On May 1st, 1898, Anders Peter Pedersen (1869-1954) started manufacturing brushes in Skive. He was taught by brushmaker Søren Christensen after the two served in the military together. A.P. Pedersen rented a backroom in Thinggade 7, and that is where he opened “Skive ny Gadekosteforretning”.

A.P. Pedersen specialised in, among other things, the production of brushes for dairies, which resulted in agreements with De danske Mejeriers Fællesindkøb (The Danish Dairies joint purchasing association) and FDB, who were some of the company’s most important customers for decades.

A year after opening the factory, he married Marie Hansen. Together, they had four children, Carl Vilhelm, Gunnar, Ella, and Gerda.

A.P. Pedersen quickly built a solid customer base throughout Jutland, and in 1903 he was able to buy the building that he had previously only rented a room at in Thinggade.

The front of the building hosted the storefront, and the yard held the factory. There was room for only a few machines, but production was mainly done by hand. A.P Pedersen started out with just a single apprentice, but the company quickly required more employees, among which were multiple older boys who came to the factory after school and worked for a few hours in the afternoon.

In 1918, part of the factory burned down, and A.P. Pedersen chose to build a new and modern factory on Østergade.

In 1918, the company’s factory in Thinggade burned down. This was a hard blow for A. P. Pedersen, who wasn’t insured properly, but he made the best of it and had architect H. Toft Hansen in Skive draw up a large, modern factory with four floors on a building plot on Østergade. The new factory was finished in 1919.

This building had room for more machines, which meant that production became partly mechanised. The raw materials were bought all over the world through the Skive Børstefabrik’s own trading company.

Through this period, the company experienced steady growth, adding more and more employees.

Through the 1920s, A.P. Pedersen’s two sons, Gunnar, and Carl Vilhelm, became part of the company. On May 1st, 1933 – on the company’s 35th birthday – it was handed over to the two brothers and A.P. Pedersen retired.

The breakout of World War II made importing raw materials difficult. In order to keep brush production going, the company had to use materials that were accessible in Denmark. For example, brooms were made with crowberries and heather during wartime.

The two brothers wanted to begin exporting their products in the 1930s, but the war put a pause on their plan.

In 1944, the brothers bought a building plot by Viborgvej in Skive so they could expand the factory. But, because of the aftereffects of the war, 10 years went by before they could begin to build there.

In 1944 the company bought a plot of land on Viborgvej with the intention of building a new and bigger factory. A lack of materials during the war put a stop to the construction, but in 1954, architect Toft Hansen drew up designs for a factory that was 6,000 square meters over two floors. The project was designed to be built in different parts. The first part was completed in January 1956, and by New Year’s Day, 1960, the entire factory was completed. In 1964, the accompanying warehouse was finished and completed the building.

A sign reading “Vikan” was placed on the gable of the new factory. The name “Skive Børstefabrik” was no longer suitable for an export company, and “Vikan” was slowly put on all products. During the 1960s, production became more and more mechanized. The work formerly done by hand was now done with new machines.

New materials were also introduced. From the beginning of the 1960s, plastic started to replace wood and hair. Only five years after the factory was built on Viborgvej, Vikan was ready for another move.

Not even five years after the third big expansion of its factory, Vikan was ready to leave Viborgvej. Problems with the soil from being too close to the stream in Skive, the lack of room for expansions, and the issues that came with having a factory on two floors made Vikan decide it was time to look for a new home. Vikan’s management decided to build their new factory by Frisenborgvej in Skive. The factory was ready by Christmas 1970.

During the 1960s, plastics became a more prominent part of the brush industry, however, a lot of wood was still being used even a decade later. To ensure a steady wood supply, Vikan bought the A/S Thorsager Sawmill in 1972, which delivered wood to Vikan for many years. In 1973, Vikan started its own plastic factory in Stoholm named Vikanplast.

At this time, Vikan was, together with engineer Poul Toft, in the process of developing a new series of hygienic products for the food industry: The White Series. It was exclusively made from plastic, and it became an export success. In the beginning of the 1970s, only 20 percent of all products were exported, but this changed with the White Series. In 1985, it accounted for 35 percent of Vikan’s product turnover.

None of A.P. Pedersen’s descendants wished to take over the company’s leadership from Niels Kaiser, so the family chose to sell the main portion of Vikan to a consortium in 1986.

The consortium resold Vikan to Bay & Vissing, whose main shareholders were Mogens and Jenny Vissing’s Scholarship. Niels Kaiser resigned, and after 90 years, the Pedersen family was no longer a part of the leadership at Vikan.

In the beginning of the 1990s, the creation of the European Union created a market with new possibilities for Vikan. The traditional customers like FDB disappeared and instead Vikan focused on the export markets.

Starting in 1992, Vikan began establishing sales offices in several EU countries and opened production facilities in Estonia (2003) and Sweden (2004, moved to Denmark in 2008). After the turn of the millennium, Vikan bought several companies that could support its mission.

In 2008, Carsten Bo Pedersen became the new CEO of Vikan. He, along with the board, shifted focus to Vikan’s core competencies: complete solutions to demanding cleaning tasks in hygiene-sensitive environments. At the same time, several of the subsidiaries closed.

Today, Vikan still has its headquarters in Skive, where around 60 percent of its employees work, a production plant in Estonia, a manufacturing, sales and distribution center in the US, a sales and distribution center in Australia and sales offices in several countries.