Bekaert the fencing specialist

This quoted company with headquarters at Zwevegem in Belgium last year achieved overall sales of 2.5 bn euro in its steel wire, commercial products and advanced materials divisions. Bekaert is opening up new channels of distribution worldwide and establishing new production plants in the growth markets. Contributing to the company’s success is Bekaert’s workforce of just on 18 000, who are employed at more than 60 plants around the world where they produce steel cable, steel wire and fencing. Becafor Arcada blends decoratively into natural surroundingsIn the gardening and farming business segment Bekaert has an appropriate solution to every problem of enclosure, from the garden fence to the accessories that go with it. Coordinated fencing systems and garden ornamentation for the DIY sector are designed with simplicity of installation in mind. Leo Leander Bekaert went ahead without any inkling of today’s developments when he produced the first barbed wire in his barn in 1880. He fastened two steel wires to the wheel of an upturned wheelbarrow so that the wires twisted round each other as the wheel turned. Then he fixed several steel nails at regular intervals between the two strands. The resulting product, which is still in use everywhere today, was offered all that time ago to the farmers in the surrounding area as protection for their cattle. In this way he not only laid the foundation for an internationally active company but also developed a range of agricultural fencing for the enclosure of grazing land. Down-pipes get a green trim with DecotubeFor gardening fans and home owners Bekaert offers a broad palette of safe and decorative solutions for every fencing problem. Novinet, a spot-welded wire mesh fencing which is easy to erect, has established itself in the market here, as has Bekafor, a sturdy reinforced mesh mat fence complete with posts and gates. Nor are decorative elements, such as the rose arch in the Arcoflor system or the attractive Decotube support for climbing plants, missing from the range available from the company’s gardening and farming segment.