Deprez is a family business: founded in 1984 by Johan Deprez, he has been running it together with his wife Germana ever since. Originally, Deprez developed machines for the careful handling of potatoes, later adding carrots, onions, bulk goods and recyclable goods. Over the years, Deprez successfully developed an automated box handling system in combination with an automated warehouse. This concept was introduced in 2008 and since its introduction, Deprez has doubled its capacity.

Interim storage in agriculture increasingly in demand

Over many years, Deprez has observed that potato packers/fillers increasingly needed solutions for the temporary storage of their products before they are packaged. In the past, there was no such strong classification of goods, especially in the potato sector. The increasing demands of customers in the food retail trade ultimately led to the new system: today, the harvest is sold sorted according to quality or size, so it is always necessary to temporarily store some of the products for a short time. This storage must be hygienic and in accordance with the classifications, which is why the largest possible storage option was sought that is not made of wood.

Together with a customer, Johan Deprez developed a fully automated solution in which the Pallet Box from Cabka plays a central role. The Pallet Box has a capacity of 1,400 liters and is made of impact-resistant, chemical-resistant and food-safe HDPE. With a tare weight of 69 kilograms in the perforated version and 72 kilograms in the closed version, it is characterized by high dynamic loads of up to 7,000 kilograms when stacked and up to 1,000 kilograms when used in high-bay warehouses. Non-slip rubber profiles on the top edges of the pallet box ensure that up to seven boxes can be stacked on top of each other. The containers are designed for applications in the temperature range from minus 30 to plus 50 degrees Celsius.

Fully automated from harvest to dispatch

After harvesting and washing, the potatoes are sorted into pallet boxes according to their size by an optical sorting system. Depending on requirements, the loaded boxes are stored in the high rack or fed directly to the packaging line. During subsequent use, an orbiter box tipper integrated into the system can automatically empty the boxes into the corresponding packaging lines. The entire handling process, from the arrival of the products to the dispatch of the packed goods, takes place without the need for a single manual work step.

As soon as Deprez plans a process automation solution with a new customer, they recommend Cabka's Pallet Box. Deprez systems are so closely interlinked with the use of Pallet Boxes that a smooth process could no longer be guaranteed with another box.