The order books are full. With our growing product range of asparagus, carrot and pineapple peeling machines and all the peripherals, we are currently receiving many national and international orders," Christoph Wolter reports. "I believe that the minimum wage increase of +25% under discussion is certainly pushing many processors to buy our products. With the vertical peeling machines, re-peeling is now no longer necessary. Also, significantly less personnel is needed to operate the machine."
It is particularly important to the managing director of HEPRO® Ltd to ensure outstanding service and thus a worry-free workflow for all customers. "Thanks to our early planning -in the spring of this year- our machine production will be completed on time by the end of the year. We might fit in one or two orders before the start of the 2022 asparagus season. We always try to be one step ahead of the market and have thus been able to please every customer with a new machine so far."
Left: Hepro CEO Christoph Wolter. Right: the "pina-to-go family" consisting of the pineapple peeling machine and the ice box from Hepro.
Award and cooperation
Hepro was particularly pleased to receive the Innovation Award. Hepro Ltd has been awarded the certificate "Germany's Innovation Leader" by the F.A.Z. Institute in the category "Food & its treatment (including machines or devices, peeling of vegetables or fruits in large quantities)".
"This award motivates us, as a medium-sized company to continue on our chosen path, constantly searching for new ideas," says Christoph Wolter. "The demands and feedback of our customers have always been and will always be our driving force. In the next two years, groundbreaking innovations in the fruit and vegetable sector are yet to come."
Requests for asparagus and pineapple peeling machines have also risen sharply in Switzerland over the past two years. As a result, Hepro has established a new service network in Switzerland with its Swiss partner ULTRAMATIC AG. Since the summer of 2021, the customer has had a contact person directly on site in Switzerland - for advice and service.
"In addition to the new support option for our Swiss customers, we have also expanded the peeling machine business internationally in Southern Europe (with a focus on Spain) and Scandinavia over the past three years." The first peeling machines will leave Hepro for Eastern Europe before the end of December.
Service as a trademark
"With the wide product range, it's always fun to explore new markets and connect with customers worldwide. In 2021 alone, we successfully placed a large amount of pineapple peeling machines within German food retail."
The top priority for the family-owned company remains the famous 'Hepro service'. "Being on site within a maximum of 48 hours is not just a slogan, but a promise. A mechanical failure can always happen, no matter how well the machine is designed. That's why our top priority is to provide our customers with impeccable service and a fluid supply of spare parts - from Peru, to Switzerland, to China," says Christoph Wolter.
Thanks to the new year-round workload and a strong pan-European service network, Hepro can take advantage of the company's size and plan enough capacity and manpower for on-site service.
Preparing for the 2022 asparagus season
Team Hepro is ready for the 2022 asparagus season. Bottlenecks in material supply could be eliminated by early purchasing: "We are ready! This week we will still be in Finland. Next week, we will be looking forward to personal contacts with our asparagus clients at the 'expoSE' 2021 in Karlsruhe. There, we will also present a novelty in the asparagus sector. This novel system will eventually be used by almost all growers in the future," says a well-motivated and extremely confident Wolter.
For more information:
Hepro GmbH
Mareen Protte
Tel: +49 5242 57979-31
Fax: +49 5242 57979-631
mprotte@hepro-gmbh.de
www.hepro-gmbh.de