An entrepreneurial spirit
Piet Brouwer Electrotechnology has its roots in the historic island community of Urk, around 80 km minutes north east of Amsterdam. Urk’s livelihood has been inextricably linked to fishing for the past 1000 years, but after the sea was closed off in 1939 it lost its island status and joined the shores of the IJsselmeer Lake. Refusing to give up, the people of Urk showed innovation, flexibility and a great entrepreneurial spirit to keep the local economy alive. Their ingenuity and work ethic paved the road to success and economic stability has been achieved.

Independent and reliable
The people of Urk are renowned for being independent, reliable and hardworking folk, and these values are also held high at Piet Brouwer Electrotechnology. Close cooperation, the absence of a nine-to-five mentality and pride in achieving the highest possible quality are assets that are interwoven within the corporate and village culture.

Trawler experts
When Piet Brouwer established his company in 1960, he started out solving electrotechnical problems on trawlers. As the number of employees grew, the firm also installed systems on new trawlers. With the North Sea fleet expanding, Piet Brouwer Electrotechnology was fitting electrotechnical installations on vessels throughout the Netherlands and Belgium. The firm also took care of onshore installations in industry, utilities and residential buildings.

Luxury yachts
When Henk Brouwer took over the company in 1992 it had fifteen employees. Henk decided to further specialise in setting up electrotechnical installations in many types of (seagoing) ships; from commercial vessels to the luxury superyachts for which Holland had become increasingly famous. He also established a separate department that specialises in the development, production and sales of ship automation systems under the subsidiary name Marble Automation.

With a board of directors consisting of brothers Henk and Bram Brouwer since 1997, the company has continued to thrive and now has over 60 employees. In 2008 the directors were joined in the general management of the company by operational manager Martin van Veen.

Recognition
In July 1993 the company was one of the first electrotechnology companies in the Netherlands to receive a Waarborgcertificaat (a Dutch guarantee of quality certificate).

Piet Brouwer Electrotechnology was also chosen by the majority of its fellow businesses in Urk as ‘Corporation of the Year 2007’.