It all began in 1911
It all began in 1911. Sam Van den Bergh & Anton Jurgens decided to build a soap & hardening factory. And a vegetable oil factory in Zwijndrecht. In 1913 the first production started. In 1915 Jurgens began a new oil refinery with a capacity of 400 tons a week at Zwijndrecht.
A all new Refinery
In 1915 Jurgens began a new oil refinery with a capacity of 400 tons a week at Zwijndrecht. In 1927 Van den Bergh and Jurgens decided to merge its activities on margarine and oil refinery. The result: the N.V. Maatschappij der Vereenigde Oliefabrieken (MVO) at Zwijndrecht and the Margarine Union.
A new merger of the Dutch Margarine Union
In 1929 there was a new merger of the Dutch Margarine Union, the English Margarine Union and Lever Brothers Ltd, from which the ‘Lever Brothers & Unilever was founded. This merger was later renamed in Unilever N.V. The N.V. Maatschappij der Vereenigde Oliefabrieken at Zwijndrecht became a subsidiary of Unilever N.V. Rapid modernization took place between 1965 and 1980 where most labour-intensive task was replaced with automation. In the 1970’s MVO was assigned to be part of the German division of Unilever and as a result, a more international name – Unimills BV- was created to replace its old name.
A full-fledged refinery
Unimills became a full-fledged refinery in the 90’s when Unilever rationalized its margarine business. The group invested in Unimills into a high capacity refinery thus making it the second largest refinery in Europe.
Sime Darby Unimills BV
In 2001, Golden Hope Plantations Berhad from Malaysia, was looking for expanding its oversees activities. In January the following year, Unimills became part of Golden Hope Group. Since the merger of Sime Darby, Guthrie and Golden Hope in 2007, Unimills became part of the largest palm oil plantation company in the world. The name of Unimills was changed to Sime Darby Unimills BV.
Upgrading our refinery
Between 2003 and 2013, Sime Darby Unimills rapidly expanded its operations into bio-diesel, two new flaking lines, two fractionation lines, 30.000 mt of additional storage tanks, a new plant for enzymatic re-arrangement, a new innovation center, including new laboratory facilities, truck loading bay, a pilot plant, a new box products line and a lecithin factory in order to pursue the strategy for specialties in oils and fats.
Sime Darby Oils
In 2019, Sime darby Unimills changed it's name to Sime Darby Oils Zwijndrecht Refinery B.V.