Heide-Zwiebel: ‘Buying an Eqraft® machine is a sustainable investment'

German onion grower and packer Heide-Zwiebel sells their onions in bulk, big bags and smaller packaging. They were looking for a reliable packing line that could help them sell their onions in more professional-looking consumer packaging. Eqraft was just the right fit.

Heide-Zwiebel AG is a merger of onion growers in North-Germany. The company consists of 18 farmers in the area, who are stakeholders in the business. Founded in 1992 with the common goal to deliver high-quality onions to their clients, Heide-Zwiebel has been an accredited producer group since December 2010.

‘We’ve grown extensively over the years and that’s something we’re proud of,’ says manager Lüder Böhling. He joined Heide-Zwiebel three years ago and is in charge of sales and marketing. ‘When the company started over 30 years ago, we did 5000 tons of onions a year; now, that has grown to 35 000 onions on a yearly basis.’ Thanks to the fact they work with a group of farmers, they can sell their yellow and red onions from September to June and are able to guarantee a stable yield.

Heide-Zwiebel started out by selling their onions in bulk to packing stations, who would sell them to supermarkets. Throughout the years, they’ve added smaller bags to their portfolio as well. When Lüder was looking to extend his packing line, he started asking around. He noticed most of his Dutch fellow onion packers were working with Eqraft equipment. After hearing some of their experiences and talking to the Eqraft team, he was convinced. ‘We decided to opt for a sustainable investment. Eqraft is not the cheapest, but if you buy cheap, your workflow may be disturbed. We wanted a high quality machine with good support.’

Heide-Zwiebel opted for a Baxmatic® with sewing lane. This machine automatically fills bags with onions at a high speed. It positions the bag at the filling mouth and performs a check to make sure the environment stays clean. Then, it fills the bag with the exact right amount and passes it on to the sewing lane, where it’s closed. Thanks to this machine, Heide-Zwiebel is able to pack in small bags from 5 to 25 kg. They can also place their own label on the bag for marketing purposes. ‘With the Baxmatic®, we’re able to make our product look more professional, which opens the door to new clients and enables us to get a better price for our product.’

‘I would definitely recommend Eqraft: they offer great machine quality and support,’ says Lüder. ‘The Baxmatic® has been running smoothly ever since it was installed. The installation was quick and didn’t cause us any downtime. Small problems, like a screw or spare part that needs to be changed, are solved quickly and easily through Eqraft’s remote support service.’ He’s happy with the new packing line and how it’s helping Heide-Zwiebel reach their goal of offering the market an even better product. ‘We already had great quality onions; now, we can also package them in a nice bag. It’s a high-quality product in every sense.’