A serious manufacturer of greenhouse systems

In the 1960s, the first greenhouses were mainly constructed from wood or steel. In 1969, it became possible to produce aluminium extrusion profiles on an industrial scale. This was a reason for wood production company Hordijk, and Westland’s largest greenhouse builder Voskamp & Vrijland, to establish the Aluminium Constructie Maatschappij.

Alcomij started as a joint venture of the two companies. Hordijk contributed its machinery knowledge because wood working and aluminium processing machinery obviously had many similarities. And Voskamp & Vrijland, as big international greenhouse builder, brought in the contracts.

In this period, Alcomij became a serious manufacturer of aluminium greenhouse systems and steel greenhouse structures. During the winter, its enthusiastic production team produced the entire stock of standard construction components to cover the requirements for Dutch horticulture projects over the summer, projects varying in size from 500 to 1000 m2. An extremely straightforward world!

Alcomij a full Hordijk subsidiary

Export used to be very different: much wilder, more adventurous and at that time really special. With its typical Westland attitude and boldness, the company was extremely pioneering in Western European countries like England and France, as well as in countries like Romania, Bulgaria and the former Soviet Union. If parties lacked hard cash in the latter countries, they paid for large Westland greenhouses with oil or train carriages filled with horses. The risks were high and with the collapse of the greenhouse market at the end of the 1970s, this ultimately led to the bankruptcy of Voskamp & Vrijland. This resulted in Alcomij becoming a full Hordijk subsidiary in the mid-1980s and being given the opportunity to develop again after recovering from the setback.

Fifty years of growth

Alcomij has had its ups and downs over the past fifty years. Despite various setbacks, the company has been able to demonstrate steady growth. The addition of logistics products for cultivation, including auction trolleys and mobile benches, has enabled Alcomij to achieve synergy and to continue to respond to the ever-fluctuating market demand.

Continue modernisering

Belief in an honest, high-quality product also plays an important role in this. In order to continue to achieve this, the company has worked since its inception on improving and modernising its own production facilities. Another reason why Alcomij can always ensure that production capacity is a perfect match for the current market demand.

What was once a well-equipped wood manufacturing company, is today a high-tech machine pool for steel and aluminium processing. In the transition to automated production, traditional factory worker roles have been replaced with employees who have knowledge of robotised production and specific laser technology.