The local business fabric
Mechelen has slotted itself neatly between two giants: exactly halfway between Brussels and Antwerp, with its own station and the E19 at the door. That position explains the large logistics and distribution operators on Mechelen-Noord and Mechelen-Zuid, and it also explains why Johnson & Johnson built one of its main European sites here — surrounded by a layer of suppliers, labs and specialist service firms in pharma and medical devices. The city itself is meanwhile redeveloping its old industrial land: Ragheno, the Keerdok and the Tinelsite are pulling offices and creative firms back towards the centre. And then there is the classic Mechelen fabric — furniture and interiors, construction firms, hospitality in the historic core. Plenty of SMEs, in other words, with real processes and almost no IT staff.