TOP The Onion Group

“Fewer forklift movements means more peace of mind and better overview”

The headquarters of TOP The Onion Group is located in the Zeeland village of ‘s-Gravenpolder. TOP is a family business run by the Murre family. Cultivation takes place from growing companies all over the world. Onions grown on Dutch and French soil are mainly used for processing in the Netherlands. The onions are further processed in Zeeland into packaged consumption onions, shallots, onion sets, fried onions and peeled onions. Together with partners, TOP is building for the future. And together with VHM they are working on improving the box logistics.

The ambition

Managing Director Benny Murre: “Our strategy focused on scale and supply chain management in order to meet the needs of customers worldwide. But growth meant we were increasingly dependent on forklift drivers. In 2018, we switched from bulk to crate storage for our onions. Now, we have some 45,000 crates and every week at least 4,000 are filled and emptied. That’s a lot of forklift hours and kilometres, given the great distances involved. Moreover, forklifts cost a lot of money, drivers are increasingly hard to find, and human errors cannot be prevented. There was real need to professionalize our box logistics! We invited specialists from VHM to help us achieve that.”

The challenge

“With smart box logistics, we want to automate our business processes as much as possible and make them more efficient. This has many advantages. First of all, automation means we need fewer forklift drivers. Especially in the harvest season, finding enough good drivers is a real challenge. By using VHM machines, we can reduce the number of drivers and forklifts required, which leads to higher productivity and lower costs. Of course, that’s a big win!”

“The VHM machines just grow with our business,” he said.

Benny Murre, director TOP The Onion Group

About TOP The Onion Group

Let’s grow together. That is TOP’s motto. On the one hand as a dedicated grower of onions and on the other as a partner of food manufacturers. In over 30 years, the company has grown into a large group of companies. Besides supplying and processing onions, TOP supplies a large and varied assortment of preserved vegetables, from gherkins and pearl onions to cauliflower and zucchini. TOP’s market includes retail, food companies and wholesalers in more than 100 different countries.

The solution

“The solution to working more efficiently isn’t just about orange VHM machines. The people at VHM are also innovative and work with us to find solutions. Not just about how to set up their machines, but in a much broader sense. That’s really helpful to us. They’re able to look beyond the processes of the VHM machines. That leads to significant improvements, often in the long term as well.”

“We have equipped all receiving stations in ’s-Gravenpolder with a VHM box filler so that trucks that have been loaded can be unloaded quickly. This has allowed us to significantly reduce the number of forklift movements. That provides greater clarity and a calmer working environment at our company.”

The Result

“Because the machines are modular, we can deploy them in different locations depending on the time of year. In northern France, we have a storage facility where 15,000 boxes are filled with the VHM machines every year.”

“In early 2023, we commissioned a new feeding and packaging line featuring feed hoppers, dosing hoppers, weighing units, and a crate-rotating shuttle from VHM. This ensures that the packaging machines receive the desired volume, accurately weighed. If we want to further automate this system in the future—specifically regarding crate feeding and removal—we can easily add those features. That’s what I love about VHM machines. They simply grow along with our business.”