Skip to content 
Feel the enormous strength at Ceratec. As a dynamic, family-run company, we draw energy from our 500 enthusiastic employees. Our specialists share their passion for technology, quality and innovation. Together, we work as a 100% team for satisfied customers and sustainable growth. Our employees work independently on innovative projects. They receive the trust and job security they deserve.
Our values:
Because: stronger together!
Ceratec has its origins in the engineering department of Ploegsteert, a brickworks group founded in 1922 by the patriarch Remi De Bruyn.
The oil crisis hits the construction sector hard. Many brickworks go bankrupt and unemployment is high.
But every crisis also offers opportunities. Ploegsteert invested in the furnace construction company FIB (Le Four Industriel Belge) and expanded its General Maintenance department. Employees were retrained and carried out assignments for FIB as subcontractors.
With a degree in civil engineering and an MBA under his belt, Philip De Bruyn, a third-generation member of the family, entered a labour market in crisis.
Although he is enthusiastic about starting at Ploegsteert, his father Joseph De Bruyn tells him that there is no work for him in the brickworks. Instead, he advises him to “do more with the people in the maintenance department”. So that’s that. Philip settles into a tiny office and gets to work with pen and paper.
The small team soon begins developing its own machines and technology, while continuing to expand its metal construction activities for third parties.
The machine construction department is given its own identity: Ceratec, derived from Ceramic Technologies. The company gradually grows away from the brickworks.
Ceratec becomes an independent company. The team develops various machines, from hand presses to conveyor belts.
In 1987, Ceratec acquires the assets of the bankrupt Samic, which gives it access to international know-how and markets such as Algeria.
The electrical engineering activities grow into a separate entity: Ceratec Electrotechnics, specialising in electrical installations and automation.
Ceratec expands beyond the heavy clay industry. New sectors are tapped into and participations are acquired in Manumoderne (BE), Techceram and Ceratec Polska (PL), among others.
The workforce grows to more than 100 employees.
A branch is opened in Tournai.
Ceratec Electrotechnics opens a second branch in Olsene.
A third branch follows in Templemars (FR): Ceratec SAS is founded.
Ceratec and Ceratec Electrotechnics merge to form one strong brand: Ceratec. Under the motto One Team, Stronger Together, they team up on the mechatronic approach. Three specialised divisions are created:
Each division operates autonomously but benefits from the synergy within the organisation.
Ceratec SAS moves to a new location in La Chapelle d’Armentières (F).
