History

The company developed well and, alongside dies and mechanical parts, also began producing moulds for the plastics industry. In 1987, at the request of Philips PMF, the company invested in two injection moulding machines to enable them to conduct in-house testing of the trial series of the injection moulds they were making. In 1988 these plastics activities were divested as an independent company called GL Plastics.

As a result of further growth of the activities, the company moved to a larger industrial building at the nearby De Hurk industrial estate in 1991. At this location, on Dillenburgstraat, both companies underwent a fantastic period of development.

During the period 1991 to 2000 the total workforce of the GL Group grew from 50 to 200 employees.

In 2000 the company moved again, to a larger building on Hurksestraat, and the name Gereedschapmakerij Gerard van der Leegte was changed to GL Precision. Dies and moulds were largely a thing of the past, and the focus shifted to high-tech components and modules.

In 2007, Kera Kunststoffen was acquired and merged with GL Plastics at the Ekkersrijt industrial estate in Son. With this move, GL Precision had the opportunity to expand further at the existing location.

At the end of 2008, owner and founder Gerard van der Leegte withdrew from the daily operational management. However, as sole shareholder, Gerard van der Leegte is still closely involved in GL Precision to this day.

In 2013 the company had once again outgrown the building on Hurksestraat, so it premises were expanded with a new building to keep pace with the growth. GL Precision currently employs around 175 people. The high-tech machine factory, housed in a modern building, has ultramodern machinery and a wide range of manufacturing technologies, as well as a team of first-class skilled professionals, project managers and engineers. This not only enables GL Precision to manufacture high-precision parts and modules but also to co-develop them with its customers. As one of its customers put it: from ‘build to print’ to ‘build to print plus’!

After 48 years, Gerard van der Leegte sold high-tech company GL Precision to VDL Groep on 3 March 2015.