About us
WHO WE ARE
Grandfather, and pig farmer, Grard Nooyen and his six sons started producing steel slats for pig flooring at the Kanveldweg in the Dutch town of Deurne in 1978. Now, his grandson Gerben heads the company, one that is still owned by the family, and that has international operations in several different industries. However, slatted pig floors are still the company's core business. The typical V-shaped steel slats are now also used for architectural façade cladding and in other industrial and practical applications. But Nooyen Group also produce complete fixtures and fittings for animal houses, ornamental gates and fences and natural stone-like kitchen worktops. Of course, the Nooyen family has not forgotten where its roots lie. Nooyen Group farms 4,500 sows in Spain, selling the well-known Ibérico pork through its own shops.
Innovators by tradition
History
The Nooyen family is rooted in the Dutch province of Noord-Brabant, in the Peel region where some pioneer farmers started farming pigs on the poor soil that was left behind after peat had been dug here in the second half of the nineteenth century. A combination of their pioneering spirit and hard work enabled them to build an existence for themselves. In 1978, Grard Nooyen started producing slats for the farm's own farrowing and piglet stalls at the Kanveldweg road in the Dutch town of Deurne. Together with his sons, he devised a V-shaped steel slat which provided an optimum surface for pigs to live on 24/7.
Fifteen years later, the Nooyen brothers started coating expanded metal and woven steel wire. This led to a revolution in worldwide pig farming. The late 1990s saw the birth of the next innovation, which is still unique: the Balance floor. This farrowing box automatically creates a difference in height between the piglets and the sow whenever the sow stands up, thus greatly increasing new-born piglets' chances of survival. The Balance floor is now also applied in the WellFarrowing free-range farrowing pen. This innovation allows farrowing sows to walk about freely without reducing the chances of survival for the piglets.
Besides innovating pig slats, the Nooyen Group has been expanding its steel activities to other sectors, such as architectural façade cladding and stylish industrial and practical applications (Tribar), fencing & kennels. Nooyen has also successfully expanded a company that markets natural stone-like kitchen worktops (Jetstone). All these companies have one thing in common: they are innovative, achieve a high product quality, and have employees who have a hands-on work mentality. The pioneering spirit from the early days can still be very much recognised in the company.
The Nooyen family has not forgotten where its roots lie. Nooyen Group farms 4,500 sows in Spain, selling the well-known Ibérico pork through its own shops. Everything changes, but the pigs stay…
We have recently celebrated our 40th anniversary. Grard Nooyen and his six sons started producing steel slats for pig flooring in 1978 and now his grandson Gerben heads a company with international operations spanning several different industries. Our slatted pig floors are still our key business, and they are now also available with various special coatings for livestock farming. Furthermore, they are now also being used as façade cladding, including for multi-storey carparks for renowned companies such as Schiphol. The company also produces ornamental gates, dog kennels, fixtures and fittings for animal houses, and kitchen worktops, as well as still farming pigs in Spain.
There was an interesting interview with Tonny Nooyen (2nd generation and former Managing Director) and Gerben Nooyen (3rd generation and current Managing Director) in the Weekblad voor Deurne weekly (Deurne is the town where Nooyen started in 1978).
Read the interview (Dutch-language publication)
Two generations of the Nooyen family in the late 1990s: Grard Nooyen (centre) with his sons Jan, Wies, Tonny, Theo, Arie and Benjamin (left to right)