History
The Beginning – The Development
January 3, 1968, the Founding: Master metalworker, Herbert Thom, starts his own business in an old blacksmith shop in Kirchlinteln in the County of Verden. He performs metalwork and repairs of all kinds. His wife Erika Thom takes over the office work in 1969. The first apprentice is hired.
1972 New Horizons: Work in mechanical engineering begins and a foremen is hired. The development of special‐purpose machines for the food processing industry begins. The staff continues to grow. The site in Kirchlinteln can no longer handle the ever‐growing space requirements.
1977 Growth Begins: Move to the new facility at Heinrich‐Hertz‐Straße 4 in Verden. 1982 company conversion: The Herbert Thom private company becomes the corporation Herbert Thom GmbH.
1984 Expansion and Extension: Opening of a second factory building and the new office and social wing. The mechanical engineering now has precision machines for metal processing with CNC lathes and milling machines and a CNC machining center. The maintenance work is a part of the overall service range for the food industry.
1996 THOM Continues to Expand: The neighboring property is acquired and another factory building is erected.
1997 THOM Expands his Product Range: The company name is now Thom Metall– und Maschinenbau GmbH.
1998 Quality in Sight: Quality management system certification according to DIN EN ISO 9001. In 2002, the certification as a specialist welding company followed.
2001 Change of Generations: Torsten Thom, graduate engineer. (FH), certified industrial engineer, son of Erika and Herbert Thom, takes over the management of the company in the second generation. Company founder Herbert Thom and his wife Erika Thom retire form the active business on October 1, 1999. Walter Ohrnberger (graduate economist.) was a transitional manager of the company.
Torsten Thom acquires shares of Schmiedbauer Stahl– und Metallbau GmbH, at Justus‐von‐Liebig‐Straße 2 in Verden.
2005 Completion: The mechatronics department is established. THOM becomes a complete supplier of machines and systems and maintenance.
2006 Merging: The Schmiedbauer Stahl– und Metallbau GmbH operational business merges with Thom Metall– und Maschinenbau Gmbh. Thom Metall– und Maschinenbau GmbH moves its company seat to Justus‐von‐Liebig‐Straße in Verden. There are 90 employees at this location.
2008 Consolidation: After the merger the gradual consolidation of the operations at Justus‐von‐Liebig‐Straße begins. A new factory building is erected, in which the structural and metalworks capacities are concentrated. The administration is also centralized at Justus‐von‐Liebig‐Straße.
2010 Product and Organizational Development: THOM expands its product range to include machines developed for the free market. In addition to customized special designs, variants and standard products for the conveyor technology sector (single and multi‐line loaders) and flexible packaging (Spout Inserter and Pouch Filler) are now available. THOM now offers a very wide range of products and initiates a divisional structure. Four individually focused business area are developed, which operate in their markets: Mechanical engineering, system engineering, parts production and structural and metalworks. With the establishment of the Future Workshop, Thom set the professional foundation for the training of young skilled workers.
2012: Sale of the old company location on Heinrich‐Hertz‐Straße and the erection of a new building on Justus‐von‐Liebig‐Straße. After its completion, the remaining employees move to the new location. The merger is now complete. Thom now has 110 employees on Justus‐von‐Liebig‐Straße in Verden.
2014 Modernization of Cutting and Chip Removal: THOM invests in various modern CNC Machine Tools for Lathe Work and Milling, in order to further increase the efficiency and productive capacity of Cutting and Chip Removal. This is not only for the benefit of THOM’s own projects in Mechanical and System Engineering, but also of customers from the Components / Parts Manufacturing Sector, for which THOM is acting as „extended work bench“.
2015 Constant High Quality in all fields: In Addition to the regularly renewed Certificates for our Quality Management System according to DIN EN ISO 9001, THOM has been awarded further quality certificates, such as:-
- Quality Seal „Sicher mit System“ (Safe with System) for exemplary Safety at Work
- Certificate according to DIN EN 1090 (EXC2) for the production of steel structures in Building Construction, conforming to given standards
- Certificate according to DIN EN ISO 3834–2 for the fulfilment of extensive Welding Quality Requirements.
One year later, THOM is again awarded the Certificate for Outstanding Performance in Vocational Training by the Braunschweig‐Lüneburg‐Stade Chamber of Handicrafts.
2017 Construction of Workshop Hall: Due to a constant level of incoming orders in Mechanical and System Engineering, a new additional „Final Assembly Hall“ is constructed.
25/04/2019 Herbert Thom dies suddenly and unexpected. The Founder of the Company and, even as retired person, he always listened readily to the company and his employees. His death was and will remain a grieveous loss.
„Life is finite – but remembrance is infinite.“
2020 Corona: Despite of the Pandemic, the Company and its Employees stay firmly together. Based upon the joint elaboration and realization of various measures, the challenge can be successfully managed.
August 2023 takeover: The IBV Group has taken over the company and will continue to run it in the usual form. In addition to the product portfolio of Thom, we have experience, especially in the field of packaging machines, through our further participation in the company Affeldt Maschinenbau GmbH, which we will use.