Top Installation Group participates in 'Factory of the Future'

Last spring, the construction of a new vegetable production plant for Hessing Supervers at Greenport Venlo business park began. A production site with a total floor area of approximately 62,000 m² will be realized on a 100,000 m² plot. The 'Factory of the Future' functions without a gas connection and is heated with residual heat from the cooling installations. W-installer vanPanhuis Hoogeveen is processing 26 types of pipes in the building alone.

Hessing's production site will officially be located in Sevenum, in the municipality of Horst aan de Maas, and will be delivered in fall 2022 in accordance with sustainability standard BREEAM 'Very Good'. At the end of 2022, the first vegetable lines will move from Helmond, Belfeld and Zwaagdijk and production will start. The new factory should be fully operational by the end of 2023. Eventually, the production site of the internationally operating company will be full of machines for inspecting, washing, cutting, mixing and packaging fruits and vegetables.

Alignment

vanPanhuis Hoogeveen is providing the complete mechanical and control engineering systems, as well as the process engineering for the use phase of the plant. "Those are different trajectory parts in the construction," says project manager Paul Peet. "The main contractor delivers in November; some of the machinery assembly will begin while construction is still in progress. This requires good coordination and alignment between the various parties, coordinated from the BIM model. In our W section alone, 26 types of piping must be incorporated and there must be intensive cooperation with the installers for the cooling section, of the sprinklers and of the electricity. In addition, we also do the underfloor heating in the entire intermediate layer to prevent condensation; the process technology is a collaboration with VHI. In this, too, all the aforementioned parties must work together."

No gas connection

The new production site is located in one of the largest horticultural areas in the Netherlands, allowing Hessing to process local products faster and better respond to the rapidly growing consumer demand for fresh fruits and vegetables. Processing fresh vegetables into quality products such as meal salads requires speed and flexibility. 'Harvested yesterday, processed today, in the store tomorrow' is the principle. "The temperature in the refrigerated production section is kept as low as possible; we really try to get the most out of the design within BREEAM," says Peet. "Factories like this remain large consumers in terms of electricity and water, but all staffed areas are heated entirely with residual heat from cooling, with a heat pump as a backup. The building no longer needs a gas connection."