In 1995, Melkweg Zwolle's premises on Energieweg were sold and a then very modern building was built for this Fritom subsidiary on Carl Benzstraat in Zwolle.
Fritom in the 1990s
In the same year a customer of Wiersma Transport, Koffiebranderij en Theehandel Drie Mollen sinds 1818 BV came with the question if Fritom wanted to buy a building plot located against the factory in Bolsward. On this plot we could then build a distribution warehouse for the purpose of working for this customer. Fritom agreed to this and thus received a 'coffee shed'. In 2016, Fritom resold this distribution warehouse to UCC Koffie.
In 1997, the Fritom 2000 restructuring project was implemented. The project allowed the companies of the Veenstra, Wiersma and Doorenbos families to be added to the Fritom Group as subsidiaries.
And Veenstra & Wiersma Transport BV in Boxtel also became a Fritom subsidiary. Veenstra & Wiersma was a merger company between Wiersma's branch in Geldrop and Veenstra's branch in Boxtel. The management of Veenstra & Wiersma was in the hands of Tom Wiersma, the current general manager of Sanders|Fritom. Previously Tom was managing director of Wiersma's branch in Geldrop. Before this, Tom moved with his family from Friesland to Brabant.
Tom Wiersma on his move to Brabant: "The Wiersma company had bought Teeuwen Transport in Geldrop at the end of 1987. I moved with my family from Folsgare in Friesland to Geldrop in 1988, where I was put in charge of Teeuwen Transport. For me it was a new challenge. For Doutsje, my wife, it was of course quite a change: moving from a familiar environment to Brabant. Our two oldest children were 2 and 3 years old. They didn't experience much of this change. A nice anecdote is that we have always spoken Frisian with the oldest two children and Dutch with the youngest, who was born in Geldrop. In the beginning I had quite some trouble with the punctuality of the Brabanders (Brabant quarter). After half a year, however, you find out that it is better to adapt yourself than for the employees to adapt to you. From then on it all went a lot better. Looking at it now, I am a bit verbalized. After five years in Geldrop, we moved the company to Boxtel, where Veenstra already had a branch. Teeuwen and Veenstra's company in Boxtel were merged into Veenstra&Wiersma. Privately we moved from Geldrop to Sint Oedenrode where we have lived to our full satisfaction for another 28 years."
In 1999, Fritom bought Afman Transport in Baflo. The company was engaged in transport activities, including of crop pesticides.
Also in 1999, Jan, Wilt and Simon Oldenburger sold their company Gebr. Oldenburger Expediteurs BV and its associated operating companies to Fritom Holding. The company was engaged in transport, forwarding, warehousing and storage and transshipment.
Oldenburger|Fritom grew under the Fritom flag to become an innovative logistics knowledge organization that strives for operational excellence through continuous improvement principles.
In 1989, Fritom established Melkweg-Müller Combinatie (MMC) BV together with Müller Transport in Holten. MMC transported tank containers of cash from England and Ireland to the Netherlands. Ab Doorenbos was the only employee of this company in the early stages. The company had no transport capacity at the start, but hired this from Melkweg Zwolle and Müller.
When Fritom bought Gebr. Oldenburger Expediteurs BV in 1999, there was a piece of wasteland opposite this new acquisition. On the advice of Fritom's then chairman of the board, Rinze Veenstra, Fritom also bought this piece of land. This under the motto: it is for sale now and will probably come in handy some day. For 20 years, this land served as a parking lot for Oldenburger|Fritom employees and visitors, but in 2019 Oldenburger|Fritom's new, sustainable distribution center with BREEAM certification was built on it.
