InnoFresh Packing has further improved the technology of the automatic packaging line for grapes in punnet. Grapes are now packaged without any difference in high and transport speed, whereas in the first pilot line there was still a limited falling height and angled transport movements.
InnoFresh Packing, the joint venture between the Budelpack Group and IQ Packing, is busy automatically packaging grapes in punnets. A pilot line with a capacity of 1200 punnets per hour in Waddinxveen.
The first six months have passed and in this phase grapes have been packaged for two customers, including The Greenery. From mid March to the end of May the pilot line has gone through large technical improvement and the line has now been installed again in Hazeldonk, at partner IQ Packing.
The automation degree is needed to get a packaging cost that is so attractive for grape exporters in overseas countries that they have the grapes packaged in the Netherlands.
From phase 1 to phase 2.
The first phase from December to the present was and is about realising top quality and a technical through development. The goal is to have scaled up the capacity to 3600 punnets per hour at the start of the coming overseas season. The line will then also be prepared for expansion with a top seal packaging line. In the third and final phase, expected to be 2017, the line will be made suitable for other packaging innovations such as a carton variation of the punnet.
"Packaging grapes in the Netherlands means that the customer-order-decoupling point is extended from the country of origin to the Netherlands," explains Peter Nieuwkerk. "Retailers want to decide what packaging they offer the product to the consumer in as late as possible. If grapes are imported prepackaged, it's like the T-Ford: you can pick anything, as long as it's in a 500 gram punnet. This will now definitely change."
The automated line, combined with an increasing optimisation of the chain, make it possible to package the grapes in the Netherlands with increasing care. This has various advantages:
grapes can be imported unpackaged, which means 30% more kilos go into a reefer transport;
the time consuming checking of prepackaged product after arrival, is now done directly at the packaging line. Bad product is therefore not packaged;
the customer specific labeling is done with the packaging line inline and so doesn't need extra handling;
by packaging in the Netherlands it will soon be possible to offer grapes in packaging innovations. The first sketches have already been drawn up. Think of special packagings for sweet grapes or seedless grapes so that they become easier and more recognisable for the consumer.
