New DOOR building doubles Prominent’s packing capacity

In 2019, a remarkable new DOOR building, which will also house growers’ association Prominent, will emerge along the A20, in the Netherlands. In the new building, the activities of the two current facilities for consumer-sized packaging will be merged into a single location and the office staff will also move in soon after. Thanks to fully automated packaging lines, 250 million packages with tomatoes will eventually find their way to the customer every year; a doubling of the current number.

For Prominent, the new building is an important milestone in the execution of its strategic plan. As an innovative specialist in tomatoes, it is Prominent’s ambition to grow in all major segments. By doing so, the growers’ association wants to safeguard its position as a chain director, also in the future. Through increased acreage and growth in all major segments of tomatoes such as cherry, plum and snack tomatoes, there is also a growing demand for sufficient capacity to package all these tomatoes for the customer. With the new building, Prominent will soon have all the facilities in house and sufficient scale to meet the needs of the market.

Room for partners

The new packaging facilities literally also offer the room for closer collaboration with Purple Pride, Green Diamonds, Sweetpointand Paprico, the partners within Coöperatie DOOR. Discussions on this are currently taking place. It can offer customers the convenience of a one-stop-shop, by packaging other fruiting vegetables in consumer-sized packages in addition to tomatoes. In the new building, the latest technologies and automation ensure that the wishes of retailers, food markets and other customers can be met even faster. For example in the area of more sustainable packaging. Through further professionalisation, knowledge exchange and the growth of Prominent, our members, partners and employees also grow along with the organisation. Building together for the future is thereforethe motto.

Prominent: Achieving more together

Prominent is an association of 33 leading tomato companies with a total area of 418 ha. This includes three in-house cultivation locations. In addition to sales, growers also work together in the area of packaging, breeding their own varieties of tomatoes and deployment of staff. Additionally, Prominent has been partnering for years to develop knowledge, for example in the areas of cultivation, crop protection and energy. Its three own cultivation locations operate as a trial garden.