Recently, Devos Group broke ground on a new 12,000 m² sorting facility and housing for seasonal workers at their site in Bekkevoort, Flanders. In addition to the sorting hall, 25 homes for seasonal employees will be constructed on-site. "Our philosophy has always been to keep the entire process for our top fruit in-house," says Louis De Cleene of Devos Group. "With this investment, we expect to take further steps toward achieving this vision for the future."
The new building will eventually include a sorting hall, cold storage rooms, and a packaging area. "We already have a clear plan for how we want to use the new space, but choices like which sorting machines to select and how to design the cold storage rooms will come as construction progresses," he explains. "Of course, we've already made significant investments."
"For instance, we've acquired two new box-setting machines," he continues. "We currently use several machines for this purpose, but these additions will improve our efficiency. Managing this process in-house is crucial, both logistically and for sustainability. One truckload of flat boxes equals 10 truckloads of set-up boxes, so each load saves the equivalent of nine trucks. With the volume we handle, this makes a difference."
Realizing potential of Rubis Gold
"All these investments are aimed at advancing to the next level. Ultimately, my goal is to be able to inspect every pear daily, deciding precisely which customer it goes to. This level of control is only possible when you handle everything in-house. The same applies to our cold storage: we want full control so that if an issue arises, we can pinpoint the cause and take steps to prevent it."
The investment is also influenced by the growth potential of Rubis Gold, a product for which Devos Group is the exclusive distributor in the Benelux. "We still expect Rubis Gold to be a major success, with high volumes coming in one day. When that happens, we may adopt a model similar to France's, where apples are pre-sorted, placed back into cold storage, and brought out as orders arrive. With top fruit prices and margins constantly under pressure, we must focus on improving cost-efficiency."
Ready for the new top fruit season
Devos Group is also building 25 new homes for its seasonal workers. "These are well-equipped homes with bedrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens. Currently, our workers live in comfortable houses within a 5 to 10 km radius of our facility, so we transport them by shuttle every morning. With these new on-site homes, this will no longer be necessary, making the setup more practical, efficient, and sustainable. The homes will be nearly energy-neutral, thanks to our existing solar panels and heat recovery technology. We already use this method, which allows us to reclaim heat from our new cold storage rooms and repurpose it to warm the new houses."
The project is expected to be completed by 2025. "That's the plan, but as we know, construction can sometimes face delays. However, we aim to be operational by the start of the next top fruit season," Louis concludes.
For more information:
Louis De Cleene
Devos Group
Eugeen Coolsstraat 66
3460 Bekkevoort - Belgium
Tel: +32 (0)16 77 97 58
[email protected]
www.devosgroup.com