"The market is shifting away from net packaging toward paper solutions," says Kees den Boer of Den Boer Agri. This Dutch company specialized in importing and supplying machines and complete lines for the fruit and vegetable processing sector. It has now introduced its first fully automated paper bagger in the Benelux.
Paper bagger
"We already had several semi-automated solutions to respond to the ever-increasing shift to sustainable package. But the packaging machine from Polish manufacturer KMK is entirely automated." Den Boer Agri is the exclusive distributor of KMK Machinery in the Benelux, Northern Germany, and Canada. "The first machines have already been satisfactorily delivered in Poland, and we're now bringing these to the Benelux."
The company is doing this by demonstrating it at events like the upcoming 'Aardappeldemodag' (potato demo day) in the Netherlands. "We'll be displaying this machine and the new Multihead weighing machine. We've had this weighing machine in our product range for some time," explains Kees.
"However, now there's a new model with increased capacity, thanks to a new weighing bin construction, new weighing technology, and software development. The weighing machine determines portion size and communicates that to the packaging machine, which then packages those portions."
Multihead weighing machine
Den Boer Agri was founded in 2014 and quickly entered into an exclusive partnership with KMK Machinery. "It was love at first sight, and that relationship's still going strong," says Kees. "We, like everyone else, had a tough time during the pandemic. But KMK quickly switched gears with, for example, the availability of electronics. They built up large stocks of these fairly quickly, so we never had any major problems with deliveries."
"About 30% of KMK's sales are in Eastern Europe. Those deliveries are pretty much at a standstill, although Ukraine is starting to revive a little. That means some production capacity has been freed up, which, as bad as it sounds, benefited us. Plus, many of our customers are into local products, which continue to run well."
That the war in Ukraine weighs heavily on Kees is evident in his many collection campaigns for those affected by it. He, for instance, began a goods collection campaign for Ukraine fairly soon after the war started. "Currently, however, we're focusing on raising money to buy ambulances and send them to Ukraine," he says. "They have plenty of goods, but they still need money. We've managed to purchase two ambulances already and are keeping it going."
"Since the war isn't in the news so much anymore, the willingness to give has noticeably diminished somewhat. That's logical - life goes on. Still, many people continue to give. And several companies have sponsored the initiative, and several foundations are working with us. That's enabled us to achieve some nice results. And, for now, the campaigning won't stop. I started it back then and feel obligated to continue," concludes Kees.
The 'Aardappeldemodag', where Den Boer Agri will be demonstrating its machines, will be on August 31 in Westmaas. You can register and receive a free entry ticket on www.aardappeldemodag.nl.
For more information or donations:
Kees den Boer
Den Boer Agri
Tel: +31 (0) 617 036 858
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.denboeragri.nl