PerfoTec BV

This interview details PerfoTec BV, a company based in the Netherlands. The interview is with Bas Groeneweg, Director at PerfoTec BV.

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What is the origin story of PerfoTec BV? 

PerfoTec was founded nearly two decades ago by Bas Groeneweg, who had previously served as the CEO of Greensprout. During his time at Greensprout, Bas Groeneweg witnessed the significant impact of finely-tuned packaging on Brussels Sprouts, compared to traditional packaging methods.

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He recognized that micro-perforations and modified atmosphere packaging reduced decay and enhanced product quality. Growing up on a farm provided him with valuable insights into crop behavior and the impact of growing conditions on crop quality from a young age. These insights played a crucial role in the development of PerfoTec's game-changing solutions for the produce industry.  

Driven by his findings and a deep dive into the literature on fruit and vegetables, Bas Groeneweg formulated a plan. He also discovered the possibility of implementing micro-perforations directly on packaging machines for fruits and vegetables. This led him to collaborate with Mundi Laser Technology, and within three years, they developed a versatile laser that could be integrated into any packaging machine. 

Additionally, in partnership with TOPbv in Wageningen, PerfoTec designed the Fast Respiration Meter. This machine measures the respiration rate of fruits and vegetables, allowing for precise calculation of transmission rates per pack. The innovation marked the birth of PerfoTec's unique shelf-life extension technology. 

What is unique about PerfoTec BV compared to competitors? 

The uniqueness of PerfoTec is that the sole focus of both our team and our product portfolio is based on extending produce freshness and shelf-life through optimizing the gas composition in the packaging. Our team, comprised of post-harvest specialists and packaging experts, works closely with clients to ensure they fully leverage our technology for the optimal preservation of vegetables, fruits, and flowers. Our equipment, which has gone through 20 years of development, is the only complete solution in shelf-life extension that exists.  

Central to our approach is the Fast Respiration Meter, which accurately measures the product's respiration rate. These respiration rates are then transformed into ideal packaging permeability metrics through our online platform, aiming for the perfect gas composition. The Online Laser System changes the permeability of the packaging, allowing just the right amount of oxygen and CO2 exchange to maintain the desired gas composition. Our O2Control system ensures that the product in the packaging is in the ideal gas composition immediately from the moment of packaging. Our equipment is complemented by our new biobased and recyclable films, specifically designed to maximize the freshness of vegetables, fruits, and flowers through their unique water vapor permeability and CO2 transmission properties. 

To summarize, we aim to give our customers control over their products, which are, after all, alive and unpredictable. 

What are some of the biggest challenges facing PerfoTec in the future?  

The biggest challenge for PerfoTec is to make the technology application being recognized as standard in the Fresh Produce supply chains, whereby a fully integrated supply chain approach needs to be put in place: the individual suppliers that invest in this technology -which results in significant positive quality impact- should be rewarded for that effort by the retailers. 

In the current situation, every link in the supply chain looks after their own direct benefits, which slows down the pace of rollout. Retailers should take the lead, driven by their ESG and sustainability efforts. Because- in the end, the cost in the whole supply chain will come down significantly, whilst at the same time the quality for consumers will be improved.  

Moreover, we are heavily investing our efforts into developing multiple tools for the whole supply chain to improve. Especially our focus is on minimizing the need for airfreight. By improving the feasibility of sea freight, which is more time-intensive but environmentally friendly and a lot less expensive, we aim to revolutionize logistics in the fresh produce industry. 

What are some other relevant metrics of the company (amount of customers, amount of units deployed, team size, etc.)?  

Currently, PerfoTec is rapidly growing worldwide. With over 450 systems already in operation, our current team of 25 FTE is working together with distributors, retailers, and film partners in many countries around the globe, obtaining more and more recognition for the great quality results, the operational simplicity, and cost-effectiveness. With the application of PerfoTec, in 2023, more than 2 billion consumer packs with Fresh Produce have been sold worldwide. This figure is very rapidly increasing with double-digit growth year on year. 

What are some goals in 2024 and beyond for PerfoTec BV? 

The PerfoTec team is developing several features in 2024 and 2025 to make the whole system even more user-friendly and easy to operate. At the same time, we are further developing our new compostable and recyclable films, and a completely new solution, to enable long-range sea freight transportation and storage at reduced costs. 

These efforts will help to complete our mission to remove time stress and to reduce costs for the Fresh Produce supply chains around the world. 

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How can people connect with you or learn more about PerfoTec BV? 

If you're interested in connecting with us or discovering more about PerfoTec’s technologies, we'd find it great to hear from you. Please feel free to get in touch via our LinkedIn page or explore our website, perfotec.com, for more insights. And if you have any questions, don't hesitate to reach out by filling out our contact form. We're always happy to help.

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