g TRADE AND MARKETING m the field to the supermarket’ ‘At any rate, I don’t expect much restraint in the short term where Russian orders are concerned. It might become more bothersome in the long term.’ market. When you start packaging, you must also speed up the process, otherwise the potatoes will be rotten before they’ve reached the shop shelves. That’s what we tell the customer. Potatoes should be in the shop within two days after washing. The working speed in the packaging line ought to be geared to that. So, we tell them which capacity suits his needs. What you see a lot in Russia, also with this customer, is that the storehouses are situated at a great distance from each other. And it can be very cold in those regions, minus 20 degrees Celsius is no exception, how are you going to arrange transport? Big temperature fluctuations are not good, definitely not for a washed product. So we don’t simply go ahead and prepare a line, but point out to the customers where the problems lie, and we try to help them choose. We can fill in most of the lines with the Manter weighing and packaging machines and the Bijlsma Hercules hoppers, graders and conveyor belts. Additional machines such as washers, polishers and trimmers come from manufacturers with whom we have a strategic alliance.’ Who decides about the definitive packaging line? ‘That’s what we do. We often draw the complete lines in the offer stage ourselves. We do that here. After consulting with the customer, we start with a 2D drawing first, because that’s quicker than a 3D drawing. Speed is of the essence, because the customers like a quick offer after having consulted with us. Especially the Russians really appreciate that. The 3D drawing is made at a later stage to show the customer exactly how the line fits his building. These drawings are made in consultation with our suppliers and they are also the basis for the production drawings.’ g lines. That’s ultimately the reason why we created a special branch for that within Consumers took the quantity they wanted themselves. Naturally, they always picked out the best ones, which means they were always left with a considerable lot of damaged or rotten potatoes. They don’t want that anymore. Like in Western Europe, they want everything packaged in bags, only with the nicely-washed product. Our Russian customer saw a good opportunity for delivering this way. The next step was that he contacted us and then you go and see that a customer and talk everything through with him.’ What sort of a conversation is that? ‘The first question is usually: what does your customer, the supermarket, want? What size bags, how many varieties: 1, 2.5 or 5 kilograms, do they want their own logo on the bags, and what else? In addition, it’s also important to know the market. The throughput is usually low in Russia. Because of a poor infrastructure, it takes too long for a potato to reach the superWhat sort of questions do you get from your customers? ‘That rather depends on the country. From Poland, we’re currently receiving the most questions from big potato growers, who usually want to start packaging table potatoes in their own sheds. Due to the rapid rise in supermarkets and the resulting demand for a good product, big potato growers usually start packing themselves. This is mostly about installing suitable lines in smallish spaces. We gear to their circumstances. We recently had a customer, who had a very limited space for a grader. Bijlsma Hercules has a lot of experience with custom-made installations. They came up with a solution on different levels, with a stacked weigher, packaging machine, grader, and inspection table and a hopper right on top. We mostly sell custom-made solutions to countries such as SlovaKia, the Czech Republic, the Balkan countries and Romania. Sometimes only grading lines, but also an increasing number of washing, weighing and packaging machines. And Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine mostly ask for big lines. Often not only for potatoes, but they sometimes also want a complete Potato World 2014 • number 2 5 Pagina 4
Pagina 6Scoor meer met een e-commerce shop in uw artikelen. Velen gingen u voor en publiceerden onderwijs magazines online.
Potatoworld 2014/2 Lees publicatie 32Home