History

The year 2003 was characterised by the acquisition of neighbour Groot Lemmer B.V. at the Buitengaats industrial estate in Lemmer. This wood processing company was part of the IJB Group only until 2010, when it was then sold and moved to Heerenveen.
In the meantime, the IJB Group became involved with another shareholder: In 2007, Schwenk Zement Beteiligungen took over the shares of Fernhout BV (which later became NCD), thereby making it a 50% owner of the IJB Group. And this is still the case today. The other 50% is still owned by Van der Kamp BV.

In the area of production, an advanced reinforcement machine was introduced in 2008 to a festive fanfare and housed in a specially built hall. This was a wonderful milestone as it allowed us from then on to take care of the reinforcement production ourselves.

The first years of the 21st century were characterised by two takeovers: Flevo Geotechniek and the Altenburg Group (pile driving and drilling rigs), whose activities and workers have increasingly integrated within the organisation throughout the subsequent years.

In the meantime, the origin of our company, the concrete plant in Emmeloord, was urgently in need of renovation. This was finally carried out in 2014, and received a festive opening in October of the same year in the presence of Mrs Van der Kamp, the widow of founder Gerrit van der Kamp. We were very grateful that she was able to join us in the official opening.

And so our company grew more and more in its efforts to be and remain an important and leading player in the concrete products market. In 2017, a new head office was built at the site of the former Groot Lemmer office. And in the same year, an extra production location was opened in Kampen, where special foundation products have been produced ever since, such as hardstand floors, shaft pits and our Smartfoot.
In the following year, the company expanded again: in Lelystad three locations were purchased in the same street ­­– a mortar plant and two locations for producing piles. This provided a great opportunity to serve the customers even better from the Flevoland polder in the heart of the country.

While all of these developments were going on, the role of the staff and the employer’s care towards personnel were certainly not forgotten. For example, a long-term Lean programme was rolled out and extra and constant attention was given to safety through the appointment of specific officials and the roll-out of various safety programmes.

It is now more than 70 years later, and the IJB Group is market leader in many areas of its sector. Not only thanks to our products, but also particularly thanks to the people who work for us. Because a successful product arises from a healthy way of thinking. From a creative and problem-solving spirit. From loyalty and close collaboration. From reliable agreements.
And from following developments in the market and in the world in general – an important task for the management. Because the world around us is changing constantly, and if you do not move with the times, you’ll get left behind. That is why we have for many years now focused fully on sustainability and all the associated activities. With a focus on our Mission & Vision, based on “Sustainable Capacity”.

As of 1978, the company continued to grow into a specialist in prefab concrete solutions based on its creative and marketing-oriented approach. Various extra production halls appeared at the site in Lemmer, along with a new head office. In 1989, the former secondary school at Flevostraat 14 in Lemmer was purchased and converted into offices for the management and staff of various departments.

In the course of the 1990s, a new product group was slowly developed, namely the prefab foundation beams which were becoming increasingly popular among customers. And so in 2001/2002 the current location at Industrieweg 17 in Lemmer was purchased and the production of the prefab beams moved there.

Attention was also given to the external communication surrounding this. In 2002, the name IJsselmeer-Beton made way for the name IJB Group, in order to express the connection between the various business divisions that had developed throughout the years. New logos also appeared along with a new corporate identity.

The sales of piles quickly increased and in 1967 resulted in the production being moved to the new Buitengaats industrial estate in Lemmer, a place that the management had their eyes on. This move heralded the enormous growth that the company would soon enjoy!
Work was initially carried out on a mobile concrete plant, but very soon afterwards (in 1968) a permanent concrete plant was set up. In the same year, IJsselmeer-Beton N.V. was established by Van der Kamp BV, Fernhout BV and Mr G. van der Kamp. And not long after this, a first production hall was built for making piles. Finally, the personnel no longer had to work outside in the open air!

Before the piles are produced and driven, a soil survey first has to be carried out in the form of cone penetration testing. It was to this end that “Sondeerbedrijf Emmeloord” was set up on 1 February 1972. In 1977, this division was also relocated to Lemmer, where it continued under the name of “IJB Fundatietechniek”.

In 1948, Van der Kamp BV, based in Zwolle, established a branch for trading in sand and gravel in the Noordoostpolder at industrial estate A-10 in Emmeloord. There, they set up two chutes, a shed and a wooden temporary accommodation. Gerrit van der Kamp was appointed manager, and later became co-director of IJsselmeerbeton until 1989. Thanks to a resurgent Netherlands and a polder that was opening up, the business quickly expanded.

In 1956, due to further housing development in Emmeloord, the branch had to leave its A-10 location and moved to its current site at Nijverheidsstraat.
During the 1950s, the Netherlands saw a great many concrete mortar companies appear, which led to a declining trade in sand and gravel. The two sand and gravel traders in the Noordoostpolder (Van der Kamp BV and Fernhout BV) saw this happening, and so decided to merge and continued under the name Centrale Zand- en Grindhandel IJsselmeerpolder (C.Z.G.IJ.).

In 1962, they set up a concrete plant at Nijverheidsstraat in Emmeloord, where they were already based. In August 1963, the first concrete mortar was delivered in the Noordoostpolder.

In the spring of 1966, a start was made on the production of piles. In a modest corner of the company grounds the ‘idle hours’ were filled with the small-scale production of ready-to-use concrete piles. In addition to resolving the problem of “leftover concrete”, the production of piles was seen particularly as a way to increase turnover and make more work available to the personnel.