities and find the right solution.
That is why made-to-measure remains at the heart of the company.
“We make it from A to Z.”
For Dieter, this is also one of the most important lessons inherited from his father:
“A company is built on relationships and reputation. You can produce the best door, but that alone doesn't make a company. You have to keep your promises, solve problems when they occur, and stand behind the product that you deliver.”
From 20 doors to hundreds
There was a time when a project involving 20 doors felt enormous for DECRAN.
Today, the company is involved in projects requiring 100, 200 or even several hundred doors, often combining different technical requirements within the same building.
Projects have become larger, production capacity has expanded and the organization has become more structured. Yet Dieter believes DECRAN’s fundamental approach has remained remarkably consistent: understand what the customer needs, find the right technical solution and make it work.
The longevity of its customer relationships is perhaps the strongest proof.
Some companies that worked with DECRAN in its earliest years are still customers today. Others occasionally tried another supplier and eventually returned. And doors installed many years ago are still being serviced by the company today.
Quality, in other words, does not end when the installation team leaves the site.
Growing without losing the foundation
Becoming part of EMI Group marked another important turning point in DECRAN’s history.
For a family that had spent decades building and carrying responsibility for the company, the transition naturally came with questions. Would the company still feel like DECRAN? Would decisions remain close to the business? Would its identity survive?
The experience, Anne says, proved reassuring. Being part of a larger group brought greater capacity and shared responsibility without removing the autonomy and entrepreneurial spirit that had shaped the company.
DECRAN can now take on projects that would simply have been beyond its reach in its earlier years. And while growth inevitably brings change, Dieter summarizes the balance simply: “You can’t grow without change. But if the base still remains, then I can live with it.”
That base is still visible inside the company today: people know one another, help one another and work towards the same goal.
Technical knowledge matters. Problem-solving matters. But when asked which quality he values particularly highly in a DECRAN colleague, Dieter chooses reliability.
Construction sites rarely go entirely according to plan. The important question is not simply whether something is possible, but: How can we make this work?
Built to last
Perhaps that is why the best title for the DECRAN story came naturally to Dieter after the interview: Built to last. It describes the products.
But after 30 years, it describes much more than that. It describes relationships with customers that have survived decades. A technical culture passed from one generation to another. A company that has moved from a family kitchen to increasingly complex European projects. And a business that has been able to grow, change and become part of something larger without forgetting where it started.
Thirty years is an important milestone. But for DECRAN, it feels much more like another step in a story that is still being built.
