The history of Maars
Maars started in a canal house in Amsterdam just after the Second World War. It was here, in 1946, that Mr. L. Maars Sr. (1910 - 1995) and four employees began the manufacture and sale of fluorescent light fittings. Maars quickly grew out of these premises, necessitating a move to the building on the Deventerweg in Harderwijk in 1960. In addition to light fittings, ceilings, partitions and climate control systems were successively added to the product range in the nineteen-sixties. This resulted in a complete package of light, air, walls and ceilings. Owing to the expansion of activities, a new production facility was established on the Newtonweg in 1974, producing profiles the basis of walls and ceilings. In 1990, this production plant was further enlarged by 10,000 m2 and since then the other activities, such as the offices, for example, have been grouped around it. In order to expand the package even further, the company Intersign was taken over in 1992. Intersign is well-known in the building world for its attractive and high-quality metal walls, doors and frames.
From Amsterdam to Harderwijk
Maars left Amsterdam for Harderwijk in 1960. Harderwijk’s central location and its attractive residential area were only two of the reasons why Maars moved here. In the first instance, work started on building the front section of the production plant on the Deventerweg. The rear section and the office quickly followed. In 1963, the production of light fittings was joined by suspended ceilings, in 1966 by movable partition walls and in 1968 with the last product group. L. Maars Armaturenfabriek NV was rechristened Maars Verlichting en Interieurssystemen NV and employed 205 personnel. In 1972, the year in which limited companies were introduced in Holland, the name was changed to Maars BV. In the same year, A.P.I. BV (Acoustical Products Industry) was set up for the production and sale of ceiling profiles.
Internationalisation
At the beginning of the nineteen-seventies, a joint venture with Americans led to various technological developments. In 1974, work commenced on the construction of a new production facility on the Newtonweg and new machines were introduced that allowed production capacity to increase sharply. It now became more attractive to develop more activities abroad, and so a start was made on setting up foreign branches with their own assembly teams. This resulted in an expansion into Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland, with an increase of at least 600 personnel.
Improvements
Maars junior became managing director and owner in 1979. This was a period that once again saw rapid growth, with a further increase in personnel and turnover. The product range was expanded and modified at exactly the right moment. In the spring of 1990, a new production facility of 10,000 m2, including a modern powder coating plant, was opened on the Newtonweg. All production activities were now concentrated there.
Management Buy-out of Maars Lichtsystemen and API sold to Saint-Gobain
On 1 June 2001, MLS (Maars LichtSystemen) continued as an independent company. Later that year, on 28 November 2001, Saint-Gobain took over the ceiling activities (API) from Maars. Already in the policy documents Strategy 1999-2005 and Agenda 2003, Maars had stated that growth in the ceiling activities would have to be achieved through a joint venture with a strong partner from the ceilings industry. Finally, there was no joint venture but the entire limited company was sold.
Maars Today
For more than 60 years now, Maars has been producing, selling and assembling Maars flexible systems for commercial and industrial buildings, offices, schools, hospitals, hotels, showrooms, etc. It supplies virtually the entire ‘inner skin of a building, consisting of movable partitions including doors and wall units.
Since 1998, Maars has been a single, unified company. Before that, Maars Production (on the Newtonweg) and Trade, Projects, and the Holding’s administrative departments (except for P&O) on the Deventerweg were separate. Now they have all been integrated on the Newtonweg. The area of the production facility has grown to 30,000 m2. Turnover has grown to almost 70 million euros a year.
Export
70% of turnover is exported. At the moment, we export to more than 35 countries inside and outside Europe. This turnover makes Maars one of the biggest players in its field in the world.
The board
The board of Maars consists of CEO Mr. A. van der Zee, with Messrs. L. Maars and F. Spits as commissioners.
