Ridder was recently featured in the Dutch newspaper, the Volkskrant. The company is celebrating its foundation in 1953. Among other things, the newspaper talks about energy developments (for which the company offers screens, for instance), chips, and supply to China, and the role of Brigitte Nugteren, operational director and shareholder as the third generation of the Nugteren family. Frans Nugteren started with a trench cutter behind a tractor in Ridderkerk in 1953.
On China, Pascal Piepers, managing director of Ridder, says: "Our business model is innovation, and of course, we are more careful about what we share and with whom. The geopolitical playing field is not getting any easier." Ridder has a branch in China. There are concerns about chips (the US does not want the Netherlands to supply ASML chip machines to China).
Brigitte Nugteren, Operational Director at Ridder
The newspaper also raises the question of whether Brigitte is not in a split after all, as she is both a board member and a shareholder. "It is a special division of roles, about which we have made good agreements," she herself says. Sparring with father Henri, who ran the company for 35 years with brother Leo, is still a regular occurrence. "In fact, we still apply the same vision as my grandfather. We always try to respond to the customer's needs," she says.
Read the full article in the Volkskrant (€)