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 Mulder-Hardenberg was established in Amsterdam in 1927 by Mr. Mulder. His sales territory was the northern part of The Netherlands. Communications with customers and suppliers was slow and by means of letters and telegrams. Customer visits were rare and when done the train was the means of transport. Surviving the depression in the late twenties and early thirties of the last century, Mr. Mulder, at the age of 60 decided that a second and younger sales person should join his company and, if found suitable, this person would take over the business and Mr. Mulder could retire. In Mr. Hardenberg, an eager sales person with technical knowledge of predominantly electronic radio parts (Firato components), a suitable successor was found. Mr. Mulder retired in 1938 and the company was renamed Mulder-Hardenberg. The business grew, mainly by expanding into different new lines at the request of the growing industries of the fifties. Besides staff for administration and warehousing, a third sales person was hired. The sales territory was expanded to all of The Netherlands and more and more components were sourced in the United States and the UK. In 1961 Mr. Jan Landeweer joined. Beside electronic components, Mr. Landeweer expanded into electric components. A new world opened for Mulder-Hardenberg and further expansions could not be prevented. More sales people were hired. Mr. Landeweer continued after his take over and Mr. Hardenberg's retirement to expand the business. Creating trust and relationships between the suppliers of M-H and their customers, Mr. Landeweer was able to expand the business handsomely. The company moved from Amsterdam to Haarlem and started a subsidiary in Stabroek near Antwerp in Belgium in 1974. After a period of acquaintance that felt right, the company merged with a Belgium company called Miravox in 1986. This bold step created a much larger sales territory for the company and the suppliers of Mulder-Hardenberg especially were very happy with Mr. Landeweer expanding his healthy business. The key in the seventies and eighties was the contacts with the suppliers (now even more in the US) and the stock available for immediate disposal. Two of Mr. Landeweer's sons started a sourcing office in the United States, and therefore overcame the fear that many American manufacturers had at that time of exporting to unknown countries in Europe. The goods were selected, sourced and collected in the US by Mulder-Hardenberg USA and then shipped to Europe. Mulder-Hardenberg's portfolio grew fast. In the nineties Mr. Landeweer transferred more and more of the management of the company to his sons. Parallel with its own business, Mulder-Hardenberg agreed with RS Components to develop its formula in The Netherlands and Belgium. In this period, the famous Mulder-Hardenberg catalogues were distributed all over the Benelux and could be found in virtually every company that was involved in the production of electronic devices. After agreement with its management, RS bought back the very successfully developed business in 1998. The sale of RS also marked the transformation from a component supplier to a solutions provider. With over 55 staff, Mulder-Hardenberg refocused on product market combinations where the enormous technical knowledge of the Mulder-Hardenberg staff would make a difference to its customers. To support the demand for solutions, the M-H Systems division was started, where solutions are developed, assembled and tested. Responding further to newer demands, this division was renamed in 2006 as M-H Services to better reflect its expansion into software development and life cycle management services. Today, Mulder-Hardenberg has a staff of over 70 dedicated employees that work from our offices in Haarlem (NL), Stabroek (Antwerp, B) and Hofheim (Frankfurt, G). The organization is geared to offer long lasting relationships to employees, customers and suppliers. Our slogan is 'We create and deliver solutions'. M-H Group today is active in Network Solutions, where customers are served with solutions for challenging issues in data centres or the development of FttH networks and many more applications. The Industrial Automation Solutions group of M-H offers its customers support with industrial automation, monitoring, HMI and very specialized monitor demands. As previously mentioned, we cherish the long lasting relationship with our employees and with our partners, customers and suppliers. |
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