Jan Strijbos started at the Dutch company VH Vertical Packaging at the beginning of this month. Jan, a packaging industry veteran, is very motivated to begin working for VH. "I'm very much looking forward to it. I feel 25 again, although that was a while ago," Jan begins, laughing. He started in the packaging industry in 1990. "I was at Multipond for 12 years. Then I worked for a Danish company for a year and then at Prins Verpakkingstechniek for 19 years, the last 18 months under the Rovema flag."
"I've known VH for about 20 years, and despite them being competitors of sorts, I've always had a good relationship with them. A while ago, Freek Jacobs, VH's managing director, asked me to join them. I had to think about it for a bit, but we eventually agreed to work together. I think VH's working method and machine quality suit me well and I want to take on this challenge," Jan explains.
He says VH Vertical Packaging is distinctive on the market for several reasons. "For one thing, the in-house developed and built Centurion vertical packaging machine excels. It's compact with extremely stable controls/software, exceptionally high uptime, and is easy to operate. Anyone can learn to use this machine in no time."
"Also, the company's represented Velteko in the Benelux for many years, adding another A-brand packaging machine with a highly diverse range of packaging models to its Centurion. VH genuinely specializes in vertical packaging and wants to work precisely customer-specific," Jan continues.
Jan will represent VH at INTERPOM next week. "I have plenty of experience with unpeeled, fresh, and frozen potatoes. I can now combine that expertise with VH's power to quickly implement new developments and adapt the machines to ever-new market demands. Thus, we can offer machines with better output and packaging end results without having to have a highly-trained operator working the machine."
"Handling paper is particularly problematic for the market. VH can solve, or at least ensure, much better line efficiency for that ongoing trend. Our packaging machines are sturdy, so they need far less maintenance. Plus, for the IQF (French fries) potato industry, VH has developed an IQF sealing system called OMNI seal for low-maintenance PE film processing," says Jan.
He considers handling sustainable packaging materials the biggest development in the engineering world. "The trick is to design machines that have virtually no downtime, and that can easily be serviced remotely," Jan concludes. VH generally focuses on the food industry.
Its specific focus is the cheese/dairy, confectionery, fruit and vegetables, frozen foods, pet food, and meat/fish sectors. But its machines can be used for many more products. VH focuses, area-wise, on Benelux, the DACH region, France, and Spain; it is, however, expanding to other parts of the world, too, for example, Australia, North and South America, China, Dubai, and the United Kingdom.
For more information:
Jan Strijbos
VH Vertical Packaging
15 Marconilaan
6003 DD, Weert, NL
Mob: + 31 (0) 657 865 359
Email: j.strijbos@vhnl.com
Website: www.vhnl.com