”We no longer have to switch the potato washing line manually. MCR Machinery has modified the software so that the washing line spins itself empty at the push of a button and readies itself for the next batch. The switching has been shortened from half an hour to ten minutes at most.”

Klaas Greydanus – co-owner Greydanus Potato Trade and Transport

Greydanus Potato Trade and Transport in Heerenveen is busy six days a week washing and packing potatoes, both mainstream and organic. Klaas Greydanus says: ‘With many of our clients, such as supermarkets, we deliver the same day. So working quickly is a must.’ So when the potato trader knocked on MCR Machinery’s door to replace two potato washing lines, it brought a number of challenges. ‘First of all, we wanted to double the capacity of the two washing lines, while they had to come on the existing, cramped location.’

View clothesline

Greydanus Aardappelhandel en Transport came in contact with MCR Machinery through an article about MCR washing lines in a trade magazine. Klaas Greydanus explains: ‘We had already seen some advertising by MCR Machinery and that trade magazine was the final push. During our contact MCR Machinery told us that we could come and see a washing line from the machine builder. It looked very good, so we decided to award the contract to MCR. For us it is a plus that the company is nearby. We have our own mechanics, but it is nice that MCR Machinery can be ready quickly if we cannot solve something ourselves.’

Press the button

Greydanus washes both conventional and organic potatoes so the washing line sometimes had to be switched manually several times a day, up to ten times a day. ‘MCR Machinery has modified the software so that the washing line empties itself at the push of a button and gets ready for the next batch. The switching has been shortened from half an hour to ten minutes at most.’

The installation of the new clotheslines is exciting. Klaas explains: ‘Because we run six days a week, the installation had to be done in a short time. We had reserved three days for it and had already washed many potatoes ahead of time. Because this is a custom job, you never know how it will turn out. In the end, we had to buy washed potatoes from a colleague for one order.’

Delivery points

After the clotheslines are installed, some delivery issues come to light. ‘When you put up new custom lines, you know there are going to be things that don’t yet work optimally. Of course you hope everything will go right the first time, but that is an illusion. MCR Machinery had to fine-tune the software and sometimes it took a detour to achieve what we wanted, but in the end everything was solved to our satisfaction. With the next machine, MCR will definitely be back in the quotation round. We are running a bunch of beautiful clotheslines. The previous ones were 25 years old and we hope we will enjoy the MCR washing lines for at least as long.’