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Published on 18.09.2026 
By combining their transportation and warehousing operations, John Beck and Sigismund Pollitzer laid the foundation for a British company in London in 1863 that now operates on every continent.
Known for its services in the installation of industrial equipment and the setting up of new production sites, the internationally renowned British group Beck & Pollitzer has had a French subsidiary for 25 years that is responsible for supporting the largest industrial companies in our region, as well as for establishing branches across Europe and North Africa from its base in the Hauts-de-France region.
I’m originally from Dunkirk, and I went to school in Lille at the École des Hautes Études d’Ingénieur (HEI), which is now part of the Junia program.
Shortly thereafter, I joined the Ponticelli Frères group, which is represented in the Valenciennes area by its subsidiary, Cochez Levage. The company was approached in 1997 by the British firm Beck & Pollitzer, which at the time had no presence in France and wanted to satisfy the request of one of its prominent clients—Toyota—to establish its French plant in Onnaing.
Since I was fluent in English, Cochez Levage asked me to serve as the liaison with Beck & Pollitzer; the two companies were working together through a partnership that led to the creation of a joint venture. I worked on the project as a construction engineer.
When the British group finally acquired 100% of the equity in that company, I joined it. So you could say that I played a key role in the founding of Beck & Pollitzer France.
They reflect our group’s core values; our business is to provide turnkey machine installation services as part of the establishment or relocation of an industrial site. We stand out in the market because of our ability to offer a comprehensive service—something that equipment manufacturers generally do not do.
Unlike us, they do not have the resources to mobilize 20, 50, or 100 qualified people for this type of work, ranging from material handling to mechanical and electrical installations.
We also have extensive experience in planning, which is a key aspect of our business. This expertise enables us to deliver high-quality services while managing the unforeseen challenges inherent in these types of projects:
We currently have 85 employees and generate over €25 million in revenue, which represents about one-tenth of the group’s total revenue.
At first, Beck & Pollitzer France was just a shell of a company, since Toyota was our only client. Although our parent company had already considered establishing a presence in France in the past, it was the Japanese automaker’s arrival in the Hauts-de-France region that was the deciding factor in creating this company.
Our relationship with this client is so close that, before we settled permanently in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, we spent over three years working in bungalows at Toyota’s base in Onnaing.
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In fact, our business really didn’t take off until the 2000s…
One of the things we’re most proud of is having been chosen to install the machinery at the Toyota plant in Valenciennes and still serving this long-standing Beck & Pollitzer Group client 25 years later.
We have many clients in the region. For example, we had been working with ACC in Douvrin Billy-Berclau for three years as part of their Gigafactory construction project.
Similarly, we are also wrapping up the AESC France project, which had a workforce of 240 people at its peak.
We are also working on the AstraZeneca site in Dunkirk.
In the pharmaceutical sector, we worked for three years on the construction of the GSK plant in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux.
We also work with international clients who are setting up operations in the Hauts-de-France region, thanks to our parent company’s history of working with major international corporations.
Finally, we carry out projects outside of France using seconded personnel. On average, we have only about 20 of our employees at our headquarters. The others are assigned to various locations, sometimes for long-term assignments.
It is important to understand that when we talk about an industrial relocation, a factory must be “dismantled” in one location in order to “reassemble” it elsewhere. Our clients appreciate that the same project managers handle the project from start to finish.
Being part of a British group with projects in France and abroad gives us an international culture, with more than a dozen different nationalities in our French office alone.
We have the capacity to compete internationally on large-scale projects. Our competitive advantage lies in our ability to mobilize our workforce on a European scale. This point is essential because we are in a service industry where the human factor is crucial—not only in terms of quality but also in terms of budget, since it accounts for 50 to 70 percent of our costs.
All of our offices can therefore exchange staff between countries to meet demand. We also have group-wide processes in place that ensure technical safety for our clients around the world. We then adapt to local expectations.
For us, setting up operations in the Hauts-de-France region makes sense because it is an industrial region with real appeal, particularly in the automotive and battery manufacturing sectors—two areas where our experience and local presence make a difference.
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We have also developed in-house expertise in metrology—unique to our group—with a team of seven people. This expertise is of interest to the group’s clients who need it during the setting up or relocation of an industrial site.
The impact is undeniable, and it is not positive. Following the announcement of Brexit, the group’s revenue in the U.K. market declined, while it increased everywhere else, particularly in Europe and the U.S. As a result, several of our branches across the Channel were temporarily closed.
Business has now picked up steadily because the United Kingdom, which is now self-sufficient, faces less external competition.
But the main problem lies in our workforce mobility, as it is becoming more difficult to transfer employees from Europe to England, largely due to visa requirements.
This is our main concern, since the problem has become particularly acute in recent years. It hinges on two key factors for our business: mobility and the ability to speak English, both of which are essential on our work sites.
The COVID-19 crisis has also profoundly changed people’s behavior. Some employees have questioned the idea of leaving their families behind for several months, which is perfectly understandable.
If you add to that the fact that we were looking for technical candidates with mechanical or electrical skills, you can see why this is a challenging problem, even though we recruit on a national—and even international—scale.
We recently hired a French technician living in Saint-Étienne whom we met in Norway on a project site while he was wrapping up an assignment on his own. I conducted the interview via videoconference, and since this person was flexible and had experience, I wasted no time in making him an offer, which he accepted.
In light of these challenges, we have also adjusted some of our requirements and adapted our practices, including for more desk-based roles, such as within the accounting department.
However, it is still difficult to hire apprentices, since most of our work takes place at our clients’ sites, which—for safety reasons—generally cannot accommodate young workers, which is understandable but regrettable.
Despite these challenges, we have found that the employees who join us tend to stay for the long term.
Once they join the company, they quickly realize the benefits of working with us: challenging technical projects, a strong international focus, and genuine autonomy in the assignments they are given.
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This interview is taken from our discussions with Guillaume de Goÿs, President of Aluminium Dunkerque, as part of the KPMG – NFI 2025 impact study.
The Beck & Pollitzer Group is using its French agency in the Hauts-de-France region as a launch pad to expand into new markets. Fabrice Dezitter, the company’s director for Western Europe, was tasked with opening new offices abroad, which he did in Italy, Spain, and, more recently, in the Benelux countries.
Regarded by the group as its flagship, Beck & Pollitzer France is also expanding into North Africa with a branch office established in Morocco, while the headquarters in England focuses primarily on other geographic regions.
The French office also serves as a springboard for the company’s talent, such as this employee who, after spending three years in the Hauts-de-France region, was entrusted with launching the group’s first office in Japan.
Dorothée
Rémi
Dorothée and Rémi are your primary points of contact for any project in the customer relations sector. They will support you every step of the way as you set up your business in the Hauts-de-France region.
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