How Lemvigh-Müller reinforces its market position with Donghua chain solutions

How is Donghua expanding its partnership with Lemvigh-Müller, Denmark’s largest steel and wholesale company? In this article, Lars Schnejder Pedersen, Product Manager for mechanical and technical products, explains how the collaboration enables Lemvigh-Müller to support its customers with high-quality chain solutions, technical expertise and fast, reliable delivery. We explore the company’s broad industrial role, the added value it brings to customers and how Donghua’s innovation, stock availability and close cooperation help strengthen its market position.

“Donghua may not yet be the most known brand in Denmark, but the quality speaks for itself. The quality, the technical know-how and the innovation behind for example EXL and X3 chains also make a strong impression on our customers. They also appreciate the excellent availability of Donghua chains, supported by Lemvigh-Müller’s local stock in Denmark and Donghua’s extensive inventory in Alkmaar, which ensures we can deliver the right chain quickly and reliably.”

Lemvigh-Müller: Denmark’s largest steel and wholesale company

With a history dating back to 1846, Lemvigh-Müller has grown into Denmark’s largest steel and wholesale company. The company employs around 1,300 people, operates 23 sales departments, runs three central warehouses and maintains four metal processing facilities. Its product offering spans technical products, electrical components, steel, plumbing materials and more than 600,000 individual items.

The customer base is broad. With more than 44,000 customer accounts, Lemvigh-Müller serves OEMs, end users and maintenance teams across Danish industry. Although most activity is domestic, the company delivers worldwide, following major customers to their international locations. 

“We deliver to approximately 67 countries,” Lars explains. “If a customer like Carlsberg builds a new site somewhere in the world, our products follow. Everything is handled from Denmark, but our sales teams visit the sites several times a year.”

A wide range of added value

Beyond its role as a logistics and distribution partner, Lemvigh-Müller provides a comprehensive range of services designed to improve efficiency for customers. These include project calculations, procurement optimization, inventory management, steel and metal processing, technical consulting and a large number of professional courses.

“One customer came to us with around 3,000 suppliers,” Lars says. “Their goal was to reduce that number to around 200 within a few years. That is also the kind of added value we offer. We help customers simplify their procurement, create efficiencies and ensure they only work with suppliers who add real value.”

Converting products is another typical service. When customers use competing chain brands, Lemvigh-Müller evaluates whether a one-to-one replacement is appropriate or whether an improved product would offer greater benefits. 

“We always look for a better solution,” Lars notes. “If we can offer a stronger chain that reduces downtime, that has far more value for the customer than the price of the product alone. Many customers come to us because their old chain has failed. We look at why it broke and whether another chain would prevent the same issue. In many cases, we offer only a higher-quality option, as it ultimately saves customers money on both the product and their production process. For most customers, the priority isn’t the price of the chain, but the reliability of the solution. So that’s central to our partnership with Donghua as well.”

A partnership built on shared values

“The partnership between Lemvigh-Müller and Donghua began more than five years ago, shortly after I joined the company. I had worked with Donghua in a previous role and visited their facility in Alkmaar, so I already knew their dedication to the market, the products and the customers. When I joined Lemvigh-Müller, I wanted to explore whether we could work together. After a year of discussions, visits and market evaluations, it became clear to both sides that the potential for a long-term collaboration was strong. The match was based not only on product quality but on shared values and commitment to reliability, long-term cooperation and a shared dedication to supporting customers with technical depth and honesty. For us, it was a no-brainer, their technical know-how, the workshop, the service level; everything aligned with what we strive for as a company.”

The partnership is strong, expanding and gaining momentum. Customer interest is growing, joint activities are increasing and both companies see clear market interest for Donghua’s solutions across Denmark leading to rapid adoption.

Delivering better solutions to customers

According to Lars, customers quickly adapt to Donghua chains once they are introduced. The growth in turnover and market share is visible on a daily basis. 

“Some customers have been using the same chain brand for years and are hesitant at first,” he says. “In those cases, we carry out testing or provide clear test reports with wear rates, load data and lifetime comparisons. If needed, we help set up a test in their own application. Last year we did this with a machine builder, and after seeing the results they switched immediately. The chain was easier to work with, lasted longer and reduced costs.”

“We see that customers adapt to Donghua chains quickly. The daily growth in market share is the clearest sign for us. Once new customers review the test results and try the chains, they usually tell us the same thing: it works better, lasts longer and saves money. That’s when they decide to switch.”

Close cooperation and fast response times

For Lemvigh-Müller, service and cooperation are central to the partnership. The relationship with Donghua is built on mutual respect, patience in developing the market and continuous dialogue. A good example is the decision to station a Donghua sales representative in Denmark.

“We talked about this informally over dinner once,” Lars recalls. “My former boss mentioned it would be interesting if Donghua placed someone in Denmark. We didn’t discuss it further, but half a year later we were informed that Matthijs would be moving to Denmark to support our work together. His local presence means we can visit customers together, respond faster and involve Donghua’s technical specialists whenever needed. It shows customers how close we are to the producer, and that we can influence product design, request special solutions and get answers quickly. That gives them a lot of confidence.”

Stock availability is another strength of the collaboration. Lemvigh-Müller maintains its own stock of standard and solution chains in Denmark, enabling next-day delivery in most situations. 

“Of course, we cannot stock everything,” Lars says. “Specialty chains, heavy-duty versions or less common dimensions take up enormous space, so we keep a focused selection locally. But because Alkmaar holds the largest chain stock in Europe, the chances are very high that whatever we don’t have on the shelf is available there. In practice, that means we can still deliver within 24 hours in almost all cases. That is extremely valuable for our customers.”

“We are very close to the producer. We don’t just buy products from them, we have all the possibilities to work with them on customer specific solutions if needed, and we can do it quickly. Once the specialty product is finished, we’ll work with Donghua to have the product readily available with the same lead times as the general product lines. This is a game changer for many customers, OEM as well as MRO.”

Strengthening market position through partnership

For Lemvigh-Müller, having Donghua as a partner strengthens its ability to support customers across all technical areas. “We now represent one of the market’s leading brands in this product category,” Lars explains. “Combined with our strengths in other mechanical product areas, we’re much stronger when approaching customers with complex requests.”

“The company is investing heavily in the machine builder segment, because these customers have very specific requirements,” Lars says. “Designers and engineers need direct access to technical expertise, drawings and application advice right from the early stages of a project, and with our close cooperation with Donghua we can deliver that at a very high level Our goal in all of this is simple: To make a difference for our customers every day by making things better, more easy and help improving their business.”

Together, Lemvigh-Müller and Donghua continue to strengthen their collaboration, combining global production capabilities with local expertise to deliver reliable, high-quality chain solutions to customers across Denmark and beyond.