On Tuesday, April 28 2020, Lumileds announced its intention to sell its site in Middelburg. As of May 7 2021, the sale of Lumileds Middelburg has been completed with Vitrite Holding BV, a company that belongs to the BusinessCreation Group, a Dutch-Swiss company. This represents the beginning of a new era for the site in Middelburg and its name will once again become Vitrite Middelburg BV. The name Vitrite dates back to 1893, when Vitrite Works was founded in Middelburg. As part of the agreement, Lumileds will enter into a multi-year sales and engineering agreement with Vitrite, that will ensure production remains in Middelburg for the foreseeable future.
“This is a huge opportunity for Vitrite to grow again and a milestone in the company’s long history. And it is of course a huge boost for all employees, who have put their heart and soul into this great company for years,” said Michel Klijn, the factory manager of Middelburg. The agreement represents a win-win-win for Lumileds, BusinessCreation Group and Vitrite Middelburg and enables Vitrite to build a sustainable future for all stakeholders.
In addition to the contract with Lumileds, BusinessCreation plans to further develop the site to ensure a sustainable future for employees. New business opportunities will be added mainly by developing activities in the medtech sector and by setting up an Open Manufacturing Campus, in which start-up companies in the region are supported with production technology and capacity. Vitrite will continue to build on its innovative entrepreneurship in deep drawing and plastic insert molding for the automotive sector, to diversify into multiple markets.
Tybo Mollet, director of mergers and acquisitions at Lumileds adds, “For strategic reasons, we wanted to find a suitable solution that would better position our site in Middelburg to develop externally on the basis of the strong available know-how. Our thorough search led us to BusinessCreation Group. With this agreement, in addition to the Lumileds production volumes, the company can now develop itself more autonomously into different markets. We look forward to a fruitful collaboration with Vitrite Middelburg in the coming years”.
The director of Vitrite Holding, Nico Bolleman, a Zeeland born and bred from Nieuwvliet, who is also a partner in BusinessCreation, comments, “It is a privilege for me to further develop this traditional Zeeland company and to provide a good perspective for the future based on the collaboration with Lumileds and the development of new activities. There is an enormous amount of knowledge and craftsmanship available in Vitrite, which provides an ideal starting point for success”.
