Diepop and Precia Molen

Cold storage and handling company Diepop, based in the Dutch city of Waalwijk, processes ten million boxes of potato products and snacks each year. To safeguard the company’s quality at such high speed, a fully bespoke weighing and metal detection machine from Precia Molen has been added to the line. This allows Diepop to guarantee its customers optimal food safety.

Once every half hour, manager Til de Voogd places a piece of metal on top of a box of frozen potato waffles. Within a matter of seconds, there’s a soft thud and the box lands in the channel next to the machine. The same happens when Til sabotages a box by removing a waffle from it: thud! “We run a high-speed production line and this machine makes it easy to eliminate risks,” she says.

Ultimate food safety

Diepop’s is a fairly new entrant into cold bulk storage and the packing of snacks and potato products. The company now packs potato waffles for a major UK customer. In response to the high industry demands placed on the packing process for that product, Diepop opted for ultimate food safety and purchased a weighing and metal detection machine in September 2013. The machine was made entirely to measure by Precia Molen. Director Leo Kwak explains: “Despite preventive measures, it’s nevertheless possible for a foreign object to end up among the waffles, such as a screw, piece of metal or the tip of a blade. It virtually never happens, but in order to avoid the risk of claims it is a must to keep a very careful check on quality. The machine wasn’t cheap, but it works excellently. Furthermore, Precia Molen went the extra mile to ensure that every part of the process is optimally aligned with the rest.” Precia Molen was the obvious choice, says Leo: “The company has a good reputation in the industry. This machine is bespoke and its dimensions have been designed to fit into our line precisely,” continues the 67-year-old director.

Checkweigher type CKW 700
Features and specifications:
Front operation; a reject system; conveyor width of 340 mm; automatic ejection mechanism (pusher) for underweight or overweight; two reject bins which can be closed on both sides; possible to record the quality data from the checkweigher and metal detector via the company IT network (TCP/IP network).

Wet and dry

The company Diepop – whose name is an amalgamation of the Dutch words for frozen (‘diepvries’) and storage (‘opslag’) – was founded several decades ago. Leo Kwak: “Traditionally, we offer cold storage services for all kinds of products, from meat to medical supplies. Last year, in consultation with our clients, we decided to separate our ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ storage. All wet storage activities, such as meats and meat-based products, were transferred to our facility in Den Bosch, while all dry items remained in Waalwijk. We sold our facility in Den Bosch in February of this year.”

‘A new weighing and metal detection machine for ultimate food safety’

Optimal

Over the past five years, Diepop has optimised three production lines and installed one completely new line. Products are packed non-stop by a wide variety of operators, with Til de Voogd coordinating everything down to the finest detail. She is continually looking for new ways of improving the process while also making the work easier or more comfortable for her team. “Employees wear double gloves as protection against the cold, stand on rubber floor mats to help prevent back problems and switch places every so often.” The constant refinement of the process clearly pays off. Til: “We’re now producing 40 boxes per minute compared with just 28 per minute last year.”

Great care

Leo Kwak: “The advantage of specialisation is that we’re at the forefront of our segment: storage and packing. We have also received BRC and SKAL certification.” Yet specialisation also carries a risk, he says: “The current market is susceptible to fluctuations, in terms of both volumes and the duration of storage. Gone are the days when large quantities were stored in the same location for long periods of time. We now have to be able to respond to whatever the market needs; tailor-made solutions are in demand.”

www.diepop.nl

The heart of the process
Scale, in whatever shape or form, are at the heart of many processes in the food industry, believes Precia Molen. “Scales are like a main artery which has to function well in order for the whole process to run optimally. And if it does not, it will soon impact on the results. A mistake in the formulation or too little or too much packaged product will affect the ultimate quality. Furthermore, it will have direct consequences for the costs and hence also the profit. We draw on our knowledge, experience and extensive product range to create the ideal weighing solution for every situation to keep the heart of the production process beating steadily.”

www.preciamolen.nl