Platform for the food and beverage industry
PolarPack, located in Waalwijk, specializes in repackaging bulk frozen foods into small consumer packages. General Manager Jan Voets welcomes us warmly. The warm conversation contrasts sharply with the rather cold nature of this company's operations.
In 1980, Nico Rombouts founded a family business under the name "Rombouts Food International," a wholesaler that purchased products in large volumes and then sold them on a margin. In 2010, the business model changed with the merger with frozen food specialist "van Rijsingen. This created the company 'Froster', a full service logistics provider for frozen foods in the Benelux.
Jan explains exactly what that full service entails: "Froster basically does something that no one else does: relieve the customer of as many worries as possible. The company has as many as 20,000 storage locations for frozen pallets of which our customers rent a piece and pay us to take care of their entire back office. This can even go as far as monitoring their stock. By the way, the products stored here remain the property of our customers. Our customers' buyers order directly from us and also pay us. We, in turn, pay our customers and deduct the cost of our logistics services. It really is a unique model."
The repackaging of products also fits into that full service model: "There was a growing demand among Froster's customers to deliver products in bulk and leave the repackaging into smaller consumer packaging to them. In 2017, it was decided to set up a specific packaging activity alongside Froster's logistics activities. Sister company 'PolarPack' was born!"
The machines in PolarPack's production hall are all new. This was a conscious choice to avoid breakdowns and to be as independent as possible from external technical services. Jan says: "It was my job to set up the packaging activity and to shape both the layout of the premises and the machinery required. We invested a lot in automation. So we started with one packaging line four years ago and have since grown to about six lines. We currently employ 25 to 30 people who work partly in two shifts. The complexity of repackaging is something that many people underestimate. Packing is often the most complicated part of the entire production process. It takes up the most space and requires a lot of flexibility and organization with all those different films, boxes and labels. In short, the life of a co-packer is anything but easy!"
Two years ago, van Rijsingen asked PolarPack if they could fill organic frozen vegetables for them in boxes that then needed to be bundled. Jan continues: "We wanted to do this as efficiently as possible with as few personnel as possible. At first we decided to rent a shrink tunnel that only took care of shrinking the film. So we still had to bundle manually. Soon we were talking about three to four million boxes on an annual basis so after only a few months of renting, it became clear that a purchase was more interesting than continuing to rent. Since it is a waste to employ someone who only makes bundles, we therefore started looking for an alternative solution that combines both operations."
Previously, PolarPack purchased from Presa Already an Audion walk-through sealer D552 AVTS for sealing one-kilo bags. "Since we are quite loyal to our suppliers, we again came to Presa right for this bundle shrink project. The bundle packer FE 800V AU RC 90°X2 from LP Packaging proved to be an extremely suitable solution for this purpose. The LP Packaging bundle packaging line was now commissioned about a year ago and is currently running at an output of five to six bundles per minute. This for sixteen hours a day, five days out of seven. The machine bundles the boxes of frozen vegetables in six or eight, with the overall width of a bundle being about 40 to 45 cm."
PolarPack runs the bundle packaging line with just three people. One person fills the multihead, one person stacks the bundles and one person carries the products off and on: "We really like the bundle packer a lot. In other lines, for example, we need an extra person. In the beginning, some things had to be adjusted, which was all nicely solved by the technician of Presa. After only a few days, the machine was already running at full speed."
The LP Packaging bundle packaging machine rarely, if ever, suffers from breakdowns: "Only the occasional program creation for a new box, that's all it takes. We work with the same type of film in two different widths, and the film change goes very smoothly. Because we are talking about such large volumes, we basically run one type of product per week. Which of course is fantastic for setting up the machine!"
Because of the enormous price increases and the ever longer delivery times for cardboard, PolarPack has prepared itself well: "We have deliberately already programmed a number of additional products into the bundling machine. Should there be a shortage of cardboard or should prices continue to rise to such an extent, we can perfectly offer customers a decent, cheaper alternative with shrink film. Moreover, this way we avoid coming to a standstill."
Jan is pleased with the cooperation with Presa: "I always look for a specialist with whom I click and who I think is really there for us when we call. A supplier who understands what we are doing and who realizes that we might ask a bit more than someone else because we don't all have technicians walking around in-house. So I want to be able to count on an expert who tells us exactly what we need to do to avoid the line coming to a standstill unnecessarily. Presa certainly lives up to those expectations."
