"US vegetable cutting companies are increasingly automating"

During the PMA in Orlando Wim van der Meulen of GKS Packaging presented its packaging machines to the American market.

A move to new premises, planned for the coming months, shows that business is good for this producer of vertical shaping, filling, sealing and complete weighing and packaging lines. "At the end of November we will be moving from Son to a building in Eindhoven with double the production space. We are ready for the future."

"GKS supplies machines to the global market for vegetable cutters via Kronen. We started the subsidiary, Kronen Crop, with new management for the United States, focusing on the middle segment of this market," says Wim. According to him, this middle layer has a considerable share. "The top segment is dominated by a number of giants, but there are still countless small and medium sized companies that cater for the restaurant, institutional market and care homes in the region."

"Competition comes both from the local machine producers and the well known European players. There is also a Chinese supply of machines for those who don't want to invest much," says Wim. Yet Kronen can still sell its machines. "Not just on the North American market, but also in South America. We have already placed the necessary machines and complete lines in Mexico, Cuba and Chile, and here at the PMA I received an order from Peru. In Canada we supplied a nice installation for iceberg/romaine lettuce earlier this year."

The difference between the European and American market is that there has already been a wave in automation in Europe. "It is still mostly semi automatic in America, so more guidance is needed in the purchasing course. Often clients start very basic. In Europe efficiency is the key word. Here they are moving from chaos to efficiency. This is why our philosophy is to keep the machine as simple as possible. The machine has to be able to adjust from small to large sizes quickly and simply. It is often the people who used to package by hand who have to control the machine."

Cut vegetables packers form the bulk of the businesses that Van der Meulen supplies. "But really we supply machines for everything, from unprocessed vegetables to non-food and pet food," says the producer. "We design and develop the entire machine ourselves and build in a modular manner. This means that 80% of the machine is standard and made to stock, whilst the last 20% is customer specific. This means we can supply customer specific machines with short delivery times!"

For more information:
GKS Packaging
Ekkersrijt 7308
5692 HH Son
Tel: 0031 (0) 499-463011
w.vandermeulen@gkspackaging.com
www.gkspackaging.com