A steel evolution
Submitted by:
Sara Waddington
(Image: L-R: Thomas Krone (Voortman’s business development and marketing director) and Stef Rohaan (Voortman’s product manager for plate) at Blechexpo/Schweisstec.)
Thomas Krone (Voortman’s business development and marketing director) and Stef Rohaan (Voortman’s product manager for plate) discussed the company’s latest innovations, global market strategy and view of the future with ISMR.
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Voortman manufactures CNC steel processing machinery with integrated business software solutions that automate and optimise production processes. From a humble chicken shed in the Netherlands in 1968, the family company has evolved into a global manufacturer of CNC steel processing machinery and software solutions, catering to diverse industry sectors.
At FABTECH (North America’s largest event for metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing) in Chicago (September 2025), Voortman demonstrated its V353 (high-speed plate laser for flexible cutting), V807 (for robotic profile cutting) and its MO Compact (for pipe cutting). At Schweißen & Schneiden (Essen, Germany) in September 2025, Voortman presented a full suite of automation solutions. It also held live demonstrations of its Fabricator (an automated system for fitting and full welding), LogicSteel XR (an extended reality tool for visualising and verifying welds during quality control) and the V310 (its most complete plate-processing machine for cutting and drilling).
In October 2025, Voortman stormed into the Blechexpo/Schweisstec trade show in Germany to showcase its latest machinery, software and service solutions, including the intriguing use of AI to increase its customers’ productivity. Thomas Krone (Voortman’s business development and marketing director) and Stef Rohaan (Voortman’s product manager for plate) shared the company’s latest innovations, global market strategy and view of the future with ISMR at the trade show.
Strategic investments
Voortman has made some significant technology, engineering and facility investments over the past few years.
“We have grown hugely over the last five years that I have been with the company. We built a new Engineering Centre building in May 2023, at our headquarters at Rijssen (the Netherlands) for 300 engineers. We also expanded our R&D facility there. Our engineering workforce has therefore substantially increased and we have introduced a lot of new products into the market as a result,” Stef Rohaan, Voortman’s product manager for plate, told ISMR.
“We launched the V353 laser-cutting machine last year to process large-format metal sheet. Our customers are typically processing thicker and larger plates. Laser has moved into fabricators’ material specifications. Our R&D Centre can support customers by test cutting their materials and offering services like parameter optimisation etc. We have already installed the first V353 machines, in Europe and the U.S. We are already adding new features to the machines,” he added.
Thomas Krone, Voortman’s business development and marketing director, highlighted further significant strategic investments.
“We also investing in a local presence for new geographical areas. A great achievement for us is the construction of a new factory in Chicago in the United States. We are close to opening the factory and plan to build the first machine in Q1 2026. This will unlock many opportunities for us and our customers. We have also set up sales and service offices in Italy and Spain, with our own engineers that speak the local language. We also further expanded our existing sales and
service offices i.e. in France and Germany. In short, we are investing in technologies, R&D and engineering capability as well as sales, service and production facilities on the back of a strong foundation of growth over the last few years,” he summarised.
Product and software innovations
Voortman offers a range of machinery including high-end, fully automated machines for lights-out production. The company has been busy adding more capability around its machines and software for its customers. Combining laser cutting with drilling, milling and thread tapping, for example, around the V353 machine helps its customers to manufacture more finished products from their machines, cutting costs and increasing overall productivity.
To read the rest of this interview in the December 2025/January 2026 issue of ISMR, see https://joom.ag/X3Ed/p20