The history of the Altena Group

The roots of the Altena Group can be found in the first cleaning company for water-cooled machines in the Netherlands, established by Bas Euwen in 1976. It was from this home-based one-man business in Wijk en Aalburg that he catered to the demand from major industries for the chemical cleaning of their installations.

When the air-cooled heat exchangers began to make inroads five years later, Euwen reacted with immediate effect. The accumulators for these installations (the plates) had to be coated to protect them against contamination and corrosion. In the 1980s Euwen developed Alucoat®507 for this purpose, a product that is still used this day, with adjustments for the present environmental regulations.

The company grew steadily and expanded its package of services so that it could support its clients for the entire cleaning and coating chain. With a view to improving storage capacity, a second branch was opened in the 1980s in Heusden, and when the company in turn outgrew that one a third branch followed in Spijkenisse. This location also provided better access to the clients in the Botlek.

In 2000 all company activity was concentrated in a new building in Waalwijk, which is the present Altena office. This is the launch pad for servicing clients around the world.

The staff complement of Altena has doubled between 2000 and today, going from 50 to 100 employees. The company has over 40 vans on the road, servicing clients both in the Netherlands and beyond its borders. Altena specialists travel the globe – from Curacao to Singapore – in particular for the major industries such as the large refineries.

Bas Euwen transferred the running of Altena to his sons, Dick and Guus Euwen, in 1976, with the former being the present commercial director and the latter the finance director of the Altena Group.

Today Altena consists of four private limited companies – Altena Cleaning B.V., Altena Industrial Services B.V., Altena Services B.V. and Global Air Systems B.V. In addition, the unit Altena Inspection is also housed in the Altena Group.