Smarter control for more sustainable storage and ripening

At VDH Products, sustainability is an integral part of the development of its control solutions for fruit storage and ripening.

For its fruit storage systems, the company has developed specific energy-saving functionalities that help users operate their installations more efficiently. The same approach has also been implemented in its Proba ripening systems.

VDH Products’ goal is to achieve the required storage or ripening conditions while using energy as intelligently as possible.

Ready for a changing energy market

The energy landscape is changing rapidly. Solar power, battery storage and dynamic energy contracts are becoming increasingly important for its customers.

VDH control equipment is developed with these developments in mind. Its systems can support users in making smarter decisions about when energy is used, how locally generated energy can be utilised and how unnecessary energy consumption can be reduced.

This is becoming increasingly relevant for fruit storage and ripening facilities, where cooling, heating and ventilation can represent a significant part of total energy consumption.

Sustainability is not only about using less energy, but also about using the available energy at the right moment and in the most efficient way.

Existing systems continue to improve

An important advantage of software-based control is that innovation does not necessarily stop when an installation has been commissioned.

Through periodic software updates, existing users can also benefit from improvements and newly developed functionalities. This means that an installation can continue to evolve over time without always requiring replacement of the complete control system.

Extending the useful life and functionality of existing installations is an important part of sustainable development for the company.

Improving together with our users

Many of VDH Products’ developments are created in close cooperation with its users. Their practical experience, feedback and ideas provide valuable information about what happens in real storage and ripening facilities. By combining this knowledge with its experience in control technology, the company can continue to refine its systems and develop functions that provide real value in daily operation.

Jacco Smid, Sales Manager at VDH Products, highlights the role of this cooperation in improving the systems:

"The best improvements are created together with our users. Their practical experience, combined with our knowledge of control technology, helps us make our systems smarter, more efficient and better suited to daily operation."

This cooperation also means that new developments are not based only on theory, but on the challenges and opportunities customers encounter in practice.

Practical experience from storage and ripening facilities plays an important role in the continuous development of VDH control solutions.

Practical experience from storage and ripening facilities plays an important role in the continuous development of VDH control solutions

From controlling the installation to understanding the product

According to the company, the next step in sustainable control is to combine process control with better information about the product itself.

VDH Products therefore cooperates with specialised technology companies focusing on fruit quality, sensor data, data analysis and AI-supported decision-making.

By combining information about the fruit with data from the storage or ripening process, users can gain better insight into product condition, quality and development. This creates opportunities to make better-informed decisions, improve consistency, reduce product losses and further optimise the overall process.

This approach opens the door to control systems that not only know what the installation is doing, but can increasingly take into account what the product actually needs.

Sustainability through continuous improvement

Sustainability goes beyond energy saving. It also involves smarter use of available energy, improving existing installations through software, reducing product losses and continuously developing better solutions together with users and technology partners.

Process information, sensor data and intelligent control come together in VDH’s VASP and Proba solutions

The future of fruit storage and ripening will increasingly be driven by the combination of process knowledge, product data and intelligent energy management.

VDH Products sees its role precisely there: moving towards control systems that not only know what the installation is doing, but also increasingly understand what the product actually needs.

The next step in sustainable control is not only knowing what the installation is doing, but also understanding what the product actually needs.

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