We are pleased to announce that Imeko is celebrating it’s 60 years anniversary!
IMEKO was founded by Mr. J.W.M. Konings in the year 1964 in the town of Amersfoort in Holland.
Till that moment, he was employed as a purchase manager for the Borden factory in Amersfoort where the KLIM Milk powder was packed in cans. During the year 1963 the factory of Borden was moved from Amersfoort to Mallow, a small town close to Cork in Ireland. Mr. J.W.M. Konings decided however to start working for himself and founded his own company, IMEKO.
The name IMEKO is an acronym of the words: IMport/Export/KOnings
The initial sales started on 1st of July 1964 with the brand name KAN. Also an acronym, this time from the words: Konings/Amersfoort/Netherlands.
After a short time Nestle requested Mr. Konings to change his brand name, as it was similar like their popular brand name ‘NAN’.
As a result the KANNY brand name was developed. The initial sales started with the supplies of a small dairy co-operative ‘Heino Krause’ in the village Heino, with packing of Full Cream Regular milk powder in 400 gram cans, exported to Sudan.
Later on other brands where developed to be able to sell more in a country where KANNY was already present.
In 1973 MORNY had been developed especially for the Middle East and in 1985 ANNIE, which was more targeted at the Far East. Both brands with the Dutch quality image, where marketed through a different company (for strategical reasons) to secure their own identity.
Several other brands, for example CRESCENT and CLARA have been developed in the past years.
On the 1st of January 1974 the company was transformed into a ‘BV’ (limited Liability Company) after the death of his founder Mr. Konings. His son Mr. F.J.J. Konings became managing director in the year 1978.
Originally the company only had trading activities under their own brand names in consumer packing. As from the year 1979 Imeko started it’s own packing company in the town of Barneveld. During those days there was sufficient availability of milk powder (raw materials) but insufficient packing capacity. As a result of this, IMEKO became more independent from other manufacturers and gained more flexibility with their own production and packing of milk powder.
During 1982 IMEKO installed a second complete and automatic canning line. With this increased flexibility and reduced delivery times IMEKO managed to gain more market share.
At the beginning of 1985 Imeko decided to start the development of a special foil ensuring a shelf life for milk powder identical to tins, which IMEKO calls Dutrapack®. The foil material is composed of 4 different layers. Preservation and other packing tests were carried out by the TNO institute, which confirmed the shelf life and considerable advantages of packaging itself. This packaging was and still is unique in the dairy market.
To obtain extra capital for foreign projects, in 1989 the Holding Company of IMEKO was transformed from a ‘BV’ into a ‘NV’ and shares of the company were launched at the public stock market in Amsterdam.
In the ninety’s IMEKO concluded several alliances with producers to ensure access to raw materials and making it possible to expand the product range with various products.
In the year 2000 IMEKO moved their head office from Leusden to Zwolle.
Since then Imeko Dairy Products BV is internationalizing its business by working with local producers and packing dairy products locally.
In the climate of takeovers and mega-mergers and the rise of huge dairy companies, IMEKO has managed to adapt its organization to become a flexible alternative of increasing importance.
Nowadays Imeko Dairy products can be considered as an important player in the preserved dairy foods market.
1-7-1964 ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 1-7-2024