Mitari | Historie

You do not become a specialist in the hoisting and lifting world overnight. Mitari today is the result of more than 30 years of ambition, perseverance and dedication. We take a look at the past years, today and the future.

1990 | The Beginning

According to Cees, it was a good thing that his father had not seen the figures for the first two years, because otherwise, he would have personally boarded up the doors. The first years were not easy, let alone profitable. The internet was not really used yet, and that meant that you literally and figuratively had to go out to get a few customers. Fortunately, Cees was not alone, he worked together with his wife Mirjam. From the start, she took on many administrative tasks. This gave Cees the opportunity to spend a lot of time on the road.

“I still remember it like it was yesterday. My first invoice had to go to De Meeuw. It concerned four shackles of one guilder twenty each with VAT. I still had to put a stamp on it, and then I doubted about a minute whether I should throw the invoice in the bin right away.”

Cees then tells us with a smile that he actually sent it then, we all have to start somewhere, of course.

1997 | De Rijn 

What started with the sale of lifting equipment expanded more and more into the sale of crane systems and a total solution for customers. The range and customer demand have changed enormously over the years. Within seven years, lasting relationships were established and Mitari grew out of the building. It was time for a new location and the building on De Rijn in Best was built. Today, the Crane Systems department is still located here.

2009 | Set back

The year 2008 was so busy, it was almost impossible to finish the work. Mitari seemed to be doing well until the economic crisis in 2009 caused a huge blow. Due to lack of work, the staff had to be scaled back from 25 to 15 in 2012.

“If you had told me in 2008 that the work was going to take off like that, I wouldn't have believed you. It really went from not knowing how to get the work done to not knowing how to get the work in. I have seen many companies collapse, luckily we got through that period. Unfortunately, that meant saying goodbye to dear colleagues. We had no choice but to survive that way.”

2013 | Online stores

From 2013, Mitari was one of the first in the Netherlands to start selling hoisting and lifting equipment online. Nicky, Cees' daughter, worked in the workplace at the time and came up with the idea.

"Nick came up to me at one point and said, 'Dad, we're going to start an online store.' To be honest, I did laugh at her a bit. A workshop chief is not going to order online, they order though calling or faxing. Two weeks later, she was back at my desk saying she was going to do it anyway; “I have a camera, and you have the products, so we have nothing to lose!” She was right about that.”

The online store made it possible for Mitari to serve a new target group and customers could now place an order easily, quickly and at a competitive price. In these years we have worked hard to produce everything under our own name, to guarantee quality and to expand the range little by little.

The online sale of lifting equipment soon grew enormously. In order to be able to increase the stock, an extra hall at De Rijn 7B was temporarily taken into use. At the end of 2015, the new location at De Maas 40 in Best opened. The original idea was to settle here with the entire company, but due to the rapid growth, the location at De Rijn 9 remained in use for the department crane systems.

2017 | Ontwikkeling

The fact that the lifting world continues to develop was clearly visible in 2017. For a long time, customers used our route service. A service in which we collected hoisting and lifting equipment and then inspected it in our own workshop. Now that the on-site inspection with the mobile tensile testing machine became a great success, the route service was unnecessary.

In addition to the abolition of the route service, our Mitari Online certificate program was launched this year. After a year and a half of behind-the-scenes development, the program was ready to use. From now on, customers always and everywhere had access to the most up-to-date inspection status of all hoisting and lifting equipment, fall protection and tools that are certified by us. The in-house program is still under development today, allowing Mitari to respond quickly to customer needs.

2021 | Like father like daughter

That entrepreneurial mentality is something that Cees did not so much inherit from his father, but which he did passes on to his children. It is therefore not surprising that Terry, Cees' youngest daughter, takes over in 2021. At the age of 29 she gained a lot of knowledge within the company and made the step from HR and finance employee to CEO.

2023 | Vacuhandy

At the end of 2022, an opportunity presented itself for Mitari to acquire VacuHandy. Given the vacuum lifter's potential, Terry & Maikel did not hesitate for long to seize the opportunity. Within a 2-week timeframe, the acquisition was completed, including the collection of stock. Both the physical stock and intangible assets of VacuHandy, such as the brand name, customer base, supplier base and designs, were acquired. The first vacuum lifter was launched online in January 2024, and a promising future awaits.

2025 | Eindhoven

Since 2025, Mitari has been based in a new, modern location where everything comes together under one roof. This space offers not only a more efficient working environment, but also plenty of opportunities for future growth. With a focus on innovation and quality, we continue to continuously develop our products and services. This way, we can always provide our customers with the best and safest lifting solutions, tailored to their specific needs.