About Elcon

History

In one of the wooden sheds of a small-sized shipyard in Hollands green-heart lake district, still very near ELCON’s present location, the first sawing machine saw the light in the year 1948. It was the result of the need to work timber for deck-houses at the one hand and the post-war lack of machinery on the other.
The moment a neighboring carpenter caught a glimpse of this remarkable piece of work, his interest was roused, and subsequently a new industry was born.

The two brothers Gerard and Frans Meijer, started to produce a wide variety of woodworking machines, ranging from circular saws, moulders and thicknessers to planers, tenonners, etc.

Soon production had grown such that it was necessary to move into a new building in 1953. In subsequent years further enlargements had to be realised, until in 1995 the growth of the activities forced the construction of a completely new and modern building at the newly developed industrial estate in Leimuiden near Amsterdam Airport.
In the mean time, by the end of the 80’s, the next generation Piet and Pieter Meijer had taken over the management tasks of both their fathers.

The very first

The first vertical panel-sawing machine, nowadays ELCON’s main product, was developed in 1971. Although some of these first models are still in daily use in workshops, they look rather old-fashioned compared to today’s range of sophisticated machinery.

Although the Netherlands is still an important market for their line of products, by far the major part of ELCON end-users is to be found abroad.
In 1990 the first foreign establishment was founded with Elcon Iberica SA in Barcelona. With many partners abroad long lasting relationships have been built, such as Geronne in Germany since 1990, Adwood in the USA since 1993, and Daltons in the UK since 1993. In more recent years partners joined from other countries; Cehpol in Poland (2001), Sernbrandt in Sweden (2005), Rabochie in Russia (2007), Epimex in the Czech Republic (2015), Ineichen in Switzerland (2017),  Albarello in Italy (2019) and also in 2019 the founding of Elcon France, a 100% daughter.

Today, the company work through a world-wide network of high profile distributors. With this international partnership functioning as a Taskforce for new developments, Elcon have built up an enviable reputation for innovation and design enabling them to occupy a position at the very forefront of the industry sector.

Technical director Piet Meijer, son of ELCON’s founder Gerard Meijer, left the company in 2010 in the hands of his cousin and commercial director, Pieter Meijer.

Ownership

In 2016 Pieter Meijer investigated the options to guarantee the continuity of ELCON. After a 3-year transition period, both Martien Welten and the Van Asten Group each acquired 50% ownership of the company in 2019. Pieter Meijer is still involved as a consultant at ELCON, but has transferred the day-to-day management to Martien Welten (also owner of Harwi and EPM).

Together with the 25-strong team of enthusiastic, highly motivated employees and the tight knit international network of experienced dealers ELCON is ready for the next decade.