Efficiency and innovation in fruit production
Hessing Supervers is the leader in fruit and vegetable processing and delivers fruit and vegetable packages to its customers, such as supermarkets and restaurant chains in the Benelux, Germany and the United Kingdom, on a daily basis. Hessing focuses on offering healthy and easy solutions by supplying fresh, pre-cut fruit and vegetables. Central to this is following current eating and cooking trends in order to continue to meet the changing wishes of consumers.
Centralization of fruit production
To increase the efficiency of the production process, Hessing needed one central location for fruit processing. Previously, this was spread over several locations. Today, the VersFabriek in Schwalmtal (Germany) is 100% equipped for fruit processing. Uticon has been asked by Hessing to support the internal team in this challenging project. Uticon took on a different role here than in previous projects. In addition to providing architectural expertise, the focus was on monitoring the process. Both the planning and the financial picture were guaranteed by Uticon within this project. Furthermore, Uticon was responsible for drawing up reports and providing presentations for the management.
The challenge
Centering production, without disrupting existing production and before the start of the high season in April, turned out to be a complex puzzle. As the project progressed, unforeseen factors came to light that were not factored into the budget and schedule. In addition, a challenge arose around ensuring the quality of information due to the language difference between key stakeholders.
The plan of action
In order to realize the move without negatively affecting the existing production, Uticon initially provided support in the field of project management. In addition, Uticon also provided structural support and further supplemented the estimate initially drawn up by Hessing with its expertise.
After completion of the negotiation and contract phase, Uticon continued to support the construction supervision. She not only acted as an architectural source of information, but also as an interpreter to bridge the language barrier between the Netherlands and Germany, using English as the working language.
The result
Despite the unforeseen factors that came to light during the project, the move was completed before the start of the high season and without interruption of production. The project team, in close cooperation with the production department, has done everything possible to keep the delay in the planning to a minimum. Thanks to the intense communication between the project team and production, unforeseen circumstances have had only a limited impact on the planning. In addition, the budget overruns were easy to explain and were reported to Hessing’s management in a timely manner. Apart from the unforeseen circumstances, the move was successfully completed within the original budget.
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Mark Horvers
+31 88 20 11 700 / +32 9 26 95 100
