The story
In 1966, Vic Swerts bought a small producer of welding materials and of polyester putties for the repair of damaged car bodies, located near the Antwerp Ossenmarkt (E: ox market). Two years later, he moved his company to Turnhout, at the location of the former market garden of his parents. He then invested heavily in a sophisticated vacuum mixer for the production of polyester putties and high quality silicone sealants as a competitor to the (much cheaper) knifing filler. In 1976, he moved to the industrial area of Turnhout and renamed the company Soudal (from Soudeert Alles, E: welds everything).
In 1993, a heavy fire destroyed the factory in Turnhout, which was rebuilt within a year (Plant 1). A second production plant was built nearby (Plant 2). Plant 2 is the biggest production site of Polyurethane-Foams worldwide. In 1997, Vic Swerts acquired BAVG from Bayer, a company specialized in finished construction products. Since its acquisition, the factory in Leverkusen doubled its production. In September 2004 he acquired his competitor Rectavit in Drongen. Rectavit continued to operate as an independent entity. In 1999, Soudal opened a sales office and storage space in Shanghai. In 2005 the company opened offices in Turkey, Norway and Portugal.
In 2011, Soudal opened its 11th production unit through the establishment of a joint venture with the McCoy Group from New Delhi, India. Soudal entered into E-commerce in India via McCoy Soudal by selling on Amazon India, ShopClues, Snapdeal, McCoy Mart and IndustryKart.
From Wikipedia’s article on Soudal, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5