The packaging side includes a lot more than you would initially suspect. Packaging obviously includes safeguarding products from external influences in order to ensure quality. The packaging itself is also an essential part of the preservation process because a protective gaseous atmosphere is added to the packs. Packs do not contain normal air but a mixture of carbon dioxide and nitrogen with which an oxygen-free atmosphere is created that inhibits bacterial growth.
The correct weighing and filling, moreover, during packaging of the quantities per pack based on the e-mark is also a very important business issue. Packaging and labelling makes the product recognisable and identifiable to ensure the end product can be immediately traced to the fishing or farming areas the product originated from and to the quality and processing parameters of the shrimp in that pack. After the packs have been sealed, they are subjected to a metal detection process. Packaging is, therefore, a labour intensive and complex process that involves more than seventy employees at the factory.
All cooked fresh products will be located on the first floor before they are packaged. Because we use this method, packaging will not involve conveyor belts that need to take the product to the weighing and filling systems. We use a special advanced mechanised product filling system. The system prevents a lot of product spillage and contamination. The shrimp is packaged by ten packaging machines in large and small jars in brine, in large and small bags with a protective atmosphere and in vacuum forming machines that produce plastic trays with a protective atmosphere.
Heiploeg also supplies frozen products that can be produced in both large packs for industrial customers and in smaller packs. Three machine lines have been set up to produce large packs. Customers can chose from boxes of up to 20 kilos or plastic crates of up to 15 kg. The shrimp will be placed in a sealed plastic bag. The boxes are automatically folded and provided with an inner bag at a separate department. Next, the boxes are taken to the correct location using lifts. By using this method, intensive contact with people and packaging material is avoided. The presence of cardboard near the products is also sidestepped by using this method. As well as using these three large packaging lines, there are another two packaging lines for frozen products. These lines produce bags that vary from 200 g to 1000 g as consumer packs and larger bags of up to 5 kg for industrial customers.
Packaging is a part of the business, distribution and logistics process at Heiploeg. Packaging and labelling that includes information about the shelf-life is, after all, specific in relation to the order of the customer. Packaging is really the final preparation of the order and is immediately followed by distribution. Shrimp will not be waiting for customers and customers will not be waiting for shrimp. The orders are prepared and sent on the very same day to other locations in the Netherlands or to Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and many more countries. Heiploeg’s own transportation division is responsible for transportation: Heitrans
