About TenCate Grass
Fibres and Fabrics

Overall, I am responsible for ensuring our customers (domestic and international) are satisfied at all times. I enjoy interacting with customers on a daily basis and making their experience more positive. In addition, TenCate Grass is innovative and always seeking new ways to stay a step ahead of the industry, open for feedback and ideas. This makes working for the organisation challenging and engaging at all times. As a Customer Service Manager, my goal is to get to know our customers and make them the focus of our business

My job is to enable our customers to produce turf that is future-ready. This means our team continuously works on improving durability and performance of our components. In addition, we focus on designing and producing fibres and fabrics that are sustainable and take the system requirements of the synthetic turf carpet into account.

I started working for TenCate in 1984 in the weaving department. Nowadays, I work as an Order Picker for the logistics department of the TenCate Grass Fibres factory in Nijverdal. The most visible change within TenCate is, of course, automation.

Daily, I have lots of contact with different colleagues and I love the variety in my job. Because of the versatility of my work, I experience enjoyable things every week; I believe that humour on the work floor is half the battle!

Over the years, I have noticed multiple developments within our organisation. We are continuously improving with the use of modern scientific technology. In addition, many management methods like 5S and Kaizen are implemented to organise our work environment more efficiently and to increase productivity.
We are eliminating waste, we implemented FIFO rules and increased employee safety.

The first company document of TenCate dates back to 1704; at which time the TenCate family from Almelo was already engaged in the textile trade for years (at least since 1691).

In 1841, the firm began industrial production after merging with a weaving factory.

In 1860, TenCate started producing fabrics using steam mills with 160 powerlooms in Almelo, the Netherlands.

In 1872, the weaving company became a public limitied company called 'Koninklijke Stoomweverij N.V.', Royal Steam Mill.

During the extensive restructuring of the textile industry in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the company managed to create new perspectives.

New polypropylene extrusion techniques provided more wear resistance and softer grass fibres, while woven backings provided greater stability, making synthetic turf the perfect surface for hockey worldwide in the 1980s.

In 1987, a new polymer called LSR ( Low Sliding Resistance) was integrated by TenCate, providing softer fibres and a friendlier surface for body and skin contact on sports pitches.

Already in 1989, TenCate switched it's production of synthetic turf fibres towards fully environmentally friendly raw materials.

In the early years of the 21st century, the development of multilayered synthetic turf systems was the primary focus of TenCate.

Since 2010, the performance of athletes has been at the heart of development of integrated sports systems at TenCate.

In 2017, all TenCate subsidiares wre split in different divisions, resulting in the existence of TenCate Grass as it is now. With a clear focus on developing sustainable products, for optimal use in sports and landscaping, which are 100% recyclable and enviromentally friendly.