From living room to professional company
History
For more than 79 years, Hettich Benelux has been supplying climate and laboratory equipment from renowned brands.
The premium brands currently represented by Hettich Benelux are Andreas Hettich, Memmert, Haier Biomedical, Systec, LaboGene, Helmer Scientifc, Erlab, Kirsch, Smeg, Gram and Liebherr.
Founded in 1946, the production facility was added to our company in 2007 and has been located in Geldermalsen, the Netherlands, since 2011.
Starting in Mr Greup's living room in Delft, the company has grown into a business with a production hall of over 3400 m².
Since 1988, Hettich Benelux has been a sister company of the German Andreas Hettich in Tuttlingen, where we work under the motto "Legacy Meets Future," encouraging innovation and setting new standards in medical technology.
1946
Dépex is founded. The name stands for ‘Delftsche Patenten Exploitatiemaatschappij’ (Delft Patent Exploitation Company). Initially, its aim was to manufacture and sell medical equipment under licence from inventors and to provide maintenance services.
1947
Initially, shortly after the war, Dépex started as a company in Delft, in the home of its founder, Mr W.F. Greup. In 1947, the company moved to Heemraadsingel 131 in Rotterdam.
1962
It became increasingly difficult to obtain sufficient patented inventions, so it was decided to transform Dépex into a trading company. This also marked the start of the move to Dorpsstraat 85 in De Bilt.
1953
The collaboration with Memmert goes back a long way.
1976
The Dépex trading company grew, and to keep up with demand, they needed more staff and space. They bought a second building (Weltevreden 16, De Bilt) to house the Technical Department and warehouse.
Fun fact: Dorpsstraat used to have two other names: Steenstraat and Oude Utrechtseweg.
1988
Dépex joined the Hettich Group (Andreas Hettich, Tuttlingen).
2003
Dépex continued to grow and needed more space at its location, so the move to Houten (Hoofdveste 5) was initiated.
2007
Mr Eberle (Andreas Hettich GmbH) proceeded with the acquisition of the Elbanton production company in Kerkdriel. This resulted in a production company being linked to the Dépex trading company.
2011
In July 2011, Dépex B.V. and Elbanton B.V. merged to form the current Hettich Benelux B.V. The merger was also a good opportunity to adopt the name Hettich (Benelux).
2012
In January 2012, the time had come to merge all Dépex and Elbanton employees into one new location in Geldermalsen.
2015
Just three years after moving into the new building and production hall, the extension of the second production hall became a reality. This brought the total production area to over 3,400 m².m².
2021
This year, we would have celebrated our 75th anniversary, but due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the anniversary was celebrated in a subdued manner.