SPX FLOW, Inc., a leading provider of process solutions for the nutrition, health and industrial markets, is celebrating the 75th anniversary of its Assen manufacturing facility in the Netherlands.
Assen’s team of 85 employees make critical components for processing plants worldwide, producing both standard and customized pumps. The team has also spearheaded initiatives to improve safety, increase productivity, shorten lead times and drive customer satisfaction.
“We’re especially proud of this team, not just for the past 75 years, but for the way Assen continues to improve every day,” said Ben de Haas, Assen’s director of operations.
Assen primarily produces different types of centrifugal pumps, including multistage, self-priming, mag drive and submersible pumps. These pumps serve many industrial engineering sectors, as well as the global horticulture, shipbuilding, water treatment and automotive markets.
The Assen team has also been increasingly involved in providing pumps to one of the fastest growing renewable power segments, offshore wind. The wind farms are located in bodies of water, where wind speeds are higher. The pumps help convert the energy for use onshore through a transmission system called high-voltage direct current (HVDC).
The Assen facility is part of SPX FLOW‘s leading Pump Solutions portfolio, which includes Johnson Pump and Bran+Luebbe brands.
Originally part of the Stork Standard Pump company, the Assen factory was first located in an old grain warehouse. In its first year, it produced only several hundred pumps. Within about a decade, though, that number soared to tens of thousands.
Assen expanded in the 1970s, opening several locations. That included one in Rotterdam that focused on shipbuilding, and one to the south for chemicals.
In 1997, Johnson Pump acquired the Assen team, and in 2006, Assen joined SPX FLOW when Johnson Pump was acquired.
“From design to delivery, our goal is to continuously improve to ensure we put customers first,” de Haas said. “This milestone is a tribute to top-notch quality for our business partners and our customers.”