Kovako was born on in 1979 at Koudekerk a/d  Rijn, The Netherlands as a manufacturer of pneumatic unloading systems for cement from ship to storage.

Indeed, Kovako was officially founded in 1979, but the first systems were already built in the 1960s, some of the first units were even on a ship and some are still operational to this very day.

The first units, or pneumatic ship unloaders, where small units, in size and with limited unloading capacity, 100 tph at most, and mainly geared to the needs of the local market.

But at an early stage, Kovako's machines grew in popularity, with enhancements in terms of unloading capacity and size and before long Kovako transcended the border of The Netherlands, initially to other countries in Europe, and then to the the US, the Middle East and the Far East.

Today, you will find a Kovako ship unloader at almost any location around the globe.

But the real turning point in the history of  Kovako took place in the 1980s when the company was acquired by FLSmidth.

From that moment, Kovako ceased to be a family-owned and family-run enterprise, instead becoming a member of a large engineering company and industrial group.

The changes were immediate, from machines built as "craftsmanship", with little or no documentation to fully documented units, from a trial-and-error approach to rigorous engineering calculations and bench testing.

Together with the huge amount of know-how made available from FLSmidth, Kovako now had the advantage of being part of a company with a worldwide reputation in the cement industry and to have the financial means to invest in R & D for its machines, giving it market leadership in an increasingly demanding and competitive market and ensuring the high level of the technology incorporated into the equipment.

Kovako has become, and still is, a synonym for pneumatic ship unloaders.