Dutchman Ruud Vincent moved to Warsaw at the age of 25 with €2,000 in savings and the idea of selling machinery. Now Vincent is one of the market leaders in Poland, with a multi-million turnover. His company, Ocean Systems, sells processing and packaging machines for fruit and vegetables. Together with his Polish business partner, Piotr Majcherek, and a dozen employees, he serves the booming Polish market from his headquarters in Warsaw. He is not worried about the future, he tells Financieele Dagblad (€). "Poles want the same convenience as the Dutch, and they will therefore also become interested in pre-sliced vegetables. In addition, demand for meal salads will increase, and our machines are well-suited for that."
© Ocean Systems
Processing machines
About seven years ago, customers started asking whether Vincent could also supply slicing and washing machines. Because these machines have small blades, the safety requirements are stricter than for packaging machines. He could not find reliable machines in China, so he turned to Dutch manufacturers. Now he represents Sormac from Venlo and Manter from Emmen. "Those are two market leaders in vegetable processing machines."
A packaging machine costs up to €150,000. With processing machines, costs quickly run into hundreds of thousands. "Those machines are much more sophisticated." However, Vincent stresses that Ocean Systems does not usually sell individual machines. Customers generally require complete production lines consisting of conveyors, weighing systems, and processing and packaging machines.
For more information:
Ocean Systems
ul. Nowa 6, Stara Iwiczna
05-500 Piaseczno, Warszawa, Poland
Tel: +48 22 4275481 / +48 601 135 034
[email protected]
