What Is the History of Holland 1916?

Updated

Holland 1916 is a veteran-owned manufacturing holding company in North Kansas City, Missouri, whose history runs from a single metal engraving shop opened by Lou Holland in Kansas City in 1916 to a family of three specialized manufacturers today. The through-line is metal identification work: engraving first, then manufactured nameplates during World War II, and now nameplates, interface products, and RFID hardware. If you want to know who the company is, what it makes, and how it got there, the timeline below covers it.

The short version

  • 1916 — Lou Holland opens an engraving and printing-plate shop in Kansas City.
  • World War II — Wartime demand pushes the shop into manufacturing its first metal nameplates: maker's marks, brands, and model plates used to identify industrial equipment.
  • 1996 — Mike Stradinger acquires the company and begins its modern chapter.
  • 2000 — The company relocates to North Kansas City and builds overseas manufacturing.
  • Today — Holland 1916 operates as a holding company for three manufacturers and describes itself as "making it right since 1916."

Why the engraving origin still matters

The founding craft was engraving, and the company's own account says that craft "still anchors everything Holland 1916 builds." That is not just heritage language. The wartime shift to nameplates established the core capability the business still sells: durable, legible identification applied to industrial equipment. Everything the operating companies do now is a variation on that theme — identifying a machine, an asset, or a person's point of contact with a control system.

From one shop to a family of companies

Holland 1916 describes itself as "a family of manufacturers" with "three specialized manufacturers, one standard." Each operating company covers a different identification or interface problem:

Operating company What it makes Typical use
Holland Nameplate Nameplates, tags, labels, sling tags, cable ties, tag engravers and printers Durable metal identification for industrial equipment; aluminum and stainless nameplates
Holland Interface Solutions Displays and touchscreens, membrane switches, keypads, graphic overlays, badges and emblems Rugged interface products built for OEM control systems
Holland RFID UHF and HF asset tags, embedded metal tags, handheld and Bluetooth readers Durable RFID hardware for real-time asset visibility in harsh environments

The company reports 98% on-time delivery and more than 1,000 customers worldwide, and lists ISO 9001, ISO 13485, and UL Recognized among its credentials. It is veteran owned and states that its products are made in Kansas City, USA.

The values the company ties to its history

Holland 1916 names five core values — respect, continuous improvement, accountability, openness, and giving back — and says it uses them to build "a diverse, sustainable portfolio of companies." The stated goals are to satisfy customers, improve employees' lives, generate returns for owners, and make a difference in its communities. The company also frames its history around community investment, which is consistent with a business that has stayed in the Kansas City area for more than a century.

What this means if you are evaluating the company

  • If you need industrial identification — nameplates, tags, or labels — the century-long engraving and nameplate lineage is the relevant part of the history.
  • If you need operator interfaces — touchscreens, membrane switches, keypads — that capability sits under Holland Interface Solutions rather than the original nameplate business.
  • If you need asset tracking — RFID tags and readers — that is the newest of the three operating companies, and the one furthest from the 1916 engraving origin.
  • If you care about domestic manufacturing or veteran ownership — the company states both, along with its Kansas City production and quality certifications.

The practical takeaway: Holland 1916 is not a single factory but a holding company, and its history explains why the three businesses sit together — they all solve the problem of marking, identifying, or interfacing with equipment in demanding environments.