French Fry manufacturer Agristo is a relatively young family owned company, founded in 1985 by Antoon Wallays and Luc Raes. Rapidly growing from 20.000 tons of ready product in the very beginnings, the company reached a volume of 185.000 tons in 2008 and is now expected to further grow significantly with its brand new, state-of-the art production line that is designed by Kiremko to produce up to 20 tons per hour of frozen French fries.
The plant in Tilburg has had several owners before Lamb Weston/Meijer sold it on to Agristo in 2001. Back in 2005, the plan was to gradually upgrade and modernize the plant, improve its output capacity and then install a second process line next to the existing unit.
The plant is designed to run with a minimum of personnel, is fully automated with a Scada solution for every single part of the process including the packaging, case packing and palletization lines. Optical sorting technologies are used in 3 different sections of the line (after peeling, cutting and freezing).
As the ideas matured, it became clear that a whole new process and packaging hall should be built on the same premises adjacent to the original hall. The first phase of the project was already carried out in 2006 with the installation of a large capacity receiving, washing and grading facility that is able to feed both production lines.
For the second phase, after many discussions, the specific requirements and the ideal lay-out were worked out. Kiremko received an order in June 2008 to supply the complete process line starting with the raw infeed before the peeling line right up to the freezer, making this the largest single contract awarded to Kiremko in the company’s history. The line is designed to produce 20.000 kg per hour of A-quality French fries, but is also perfectly capable to produce at the specifications required for the well-known fast-food chains. The old process line will now be mainly used for specialty products, such as coated product, cubes and slices.
The first test runs took place by the end of August and in September the line was running at full capacity. Last 16 October the plant was officially inaugurated.
