AVR

1849: Peter Vansteenkiste starts producing hand tools for agriculture from a small forge in Roeselare. Around the year 1970, after having gone through various stages of development, the company finally grows into a potato harvester manufacturer. The engineer Norbert Nollet is one of the new staff to subsequently join the company. Upon his initiative, the company takes potato harvester design to a higher level: from single to double row harvesters, and then to four-row harvesters. This step turns out to be a huge success, and in 1973 Norbert takes over the company and names it AVR after the founder's son Alfons Vansteenkiste from Roeselare.

The AVR Machinery Division is temporarily taken over by the Dutch company Netagco BV, but in 2003 AVR buys back the operation. The ‘hand tools’ division is sold under the name of AVR Tools.