About Piet Bom Innovations
The greenhouse: a high-tech production factor
Greenhouses are important to the Netherlands’ leading position in greenhouse horticulture. Dutch greenhouse builders made modern greenhouses a high-tech production factor. The same name keeps coming up when naming people who took the initiative on some iconic innovations: Piet Bom. Over more than half a century, introduced the world to numerous big inventions.
The Venlo greenhouse
His noteworthy career began in the mid-1960s, when greenhouse roofs were still made of wood and steel. It was then that Piet Bom built his first Venlo greenhouse, a greenhouse variant that to this day is still present in the face of greenhouse construction. It was that same greenhouse that he would perfect ten years later, by inventing the eight-metre trellis greenhouse that extended the span of the greenhouse. That new span made the Venlo greenhouse multifunctional, both for vegetable and ornamental cultivation. It also marked the moment that the Venlo greenhouse began to make its mark internationally. At present, it is essentially the only glass greenhouse that is continually being improved by small initiatives from other greenhouse builders.
New developments that are useful in a practical sense
For years, Piet Bom has headed his own greenhouse construction company: P.L.J. Bom Kassenbouw, which is now the Bom Group. The company has built up a reputation based on his innovations, which have always been characterized by their highly practical usefulness. Whatever Piet Bom envisioned was put into production immediately to achieve a certain effect. Horticulturalists recognize this added value: innovations launched by Piet Bom are immediately embraced by the market.
As recently as the early 2000s, he was still making an impact on international greenhouse horticulture. In 2002, he developed a slip element that was used in screen installations. The well-known manufacturer Snelders then successfully introduced the application of the patent to the market in 2008, thereby considerably extending the service life of the ventilation mechanisms.
The ultra-smart golf bag, made by Piet Bom
After transferring ownership of the Bom Group, Piet discovered golf and could not resist thinking of ways things could be done differently, better, or more efficiently. Take, for example, the golf bag. Piet made one that was smaller and foldable, which meant that it could be taken on board aeroplanes. The material that he familiarized himself with during his research is the same material that he used to create the greenhouse roof of the future: fiberglass.
A spectacular and sustainable transition
Following decades in which aluminium was the material of choice for making greenhouse roofs, now is the time in which fiberglass will assume this role. It is a spectacular and sustainable transition that is attracting attention from around the world. Once more, Piet Bom is the inventor. This time as the figurehead of Piet Bom Innovations, as opposed to the face of his own greenhouse construction company.
The Westland region: the birthplace of innovation
Over the years, the Netherlands has been the birthplace of many striking innovations in greenhouse horticulture. This is no coincidence, as the Westland region (situated between Rotterdam, The Hague, and the North Sea) is the largest interconnected greenhouse construction area in the world. It is renowned the world over as a production area for vegetables, flowers, and potted plants.