2021

Kiwa ushered in a new era in 2021 when the group joined SHV – a family-owned company with 51,000 employees active in 64 countries. SHV became majority shareholder, putting Kiwa alongside other companies in the group, including Makro, ERIKS and Mammoet.

Partnerships and new additions boost quality across sectors

Kiwa’s growth continued in 2021 across many sectors, including through a series of partnerships, collaborations and acquisitions. Here we look at some of the areas that were strengthened.

Cybersecurity collaboration

Kiwa and KPN Security partnered in 2021, combining their expertise to help manufacturers and suppliers independently assess and certify their IoT consumer electronics, from smart TVs and health trackers to refrigerators. This ensures consumers that certified products meet standard safety requirements and are protected against digital threats like cyberattacks and data leaks.

Thanks to the partnership, manufacturers and suppliers could have their IoT products tested against the ETSI EN 303 645 standard, which contains requirements and procedures for the cybersecurity of devices that can connect to the Internet of Things.

Pictured L-R: Ron Scheepers (Kiwa), Sjoerd Hulzinga (KPN), Bart Scholten (Kiwa), Diederik van Daal, Erik van der Meij, Madelon Spaan, Jeroen Hondeman, Erno Doorenspleet (all KPN) and Sabyne van Mourik (Kiwa).

Agricultural acquisition

Kiwa Poland welcomed COBICO, a company specialized in certifying biological food and testing food packaging. Based in Wieliczka, Poland, COBICO strengthened Kiwa’s agri-food offering with accredited product certification services in the field of organic food certification and food packaging testing.

And in Sweden, Kiwa merged with Valiguard, a company specialized in food safety and organic certification of food producers. The acquisition strengthened Kiwa Sweden's portfolio with various international standards, including BRC Food, FSSC 22000 and IFS.

Fire safety and renewable energy

Kiwa UK welcomed International Fire Consultants (IFC Group), bringing the company’s expertise in fire safety consultancy to the portfolio. The acquisition of IFC added a new line of services to Kiwa’s offering in the UK and created new connections with other Kiwa countries across the global group.

Pictured: Graham Wiles, Managing Director of IFC Group and Paul Brown, CEO of Kiwa UK.

And to boost Kiwa’s presence in the renewable energy field, Kiwa Group signed a partnership agreement with PV Evolution Labs (PVEL), the leading independent test lab for the global downstream solar and energy storage industry. Through their partnership, Kiwa and PVEL would collaborate to advance their industry-leading test programs and certification schemes, and to better serve their clients around the world.

Building global services

Kiwa’s services grew globally when four companies joined the group in December 2021: Raba Kistner, Construction Sciences, PPI Quality & Engineering and T2 utility engineers. These quality, testing and measurement companies came with 50 years of experience, covering more than 100 locations in the USA and Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Raba Kistner – based in Texas, this company started out in geotechnical engineering and expanded to cover multiple markets including education, transportation, commercial and energy.
Construction Sciences – this Brisbane-based company provided services including geotechnical and environmental monitoring and subsurface utility engineering, as well as services for large-scale infrastructure developments across transport, resources and defense.
PI Quality & Engineering – this company, founded in Texas, started with engineering services like oilfield engineering and drilling and moved on to provide a complete quality assurance service for the energy sector.
T2 utility engineers – specialized in the professional investigation and analysis of existing subsurface and above-ground utilities, this company helps clients in the US and Canada manage and mitigate utility-related risk, improve project safety and streamline construction on infrastructure projects.