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Buhrs celebrates its 100th anniversary
A century ago, Buhrs was established in Zaandam, The Netherlands. Zaandam was a town of only a few thousand inhabitants, with huge ambitions, but little else. Ambition guided by vision can travel a long way, however, and a lot was happening in Zaandam and at Buhrs.Zaandam is a town in the province of North-Holland. It is the main city of the municipality of Zaanstad. It is located on the Zaan, close to the North-Sea canal, and is in close proximity to the capital Amsterdam. When Amsterdam developed into a global trading centre in the 17th century, the Zaan Region started to benefit from this economic boom. Staple products stored in Amsterdam were refined here. No less than one thousand industrial windmills were built in the Zaan Region to this end. In the last quarter of the 19th century, the second period of prosperity for Zaan industry and trade began.
Buhrs grew at a similar rate. Theodorus Bührs started on 19 November 1908 with a small team and grew over the decade to become an international manufacture of paper & film wrapping, envelope inserting and fulfilment systems.
In 1920, Theodorus Bührs’ three sons joined the company and, in 1932, the company received its first order from Ford Motor Company in Amsterdam. In fact, the partnership with Ford lasted for more then thirty years. Shortly after the Second World War, Philips became the second important customer for Buhrs. In 1958, the first Zaandam 1 Sleeve Wrapping System for magazines was introduced, followed by several other modules for processing magazines. In 1973, the Buhrs brothers sold the company to Buhrmann Tetterode. In addition to their own products, Buhrs manufactured printing machines for the packaging industry and card-box folding machines. In 1986, the first film wrapping system was introduced at Drupa and Adrian van der Klooster’s Convent Holding acquired the company in 1993 and laid the foundation for the Buhrs Group that customers from all over the world are familiar with today.
