Brammer
Brammer: Growing Into Europe
In 1992, after a strategic review of Brammer, it was decided that the time was right to grow into Europe to meet the increasing demands of large European manufactures.
In France Brammer gained a major distribution foothold as Roulement Service joined the Group that year. Roulement Service was founded in Strasbourg in 1974 and started with three employees to serve the local maintenance market for bearings. By 1992 the company grew, mainly organically, to an organisation with 21 locations and 200 people. During these years, the product range was extended to include not only bearings but also power transmission, seals and linear motion.
In Spain in April 1995 Rodamientos USA (Útiles y Suministros para el Automóvil), with headquarters in Bilbao, Spain, was welcomed into the Brammer Group. Founded in 1950, Rodamientos USA was the only specialist bearing and power transmission distributor operating a national integrated branch network in Spain. Its central warehouse in Bilbao served 17 branches. The Company started as a family-owned business but its sales volume and products range grew progressively and it ended up operating in 21 branches all around Spain. Under the name of Rodamientos USA it became the national market leader in industrial distribution.
This acquisition strengthened Brammer’s position as a pan-European distributor and was a further step in the Group’s strategy to expand its presence on the Continent of Europe. Meanwhile, in 1999, BSL first introduced the Insite programme to strengthen the service which could be offered with customers, through having a ‘branch on site’.
In the Benelux, in July 1999, AKN, the leading bearings distribution group in the Netherlands, joined Brammer thus increasing the Group’s presence across Europe. AKN was founded in 1971 as part of the KNS Group and represented a number of leading manufacturers in the Benelux, Austria and Germany. AKN carried a broad product range of bearings, power transmission products, seals and accessories. Brammer in Belgium started up as ABS, a company based in Brussels, serving the Brussels and Wallonia area of Belgium. Meanwhile, AKN Belgium had been created from the three AKN businesses in Belgium, Nijvel, Retie and Antwerp. At the end of 2000, the three companies merged into one located at the current address at Luithagen, close to the harbour of Antwerp. On 1 April 2003, Brammer merged AKN with ABS and created AKN Brammer.
At the start of a new millennium Brammer was in its 80th year and looking to grow further across Europe.
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