In 1912, Louis VYNCKE settled as a blacksmith in the town of Gullegem. By the 1920s the flax industry in Flanders had begun to flourish. With it came increased demand for steam boilers to generate energy to remove the flax fibres from their stalks. Since coal was expensive, the boilers were designed to burn flax straw waste. And so it came to pass that VYNCKE entered the bioenergy market long before Global Warming and Kyoto Protocol were to become familiar terms. The business expanded rapidly and in 1956 the company, under the second generation leadership of Louis’ sons Michel and René moved to Harelbeke. Building on the success of their father, they developed VYNCKE into a reference supplier in the boiler business across the regions of West Flanders and North France. When Michel tragically passed away in 1972, his youngest son Dirk picked up the torch. And after 20 years of strong steady growth worldwide, 2002 saw the fourth generation of VYNCKE take over the reins: Peter and Dieter continue to write the story of the family business.