TRADE AND MARKETING Dutch cleaning technology T he British agricultural entrepreneur Martin Cockerill made no secret of the fact that his business is all about the potato. Cockerill, the Potato People, is the company slogan you see everywhere around you at the various business locations near York. ‘We’re proud that we have a top position among other small packers in the United Kingdom’, he writes on his own website. It is December and that means rush hour. We therefore hardly get to see or speak to the owner/director. A brief telephone conversation first and a firm handshake and a hasty greeting on the spot are the only contact moments with the busy bee. During this hectic month, the mobile phone is his most important companion. He uses it to keep track of the potato flows, and the visitors who are allowed to take a look at Cockerill’s modern packing station. Whilst the crop farming branch is still lifting the last potatoes from the plots in the last days of the year, the small-packaging branch is working at high speed to complete the extra orders before Christmas. 4 shifts 24/7 In the meantime, Cockerill has drummed up Dave Elvidge for a tour around the packaging station. From his office on the first floor, the operations manager is able to keep an eye on all the activities around the four pillow-pack lines. In order to inspect the activities from close by, we go down to the work-place where forklift trucks with loaded pallets rush by from the packaging lines to the loading station. That’s where Cockerill’s own lorries (The Potato People) are waiting to transport the potatoes to supermarkets throughout Great Britain. From York, this is ideal, because a company can hardly be situated more centrally in this country. Every week, 1,500 tons of packaged produce leaves the plant, from sophisticated table potatoes to sturdy bakers, Elvidge shows us. This market is still growing. We recently installed a complete new line with the latest weighing and packaging equipment. The potatoes are still being checked manually and the filling of the boxes and pallets is also not yet automated. To keep the work going 24/7, Elvidge works with 4 shifts. Each shift consists of 52 people, engineers included. Renewed focus on quality What strikes me while going round is that there is a great deal of attention to quality. The packaging line includes checks at several points in the line. At the packaging machine, a staff member does random inspections taking bags from the conveyor belt to check for defects, numbers and weight. She notes down every defect she finds. One step further in the packaging trajectory, a complete shelf unit has been filled with potato samples. From each delivered lot, Cockerill keeps back a bag for each customer. The contents of those bags are monitored for a few days. In doing this, they imitate the storage period and conditions on the shop shelves. If, for example, a customer reports rot in a bag, Cockerill can check whether that same problem is found in his own samples. It also works the other way round, Elvidge tells us. If we see the contents of a bag rapidly deteriorating, we warn the customer. ‘If he has the same problem, we recall that specific lot.’ From boulder to pebble Before the table potatoes are sent to the packaging line, they are first washed and graded. This is also done with the latest equipment. The washing and grading lines are placed in a nearby shed, but Cockerill is also well equipped at a second location. The company has recently invested in a complete, ultramodern destoning/washing and grading installation from the Dutch company Tummers Methodic in Hoogerheide. It’s Richard Hart who gives us a detailed explanation here. He tells us that they not only wash and de-stone potatoes for the packaging company, but also the lots that are destined for the Lays crisps plant. That takes place at the Barmby Moor location. The number of tons of potatoes that goes through the tunnel washer increases every year. ‘We’ve been using a Botman washer and de-stoner since 2001. A fantastic machine, but it can no longer cope Potato World 2014 • number 4 25 Pagina 24
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