Royal Boon Edam: North Holland Global Player

The market leader in access systems is the winner in the Large Company category.

Anyone entering Boon Edams headquarters cannot miss it: this is a proud winner of the OVNH. A banner above the entrance makes this immediately clear, and the award is proudly displayed under a glass dome at the reception desk. Boon Edam is so proud of the prize that the award has even been duplicated so that the other three locations in Edam can also show it off.  

Daily through a revolving door

The company has about 1,400 employees and locations worldwide. Chances are you pass through a Boon Edam revolving door or access gate daily: at work, in a shopping center or government building, a hospital, or a large company. Just look at the bottom right corner of a revolving door; it is very likely that the Boon Edam logo is there. Boon Edam is now the second most famous Edam native in the world – after the cheese, of course. Esther Rommel: “The jury rightly describes Boon Edam as Dutch Glory on the IJsselmeer. With passionate management, innovation, and service orientation, the company is rightly North Hollands best entrepreneur of the year 2025.”

152 years of entrepreneurship

Boon Edam has existed for 152 years and started as an Amsterdam carpentry and contracting company. In the 1960s, the company consciously specialized in revolving doors. Later, access gates and secure revolving doors followed, and digital security now also plays an important role. Boon Edam continues to innovate, also in collaboration with architects and building managers to optimally integrate revolving doors and access systems into their buildings. Boon Edam now has 16 subsidiaries. To be closer to the customer, part of the production takes place abroad.

Tough questions

The OVNH jury visit in April caused some healthy tension for Niels Huber, owner and chairman, and Dirk Aldenzee, Managing Director of Boon Edam Netherlands. Anyone participating in a competition wants to win it. The jury asked tough questions about sustainability, future-proofing, and social impact. It turned out that Boon Edam works with 478 suppliers in the region and that 88 percent of Dutch employees live in North Holland. Aldenzee: “We had never thought about that before; we only started mapping this through OVNH.” The participation made Niels and Dirk realize how special the company actually is.

Talent and technology

Niels is the third generation Huber within the family business and strongly emphasizes talent development. He finds it important that as many young people as possible choose a technical education. This is not only good for Boon Edam but for the entire sector. That is why he is a board member of TechValley, a collaboration in which innovative machine builders and educational institutions give students challenging and relevant study assignments. Within Boon Edam, there is also much attention to training and development. Aldenzee says about this: “I am a PSV fan, but I am proud of our ‘Young Ajax’.” He refers to the internal training in the inside sales department, where lateral entrants are trained. A former lingerie saleswoman, hairdresser, and butchers employee turned out to be successful salespeople there.

From fisherman to contractor

Boon Edam also wants to use the OVNH as a platform to inspire other entrepreneurs and involve them in a greater influx into technical education. Investing in people is at least as important as investing in technology. Huber illustrates this with a historical example: “When the Zuiderzee fishermen had to retrain due to the arrival of the IJsselmeer, the local vocational school ensured that they became carpenters or contractors. Just look at how many contractors are now established in Edam-Volendam.”