New Deprez – Kortemark location has festive opening

Last Friday and Saturday saw the festive opening of the Belgian company, Deprez's, new location. On Friday it was the official opening for employees, clients, and suppliers. On Saturday, family and friends were invited to the new site in the Belgian town of Kortemark. On Friday, the company's founder, Johan Deprez, took to the floor and thanked everyone for their trust. He also clearly underlined the company's four values - Creativity, Ambition, Respect, and Excellence. Then, Deprez's son, Jeroen Deprez, had nothing but praise for the company's employees and partners. Belgian Deputy Prime Minister, Hilde Crevits and Kortemark's Mayor, Toon Vancoillie, talked about the growth of this company and the opening of its new location.

"Companies in the food industry are increasing in size. That is why the total solutions we offer are changing. For fries businesses, we build plants that can receive, wash, and sort 100 tons of potatoes per line. For companies that wash and package potatoes, we prefer to provide a plant with a capacity of about 30 tons per line", says Johan Deprez. The main part of the business is focused on the potato, carrot, and onion sector. Their other activities are aimed at dry bulk goods and crushing and sorting plants in the recycling sector. "We have gained experience in bulk processing of up to 1.000 tons/hr. We put this experience to good use in finding solutions for the agricultural sector."

The company started in 1984 as Deprez Agri. Today, Deprez has expanded into a company with 70 people on its payroll. Johan Deprez began his business in his small garage with the development of a potato fall breaker. Over the years, the company's focus has increasingly shifted to total solution projects. "In our field, the main thing is to listen to the client. We aim to deliver a solution. This is only possible if we listen but also help think of the best solution", says Johan. Belgium remains Deprez's largest sales market. It is followed by the Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom. They also occasionally do business in Spain and the USA and have delivered their first solution in Australia. "It is only in Germany that we are not that active yet."

One of the biggest trends within the sector is the new way of sorting. "Before, they only worked with shaker sorting machines. Now, in the fresh market, almost only optical sorting machines are being integrated into the plants", explains Deprez. The company does not build these machines itself. Their clients are free to choose whichever machines best suits their needs. "The client's solution comes first. We realize this by using our extensive knowledge, developing innovative solutions, and using employees with years of experience." The company is continuously evolving as the projects increase in size. "The potato companies are completely professionalized these days. Some of these businesses are taking an ever-increasing market share. The size of the projects has only grown in recent years. As a supplier, you have to grow with your clients."

 

For the third time, Deprez moved to its new location in Kortemark. The site is 6 hectares in size. "We are very pleased with this large area. We now have the possibility to expand even more. The new building is 14m high and has the latest production machines. The internal logistics have been planned to the finest detail for maximum efficiency. There is also a fully automated parts warehouse which will help us be even more efficient. In this way we are able to develop our own solution to offer our clients for their fully automated box storage", concludes Johan.

For more information:

Johan Deprez

129A Lichterveldestraat

8610 Kortemark

Tel +32 (0) 51 58 14 91