STC Food Solutions recently installed a new weighing line at Uienschilbedrijf Ongena. The company from Moerbeke-Waas, Flanders, grows, peels, slices, and packs onions for the fresh market and was looking for a way to achieve higher quality onions. "We were not satisfied with the weigher we had in place, so we were looking for an affordable custom-made solution to our own packer, after which we soon ended up at STC," Joeri Ongena of the company of the same name tells us.
Joeri Ongena and Sean Schulp at the new line
STC Food Solutions is a company specializing in used machines and lines for the food processing and packaging industries. "I saw a few years ago that the speed and financial picture that comes with used machines and lines was becoming more and more popular," says founder Sean Schulp, who decided to start STC Food Solutions in 2018 after years in the machine trade. "Especially smaller companies like to make strides, but then they don't always have a big budget. New is great then, but giving perfectly functioning machines a second life can be a nice affordable way to take the first steps in the automation process. This is where we want to look for solutions together with them. This can be anything from a single machine to a fully customized line."
And this is also how Joeri ended up with the Emmeloord-based company. "The first time I came into contact with Sean was several years ago. At the time, we were sitting here with a weighing line for small packaging that wasn't working," the Flemish entrepreneur says. "We then requested a quote for a new line, but soon found out that this was not within our investment scope at the time. Then you start looking for other opportunities to still be able to make steps forward and that opportunity came when I came across a video online of a second-hand line Sean had built. I had to have it and we decided to get in touch right away. The result was that within no time there was a beautiful line at an affordable price. That collaboration had gone so well that you build up a relationship and then call again to see if he has anything on hand when you need something, for example."
The first line
Step to foreign market
Indeed, the company has made strides in recent years. Uienschilbedrijf Ongena was founded in 2009 by Joeri, together with his wife. "I grew up among onions, but at some point, I ran into peeled onions and saw the potential of it. I did not see the opportunity to get into this at my parents' farm, so I decided to start a business myself. I then put all my savings into my first peeling machine. A bold step, even if I say so myself, because the first two years were quite draining, but we eventually grew step by step to a respected name in the onion landscape."
"So all in all, it has not been a bad choice," Joeri continues. "We have now built up a nice customer base among various sectors in Flanders, but see that we are at a point where we want to look at new markets. For example, we recently had a new shed built for our preservation. After all, we grow up to 70 percent of what we process ourselves and this cultivation has also expanded bit by bit in recent years. With the new building, which should be finished in a month, we have created the space to be able to store more of our cultivation, but also nicely purchased onions, allowing us to be more flexible in our service to the customer. In addition, we recently bought ourselves a new optical sorting line to better sort the field crop onions, which will be operational from the beginning of August. It gives us the opportunities to look at other markets, where there is potential for us and where I expect we can be distinctive in our service."
The new building catches the eye on arrival
Tailor-made solution
Before taking the plunge, Joeri just wanted to optimize the quality of his product. "So he called me again recently with a desire for higher quality," Sean explains. "Among other things, the weighing line he had in place had a fairly high drop, which damaged some of the onions. Then it's up to me to see what solution we can provide to get a nicer onion in that bag. Do I have the optimal solution in stock? By now, almost always, but if not, I start looking. I then came back to Joeri and said: 'If you want better quality, you have to do this and this'. That's how we work to the customer's wishes and needs."
"The final result is a line with a weigher, which we fitted, to a packer Ongena already had in place. A custom-made line, which is now running at full capacity. In this, we can ultimately go in any direction, because on the weigher's belt, for example, we even had to write a piece of software. How long should it run? When? How hard or how soft? That's how you create a solution and of course, sometimes there are always some start-up problems, but in that case, Joeri only has to call and we're in the car."
"A successful collaboration," is also how Joeri describes it. "It allows us to look further. Quality is not the problem. Neither is volume, so we can now distinguish ourselves with our service, which means we are setting our sights on the foreign market. I think this is our USP, which not everyone can match. Customers can order in the evening and it will be on their doorstep the next day, but we are also flexible if they have forgotten something or if an order suddenly needs another 200 kilos. It's not always easy, but we are known for that. We like to look to the future, where STC Food Solutions has helped us take another step forward."
For more information:
Sean Schulp
STC Food Solutions
Bedrijfsweg 7
8304 AA Emmeloord
Tel: +31 6 41168620
[email protected]
www.stcfoodsolutions.com
Joeri Ongena
Uienschilbedrijf Ongena
Weststraat 62b
9180 Moerbeke-Waas, Belgium
[email protected]
www.ongena-uien.be