From technical trading agency to partners in wear parts
For Geha it all started on the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam in 1952. There, founder Gerard Hinse traded in brake pads and chains. After the North Sea flood of 1953, the developing company was helpful in quickly supplying equipment and spare parts for draglines and bulldozers.
In the early nineteen sixties, Geha moved to new premises in Sloten. In 1991, it finally settled at its current location in Zaandam. At the initiative of current CEO Theo van Schie, who has been with the company since 1980, the first oxy-fuel cutting machine was installed in 1998.
On the initiative of then CEO Theo van Schie, who has been with the company since 1980, the first oxy-fuel cutting machine was installed in 1998.
Not without success.
Today, Geha, with more than eighteen hundred customers ranging from agro-technical to offshore companies, is the leading supplier of wear-resistant products made from Hardox material. In Zaandam, the company has more than eight thousand square meters of shop floor where thirty-seven professionals work together every day.
Doekle Laverman set up his Technical Trading Office for Industry and Contracting in Zandvoort in 1949. Whereas the company was initially engaged in the design and construction of vessels and materials for the stone industry, Laverman later concentrated on components. At the time Laverman advised Dutch Railways on bedding material for rails.
After a takeover in 1986, Laverman stepped down as a shareholder and, under the management of Henk Willeger, the company increasingly concentrated on supplying parts for raw materials processing installations. Because the successful representation of Magotteaux and Ludwig Krieger required significantly larger storage space, it moved to Alphen aan den Rijn. In the period 1998-2008, Laverman also had its own factory of conveyor belts in Borne, Overijssel.
In 2001, Laverman moved to its current location on Alphen's Distributieweg. The company then had over 15 hundred square metres of office and warehouse space and had 17 employees, including Paul de Grijs and Erik Bloot as directors and shareholders.
In mid-2013, Geha and Laverman decided to join forces and work together. Geha Laverman BV thus became the largest Hardox Wearparts Centre in the world. SSAB of Sweden has since taken over all shares, and Piet van Breukelen is at the helm of Geha Laverman.
