In its October 2026 edition, LINK Magazine describes how VDL Container Systems is moving from custom engineering to a modular product architecture. The first result is the VDL Stratus, the first skip loader the company developed in a modular way. We are proud that MODULAR5 supported the team on this journey.
Customization without the chaos
VDL Container Systems does not want to become a pure mass producer and that choice adds complexity to the organization. Johan van der Kamp, Manager Engineering, explains the answer with a pizza: the base is the same everywhere and the toppings differ. For the skip loader that meant one universal base platform for all countries, with customer-specific solutions built from modular building blocks. It is the step from engineering to order (ETO) to configure to order (CTO).
Getting the project moving again
VDL had already started on modularity a few years earlier, but the process proved difficult. According to the article, the project was driven too much from engineering and leaned too heavily on standardization instead of modularization. MODULAR5 made an analysis and an action plan. It started with the abstract layer: the requirements, the functions and the variety behind them. Only then were the modules defined. That is also how our approach works.
A new way of working
The goal went beyond one product. As Frank Rood, senior modularity consultant at MODULAR5, points out in the article, our work has only succeeded when the organization can keep building on its own. Bringing everyone involved together also helped to overcome resistance on the work floor.
We have learned to work together across departments.
Mark Francot
Managing Director of VDL Container Systems, in LINK Magazine (translated from Dutch)
What comes next
The Stratus was introduced this spring, so it is still too early for hard figures. It does serve as the blueprint: the first skip loaders built to the new philosophy are being installed, the product configurator is being developed further and together we are now looking at hook arms and spreaders.
Read the article
The full article (in Dutch, by Tom Cassauwers) is on pages 70 and 71 of the October 2026 edition of LINK Magazine. Johan van der Kamp also shared it on LinkedIn. See also The Modular Way at VDL Container Systems.
Curious what this can mean for your products? Start with a Potential & Feasibility Study: one focused scan of your product portfolio, with a business case and a roadmap in about four weeks.
