OUR BUSINESS JOURNEY The history of our company
Around 1983, Mazinus van Dijk was working as a mechanic, turner/miller, and welder. In his spare time, he tinkered in a corner of a barn on his father's farm. There, he dismantled engines from old trucks. These engines were overhauled by him and, together with a large water pump, mounted in a new chassis. In this way, he built pump units that fruit growers used to spray their trees against frost at night. Additionally, he bought used Same tractors from all over. These were completely stripped down, overhauled, and the front and rear axles shortened. In the end, a nearly new narrow-gauge tractor emerged. Many of these modified tractors are still in use today.
One winter afternoon, a tree nursery owner arrived with his broken-down machine, asking if Mazinus could repair it, and have it done by six the next morning. He worked through the night, and by four in the morning, the tree digging machine was ready again. The nursery owner was so satisfied that he soon asked Mazinus if he could build a new machine for him, and one that was even better. This marked the beginning of his transition into the tree nursery industry, and it didn’t stop with that first machine.
The work varied greatly. For instance, around 1995, a Duplo gondola was built to attach behind a farm tractor. It was designed for two people to simultaneously prune large trees. The demand for tree nursery machines kept growing, and the strength lay in providing solutions tailored to the tree nursery sector. In a short time, several improvements and new ideas emerged from the small workshop in Echteld. One example was in the very wet winter of 1998, when a standard tractor was converted into a half-tracked vehicle with a tree carrier. This allowed workers to gather trees effortlessly from the wettest fields.
In 1998, the machines developed and built by Mazinus were officially named MDE. The "M" stands for his first name, Mazinus, the small "v" can be found in the middle of the M, the "D" is for his last name, Dijk, and the "E" represents Echteld, the town where MDE is based.
In 2003, MDE made its first machine for digging up trees with root balls. This machine was named Globe, meaning "ball of earth." Years of testing and adjustments followed before the final Globe machine had its breakthrough.
In 2014, MDE designed and built its largest machine ever: the Combi-Track CT2101, a large articulated tractor with four equally sized wheels, equipped with a tree-loading crane, all controlled via radio.
After many years of testing, the first mass-produced Globe machines were built in 2016. The very first Globe 120 to roll off the production line went to work in Switzerland. Production quickly ramped up, and the Globe machines were sold throughout Europe and even beyond.
Around 2019, the first contact with China was made. From there, a special Globe Asia line was developed, and an MDE representative was appointed to work there.
A distinctive MDE feature is Mazinus’s hat. For years, he has been recognized by his hat and always jokes that his innovative ideas come from underneath it. His son Stefan, and occasionally Annegré, have adopted the hat-wearing tradition, making it a true trademark of MDE.
In 2021, Annegré and Stefan, the children of Mazinus and Martha, joined the MDE management team. Together with their parents, they now run the company, which has grown into an important machinery manufacturer for the tree nursery industry.
Today, MDE continuously builds machines for tree nurseries. The machines are produced in series to ensure efficient operations. Since we design and build everything entirely in-house, we control the entire process, allowing for great flexibility. In addition to series production, there is also "special construction," where machines are built to meet specific customer requests.
Currently, MDE faces the greatest challenge in its history. The possibilities for further growth in Echteld have been completely exhausted. The plan is to relocate to Opheusden, and a suitable building plot has already been purchased. This new location will offer enough space for continued growth.
