A powerful combination
HACOS was created by the merger of two companies: HACOS NV and P. Van Meulenbeke BVBA. Both organisations decided to join forces in 1992 in order to offer a complete and professional supply of machines to the chocolate processing industry.
The older of the two companies is P. Van Meulenbeke BVBA, which was founded in 1954. The company mainly dealt in small machines such as mould fi llers and vibrating tables. P. Van Meulenbeke was at the cradle of the Belgian chocolate industry. In their workshop in the centre of Antwerp, they designed their own machines.

Complementary
In 1967 HACOS entered the Belgian chocolate market. From the beginning, HACOS mainly delivered machines for medium-sized companies and the organisation largely concentrated on the international market. The organisation was therefore complementary to locally active P. Van Meulenbeke.

Strong growth
The fact that they were complementary made the combination of both companies a success. P. Van Meulenbeke swapped the building in the centre of Antwerp for HACOS’s spacious industrial building
located on the industrial estate in Oostmalle, just outside Antwerp. Stimulated by this good combination, the company experienced strong growth and grew from 15 to more than 50 employees. The company expanded and now has a larger factory, a showroom, offices and the possession of an adjacent building.

Capacity
Capacity and fl exibility play a major role in determining the right machine. HACOS’s range includes manual and fully automatic industrial machines and everything in between. For a capacity up to 50 kg per day HACOS has a range of manual machines. Semi automatic machines are very appropriate for a capacity of 250 kg per week to 250 kg per day. As of 120 kg per hour HACOS advises fully-automatic machines. If your capacity rises above 500 kg per hour then you fall under HACOS’s industrial segment. If you start small and your capacity grows, you can continue to call upon the services of this trustworthy supplier, because the equipment is based on a modular concept.