"Fresh Center Den Hoorn". That's what a group of men call their new DC in Den Hoorn, the Netherlands. They're Harry van den Hout of Trofi Pack and Trofi's Marc de Naeyer. Then there's Marco Dächer of Van der Helm and Menno Reijgersberg of Fresh4U. "We've been combining our expertise since we met. We have this in the exotics and grape business. We've gained this experience over the last decades. We've now pooled this in this new building. We now have all our activities under one roof. We can help retailers from A to Z," they say.
Marco Dächer, Menno Reijgersberg, Marc de Naeyer, and Harry van den Hout.
The new DC not only has space for 3,000 pallets and refrigeration rooms. It also has ripening cells which can fit 500 more pallets. The building became operational at the beginning of April. That was in the middle of the first weeks of the Dutch coronavirus outbreak. "It took us two weeks to move our machinery. But, our clients noticed nothing," says Harry. He's proud of his team that achieved this. "We've already noticed that the new building has contributed significantly to the team's cohesion. The space and facilities will certainly boost production."
Trofipack and Van der Helm built this new DC on the Harnaschpolder business park. That's in Den Hoorn, which is strategically placed closed to the A4 highway in the Netherlands. Partners, Trofi, BeeOrganic, ABC Fresh, and Fresh4U are also located in the building. "Trofi has been working well with Menno Reijgersberg and his team for several years. This concerns sweet potato packaging. That inspired the need for a new, independent packaging company. And so Fresh4U was born," explains Harry.
"We now have access to many possibilities," Menno Reijgersberg. "These are for packaging products from the whole fruit and vegetable range for third parties. We offer clients all kinds of packaging solutions." Menno calls the new DC's location perfect. "We can already see it draws more attention. We're close to the harbor. We're also not far from Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Utrecht. Schiphol's close-by too. So, we'll be more attractive for air freight streams as well."
"Here, clients have access to a single hub. We take care of all their needs. From sea freight to transportation, customs clearance, packaging, and order picking. That's what I've always wanted," adds Marc de Naeyer. "The moment a container of mangoes is placed on a ship in Brazil, our antennae go up. The client can also decide which service he wants. We have short internal lines. Thanks to this, we can make great strides in efficiency. Our strength lies in cooperation. After all, every minute costs money."
"Having all the disciplines in one spot benefits everyone. At Trofi, we can, for example, focus on our core business - importing overseas fruit. Trofi Pack and Fresh4U are our eyes and ears in the warehouse. They know which containers to pack first. That's the advantage of being close to the goods. We've grown in that sense. But, at the same time, we've remained small. I'm convinced we need to return to basics in our sector. You must be able to see, smell, and touch the wares. A spreadsheet can't replace that. Fruit and vegetables will never be soda cans."
Trofi's partner, Van der Helm, is a logistics service provider in the broadest sense of the word. "It might be multi-modular (refrigerated) transportation or customs formalities. Or it might be phytosanitary inspections, cross-docking, or (refrigerated) storage. Whatever it might be, this partnership allows us to offer a complete logistics package. We also have supplementary services. All this, in the area of fruit and vegetable supply chain management," says sales and marketing manager, Marco Dächer.
"We've been doing documentation and customs clearing for Trofi for several years. We'd now like to offer these services to other fruit and vegetable companies too. We've noticed that businesses like having this taken off their hands. There's simply a lot of expertise involved. There's compiling temporary import and export documents. And inspecting and clearing products. Then, there's applying for permits and organizing internal audits of customs processes too."
Trofi Pack has 40 permanent employees. They also have 40 to 70 casual workers. Their staff wants for nothing. "I see attracting and keeping good employees as the single biggest challenge. You can't do that with €100 salary increases. That's why we look more at the little extras. Such as an office gym. We had that in our previous building too. But, this one's bigger. That's how it should be too. What we've established here is a piece of our lives' work. Moving again isn't an option," concludes Harry van den Hout.
For more information:
Trofi Pack
Harry van der Hout
10 Harnaschdreef
2635 BT, Den Hoorn, NL
Tel: +31 (0) 174 266 100
Email: h.vdhout@trofipack.nl
Website: www.trofipack.nl
Trofi
Marc De Naeyer
10 Harnaschdreef
2635 BT, Den Hoorn, NL
Tel: +31 (0) 180 330 822
Fax: +31 (0) 180 631 424
Email: marc_de_naeyer@trofi.nl
Website: www.trofi.de
Van der Helm
Marco Dächer
12 Harnaschdreef
2635 BT, Den Hoorn, NL
Tel: +31 (0) 102 995 622
Email: m.dacher@vdhelm.com
Website: www.vanderhelmlogistics.com
Fresh4U
Menno Reijgersberg
10 Harnaschdreef
2635 BT, Den Hoorn, NL
Tel: +31 (0) 152 007 070
Email: info@fresh4upacking.nl
Website: www.fresh4upacking.nl
Beeorganic
Mike Reuselaars
10 Harnaschdreef
2635 BT, Den Hoorn, NL
Tel: +31 (0) 180 330 828
Email: mike@beeorganic.org
ABC Fresh
Job van der Molen
10 Harnaschdreef
2635 BT, Den Hoorn, NL
Tel: +31 (0) 850 580 065
Fax: +31 (0) 850 580 069
Email: job@abcfresh.de
Website: www.abcfresh.de