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At the end of 2006 Stork had approximately 12,700 employees, of whom 10,000 in the
Netherlands. At present Stork has 4 groups:
Aerospace,
Food Systems,
Technical Services,
Prints
There are about 50 operating companies. Stork achieved a turnover of € 2 billion in 2006 worldwide The
nett result 2006: € 150 million.
Stork will be focusing on the three pillars: Aerospace, Food Systems and Technical
Services. Prints will be divested in 2007, as new ownership will be better positioned to
unlock their potential. Stork will build on the three remaining pillars through
autonomous growth and through selective acquisitions. The focus will be on productivity
improvements by using lean manufacturing. The market and technology leadership positions
Stork holds will be further built upon, aimed at gaining market share through the
introduction of innovative solutions that create value for the blue-chip customer
base.
175 years of Stork: a quick
review
Stork is the overall name of today's technology company, but
its earliest history dates back to the formation in 1827 of the Nederlandse Fabriek van
Werktuigen en Spoorwegmaterieel (Dutch machine and railway equipment works), in brief:
Werkspoor, which later also became the official name.
This originally Amsterdam-based company merged in 1954 on an equal basis with the
engineering works Gebroeders Stork & Co., which was founded in Hengelo in 1868. This
means that 1827 is the earliest date to which the company's roots can be traced. Stork
concentrated mainly on (industrial) production equipment (steam and other engines,
boilers, pumps, sugar refineries), while Werkspoor's main activities were means of
transport (ship components, steam locomotives, diesel trainsets, carriages, buses and
bridges).
In the fertile post-war years the combination (which for a long time worked under the
very well known name Verenigde Machinefabrieken/VMF) grew strongly in the sector which
can best be described as heavy capital goods. The vulnerable nature of this market
(completion of the post-war rebuilding, large projects, long decision-making processes)
led the company's management to initiate a far-reaching - and with government support
successful - turnaround in the 1970s and 1980s. This led the company into new (niche)
markets for (lighter) industrial production equipment, concentrating on primary needs:
clothing, food, energy, water/air and transport, as well as technical services for the
maintenance of industrial and building-related installations.
Aerospace activities were added to this list in 1996, thanks to the acquisition of the
Fokker companies specialising in the building of aircraft components and integrated
aircraft maintenance services. A strategic reorientation at the beginning of 2000 led to
a structure with 5 groups, focusing on digital (textile) printing technologies, poultry
processing/fast food, aerospace, industrial components and technical services.
In 2004 Sork sold the Industrial Components Group; so now there are four groups
left.
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