Food Marketing & Technology 1/2022

Cover Story
Christian Scholten, Project Manager at
Ekro: “What makes Ekro unique is the
quality we deliver. Our company is part
of a complete chain, from the feeding
of the calves to the packaged end
product. In addition, Ekro has been
committed to traceability for several
decades. The abattoir and deboning
section are equipped with hightech
hardware and software, which
connect seamlessly to each other, so
that full tracking and tracing of the
products is guaranteed. For example,
the customers of Ekro, primarily the
wholesaler, can always enter the
stated barcode for each product on a
special website to view the complete
life cycle of the meat.”
Impossible to break
As Head of Technical Service, Anjo
Kaatman is responsible for Ekro’s
existing machinery. Within the
company’s Project Office, Christian
Scholten, together with four other
colleagues, is constantly working on
renewal processes in the broadest
sense of the word. Recently, both
men worked together in a large
investment project in the packaging
department of Ekro. The aim was to
modernize a number of existing lines,
so that they could work even more
efficiently. For example, the same
thermoformer has been used since
1999 for packaging the by-products,
especially organs. This machine, an
RE3, was once purchased from the
company Repak B.V. in Emmen (NL),
Anjo Kaatman, Head of Technical Service within Ekro
Christian Scholten, Project Manager a.i. at Ekro
a Dutch family business, just like the
VanDrie Group.
There is a great anecdote about the
installation of the RE3. At the time, the
machine was delivered by truck and
brought to its destination in one piece
on wheels. However, it turned out that
there suddenly was a wall that had not
yet been there at the time of purchase.
With two colleagues quicky gathered
from Emmen, the RE3 was taken apart
and put back together in the right
place, so that it could still be installed
over the weekend. Since 1999, the line
has been running 16 hours a day, where
cleaning takes place every evening
and maintenance is done twice a year.
Anjo Kaatman: “The RE3 has always
functioned without problems in our
challenging production environment
until the end of 2021.”
The importance of good
maintenance
The RE-series thermoformers are still
built in Emmen, but since 2007 they
have been offered in the Benelux
under the brand name SEALPAC. The
advice, sales and maintenance are
done by Ultrapak B.V. in Nijkerk, the
exclusive distributor for SEALPAC
thermoformers and traysealers
in the Netherlands, Belgium and
Luxembourg. Anjo Kaatman: “We
have had an exceptionally good
relationship with Ultrapak from the
start. They take their responsibility
and meet the set deadlines, also with
regard to the agreed service contracts.
Installation of new machines, but also
the maintenance of existing machines,
must take place with us during the
weekend. The requirement is then that
the machines have to be running again
on Monday morning at 6.00 am, and
that has always been successful so far.”
With the RE3 in use for more than 20
years, and a number of other lines
that could use a facelift, the inevitable
question of replacement came in 2020.
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