February 17, 2023
Van Geenen in Rijssen has been advancing and improving since 1977. For over forty years, Van Geenen has been active in the field of grinding and polishing metal products and over the years, the company has acquired a leading role in the market. Van Geenen is known for good cooperation with employees, customers and suppliers, with mutual trust as the basis. That has always remained the same, but if we put the Van Geenen of 2023 next to the company of 1977, much has changed.
For the beginnings of Van Geenen, we have to go back to 1977, when Arnold van Geenen with his sons Nico and Gerrit decided to establish the company. 'Grijperij Van Geenen' was born and the focus was mainly on heavy work such as deburring for chromery companies and foundries.
After a difficult start, in which own cars had to be sold to be able to invest somewhat in tools, a new direction was taken: stainless steel. This was the choice of Nico van Geenen, who in the meantime had become director-owner. The company specialized in machining stainless steel and that turned out to be a good move.
In the mid-1980s, Van Geenen was one of the few companies in the Netherlands that specialized in machining stainless steel. Due to its extensive knowledge and experience, the family business attracted renowned companies from high-end industries, such as tank and equipment construction, semiconductor industry and yacht building. The focus was mainly on manual grinding and polishing. By investing in more personnel, larger premises and new machines, Van Geenen has made great strides since then. For example, (semi) automated grinding and polishing machines were installed for processing sheet metal, pipes and cutting parts. Both at home and abroad, Van Geenen gathered more and more fame.
Anno 2023, the Rijssen company does much more than just machining stainless steel. Of course, the well-known types of metal are still polished and ground manually and mechanically, but in recent years it became clear that it was time for a new challenge. Therefore, in recent years we invested in the purchase of a precision grinding machine, the so-called Timesavers 81 Series, with which various material types can be ground to very precise tolerances.
Not only is this machine capable of grinding sheets by roughness value, but also by thickness. Here, a thickness tolerance of only 0.05 millimeters can be achieved. Because the precision grinding machine has a wet grinding process and the machine has a vacuum table, even the more exotic material types can be ground on it.
Examples of these exotic materials include titanium, aluminum and harder materials such as Invar, Duplex and Special Alloys. That fact opened many new doors for Van Geenen. Those doors in turn led to new industries. A very large project was started in 2022, grinding titanium plates and parts for the aerospace industry, also called the aerospace sector. A very different branch of sport, where accuracy and control are hugely important, but a fantastic challenge for everyone within Van Geenen.
They learned, invested and specialized in the service of the precision grinding machine. Within no time it became clear that the demand for this service was growing, because there simply are not many companies that can provide this service. That is the reason a second precision grinding machine was installed in the summer of 2022. Meanwhile, both machines are running at full speed to bring the aerospace project to completion.
However, with the advent of precision grinders, a new problem was also created. When working with precise tolerances, measurability is very important. With large sheets, manual measurement can be very difficult. So Van Geenen, together with several other companies, worked on a measuring system for on the precision grinding machines. This measuring system consists of several lasers that measure the grinded sheets in different places, after which a report is printed out of the measured thicknesses. With the realization of this fully automatic measuring system, one can say with even more certainty that the plates have the desired thickness. Van Geenen's Timesavers 81 Series is more complete than ever.
For director Bart van Geenen, who officially took over from father Nico in 2015, it is clear: Van Geenen wants to keep developing, keep specializing and keep growing. New projects, new machines and new types of operations make this possible. Besides the fact that this progressive thinking leads to new doors opening, it also creates more jobs. More and more employees are finding their way to Van Geenen and the team continues to grow. And that ensures that the family business Van Geenen never stands still.
This article was taken from the newsletter of ALURVS, published February 13, 2023. The entire newsletter can be read back here.
