Project
NIRAS assisted in the construction of a new packaging line for Farm Frites in The Netherlands. The company is a leading producer of processed potato fries with sales in 100 countries. (Photo: Piqsels)
Farm Frites is a Dutch producer of processed potato fries, and with five production locations, the company is a world player in the fries production market.
Since the family business first came up with the idea to process home-grown potatoes in 1968, the company has continued its growth and innovation.
Changes in Farm Frites’ processing meant that more and more fries were being produced. The increased production of fries consequently lead to a demand for more packaging capacity, and the need for a new packaging line in the Netherlands.
NIRAS is present in the Netherlands through the Dutch company VMEngineering (VME), which since 2018 has formed part of the NIRAS Group. VME are experts in packaging lines, and VME’s experts assisted Farm Frites as part of the project team.
VME’s knowledge of packaging and packaging lines was being applied to in order to increase the capacity of the production facility in Oudenhoorn.
Four existing lines were already carrying out the packaging of 25 tonnes of fries per hour, but the line had to be adapted to be able to handle 40 tonnes per hour. This represented an increase of 60 % of the packaging capacity.
Farm Frites was determined that the new line had to fit the existing lines. Furthermore, all requests had to be made with preferred suppliers and the team had to take an urgent deadline into account.
One of challenges was the realization and commissioning. Farm Frites’ production method means that there is little time in which the machines do not run. Therefore there is also a limited time frame in which to modify the installations.
Despite these challenges, the project team members, including the VME’s experts, managed to improve installations within the time frame under the guidance of different project team members, including NIRAS' expert.
Furthermore, the renewal created a partly still unknown way of working for the employees of Farm Frites. During commissioning, the Farm Frites project team was able to provide new information and enriched the current knowledge of working methods.
In addition to the capacity requirement, several project objectives have been achieved. The project was realized within budget and within the recommended timeline. In order to reach these targets, precise agreements were made with suppliers.
VME is happy to take on the role of summing-up specifications, possibilities, limits, costs and other factors. On the basis of this, thorough choices and ultimately agreements can be made.
Due to the completed project, Farm Frites is now able to package even a larger amount of its products in bags and in boxes for later distribution on pallets.
NIRAS is present in the Netherlands through the Dutch company VMEngineering (VME), which since 2018 has formed part of the NIRAS Group.
VME is based in The Netherlands and offers expert consultancy to the food and beverage industry within areas such Hygienic Design, Digital Design, Process and Packaging engineering, as well as the accompanying project management. In line with the rest of NIRAS, VME design according to the most recent guidelines, codes and standards of hygiene and quality.
Farm Frites is a Dutch company that was founded in 1971 by Gerrit de Bruijne. The company is still owned and run by the family. Presently the company have factories in the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Egypt and Argentina, and a new production plant is set to open in China. The company produces a variety of 82 different products, it has sales offices in 43 countries, and it sells its products in 100 countries. In 2001 Farm Frites exceeded a production of 500,000 tonnes.
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