It built steam engines and machinery for the sugar industry and for maritime purposes, as well ships, rolling stock and large metal structures like the Moerdijk bridge and a floating dock.

In 1871 it was reorganized to become the public company Koninklijke Fabriek van Stoom- en andere Werktuigen.

In a second reorganization in 1890, parts of it were saved and continued under the name Koninklijke Nederlandsche Fabriek van Werktuigen en Spoorwegmaterieel, renamed to Werkspoor in 1927.

This was necessary because John Cockerill (company, 1825–1955) and the Nederlandsche Stoomboot Maatschappij of Gerhard Moritz Roentgen had established a monopoly on the delivery of steam engines in the Netherlands.

In 1826 the ASM, therefore, asked permission from the Amsterdam community council to found a small smithy at the shipyard Vredenburg on the Kadijk.

Dudok van Heel would be permanently present, primarily to manage the administration and cash of the factory.

The succeeding 'Koninklijke Fabriek van Stoom- en andere Werktuigen' (below, without the 'firma' part) was a juridical person because it was the name of a public company.

A big Fan (machine) that made 600 rpm produced the air blast required for the foundry.

William Jackson then moved to Suriname to support the installation of sugar mills and steam engines.

[21] Van Vlissingen next competed for an order from a newly founded steam tug service in Düsseldorf.

[20] In these years many iron ships were built, but not many large steamships, apart from those were Van Vlissingen was also involved in the exploitation.

The wooden dock at Onrust Island was longer, but still not long enough, and was not capable to receive loaded ships.

[56] On 9 June 1864 some members of the Royal Institute of Engineers visited the floating dock after attending their annual meeting.

The work was to seize the opportunity offered by a tender for re-coining copper currency that circulated in the Dutch East Indies.

When it had incorporated the rolling mill in the late 1860s, its failure to win the tender for the railway bridge at Culemborg was a big setback.

[61] The bridge required 6,500,000 kg of metal, the iron coming from Amsterdam, and the steel and some other parts from England.

[63] On 30 September 1870 the company then asked for an automatic stay so it would get time to reorganize its financial position, a step that led to wide disbelief and indignation.

[64] The reasons that the management gave for the automatic stay were that many credit lines had been terminated, and payments had failed to come in because of the Franco-Prussian War.

The resulting delays in the construction of the Stella for the KNSM had led to missing 135,000 guilders in payment terms.

The automatic stay was granted by the court, and M.J. Pijnappel (lawyer), C. van der Vliet (creditor) and the famous engineer B.J.

Furthermore that they were prepared to renounce their privileged position and to cooperate in a reform of the limited partnership to a Naamloze vennootschap, a public company.

[71] In a 10 February 1871 meeting of the limited partners the committee of reorganization announced that the three refusing creditors had agreed to the proposals.

The commission then went to work on raising a short term credit of 200,000 guilders protected by special securities.

This public company came under the direction of Johannes Marinus van der Made and was founded[74] on 5 April.

The new public company was allowed to retain the name Koninklijke Fabriek van Stoom- en andere Werktuigen, and this now came in general use.

[76] At the end of 1872 the company had 1,300 employees, 300 more than the year before, but rising prices and labor cost significantly diminished the profit.

That same year the Indian Sugar crisis hit the company and the number of employees fell to 600, the expensive shipyard was closed down.

[78] In 1882 the government helped the company somewhat by ordering 91 bridges for the railroad from Lage Zwaluwe to 's-Hertogenbosch for 537,000 guilders even though the competition offered for 2,000 less.

[81] The company was steadily burning money, and as long as nobody knew how to fix it, a mere financial reconstruction was not possible.

In 1893 former employees of the Koninklijke Fabriek then contacted Jacob Theodoor Cremer, and he founded the Nederlandsche Scheepsbouw Maatschappij (NSM) (literally: The Dutch shipbuilding company), a name that would later prove not to be an exaggeration.