“More efficient handling at our growers as well as in our packing station”

Starting this season, PEQ in Maasdijk has been using a new crate-laying line for peppers. “A step forward in more efficient handling, both for our growers and for us as a trading and packaging company, which allows us to reduce the necessary costs,” says Operations Manager Marc Vriesen. Working with a box slider had been under consideration for some time. “Last year, we had a provisional tipper made to get acquainted with the system. Then we saw the potential, both on our side and with the growers, and we started to explore the existing options on the market further. That’s how we ended up with Burg Machinery.”

“We now receive the peppers mostly from the growers in cubic crates, which are filled at the growers’ premises by Burg’s crate fillers. These supplied crates are driven into the tipper at our premises, after which the peppers are evenly tipped onto the conveyor belt. This in turn transfers to an angled conveyor belt, where the peppers then enter the flowpack line. For us, the whole system works very practically,” Marc says. “Incidentally, our member growers retain the option of delivering the peppers in crates or boxes. That can be interesting for marketing reasons, which is why we wanted to keep that flexibility.”

Continue flowpacking in winter too
There are three tilters per line, which are used to determine the order for colour-mix packaging. “This can be the traditional ‘traffic light’ packaging, but we also pack according to the customer’s wishes. Ultimately, flow pack mix remains a much sought-after packaging,” Marc says. “The set-up is made so that we can continue to flowpack products even in winter. In this way, we keep the whole operation as flexible as possible.”

“This new way of working saves handling and therefore additional costs for both the market gardeners and us as a packaging company. By organising the processes differently, we can directly save labour and thus costs, which is very important in these times. The great thing is that it also gives our people a more pleasant working posture, because the people inserting the peppers now make shorter movements. So we’ll kill two birds with one stone,” Marc observes. “A precondition for us was that if the quality of the product demanded it, we could also put people at the conveyor belt, and Burg has succeeded very well with this set-up.”

Professional party with both feet on the ground
“We are working with the crate emptying line from week 14, so right at the start of the Dutch pepper season. We have worked towards that start date together, and we have succeeded very well,” Marc says. He shows enthusiasm about the cooperation with Burg: “If you ask me, it is a professional company, which is well-grounded and takes responsibility from start to finish, including a bit of aftercare.”

Asked what else is on Marc’s wish list in terms of automation, the Operations Manager replies that there are future gains to be made in optical sorting. Optical technology could play a nice role in that to fully tailor the quality level to customer specifications, because there is a market for every pepper.”