The De Zeeuw Brothers

“Innovation isn’t a choice, it has to be a passion”

Step into the sheds of the De Zeeuw Brothers in the north of The Netherlands and you’ll mostly see one thing: machines running. Boxes filling up like clockwork with seed potatoes moving steadily along conveyor belts. At the heart of this operation? The VHM BoxFilr, running year-round. It’s more than just a machine— the De Zeeuw Brothers helped shape the machine’s open-dump system themselves.

The ambition

Brothers Jaap and Hans de Zeeuw have run the business for decades with a tight-knit team of 4 to 5 employees. In recent years, Herjan Kloosterman and Hans’s son Arnoud de Zeeuw joined as co-owners.

“We started out growing table potatoes on our arable farm in Nagele,” says Jaap, “but once we bought a second farm, we shifted into seed potatoes. As the scale grew, we needed machines that could keep up. We’ve always made major investments in machinery and automation.”

Herjan adds: “When we’re harvesting, there’s one guy in the shed. He still has to be able to do it all. We used to unload 20 tons per hour—now it’s 60. And we still want to do it with just one guy, not three forklifts racing around.”

The challenge

Before turning to VHM, De Zeeuw already had experience with box fillers. “For us, it’s essential that boxes are filled lightly and evenly—no cone heaps—so drying time is shorter. We aim to get potatoes dry in two to three days to prevent disease,” says Herjan, “We also wanted a machine that works year-round. Most box fillers only run 5 to 7 weeks during harvest and sit idle the rest of the year. We needed more.”

“VHM’s machines give a lot of peace of mind and efficiency in the unloading process.”

Herjan Kloosterman, co-owner the De Zeeuw Brothers

About the De Zeeuw Brothers

Brothers Jaap and Hans de Zeeuw have been running their business together for 35 years and have a permanent staff of 4-5 employees. In 2016, Herjan Kloosterman and Arnoud de Zeeuw became co-owners, and now take on the daily management. The seed potato and onion growers aim to keep the number of employees as limited as possible regardless of the hectares. The farm now covers about 580 hectares, of which 350 hectares are owned. About 190 hectares of these are seed potatoes and about 75 hectares of onions at another location.

The solution

Herjan: “Together with VHM, we’ve perfected the filling system. We now use a V-shaped drop chute that splits the flow of seed potatoes in two. This allows the potatoes to fall into the boxes very gently and loosely. Each box can hold 1,300 kilograms of potatoes, but we deliberately fill them with a maximum of 1,250 kilograms to maintain optimal quality.”

“During the summer season, we process 8,000 to 9,000 potato boxes using a setup with two Stackrs and a BoxFilr in the centre. We have since added a second BoxFilr with two additional Stackrs for onion cultivation at our arable farm in Nagele, where we process another 3,000 to 4,000 boxes annually.”

“During sorting and storage loading, we use two different setups: a BoxFilr with an additional discharge conveyor, and a Turnr with EvenFlow and Stackrs on both sides. The system can unload directly into a truck, but it can also rotate the boxes. This rotation is important because it improves airflow around the potatoes, loosens dirt, and removes sprouts. In addition, the potatoes are distributed more evenly inside the box afterwards, allowing them to flow more smoothly and consistently across the conveyor belt.”

“In the past, we needed two Turnrs to keep two people working continuously. Back then, we processed around 450 boxes per day. Now, we achieve the same capacity with one person and one Turnr with EvenFlow. This saves a huge amount of labor and makes the process much smoother and calmer. In fact, we can use the machine somewhere every single day.”

“A few years ago, we also purchased an EvenFlowTipr with two Stackrs for bulk loading winter carrots and table potatoes in Nagele. This made the investment in a second BoxFilr easier, as we already had four Stackrs in operation. Here too, we experience how much a calmer process and efficiency the automation delivers. Next season, we will further expand our machinery fleet with a new sorting line equipped with camera technology. This system will also be fully integrated with VHM’s automated box logistics.”

The Result

Thanks to VHM’s automated box logistics, the company processes large volumes with fewer people, a calmer process and consistent product quality. Filling, turning, stacking and unloading boxes are done more efficiently and with less damage to the crops. At the same time, labor requirements and cost price are significantly reduced.

For Herjan, the added value is clear: “With smart automation, you can run more capacity with fewer people and maintain product quality.”