Kervo Fruit Processing, Netherlands

Installers JTI Brandbeveiliging were contracted to help make safety a number one priority at a leading food manufacturer in The Netherlands. They achieved this by choosing Hochiki Europe’s market leading fire detection system, Latitude, alongside weatherproof devices from the ESP range. This comprehensive solution ensures the highest level of fire protection throughout the facility, giving the food manufacturer peace of mind and allowing them to focus on what they do best: producing delicious food.

Kervo is a specialist in high quality cultivation and processing of fruit in the Netherlands. Since 1980 Morello cherries have been grown in the Vossen family’s orchards in Roggel, The Netherlands. The family were one of the first growers in the region to use mechanical harvesting in the 80’s, fast forward 43 years later and Kervo now runs operations across Europe and the UK and is proud of its reputation for offering the finest quality fruit to bakeries and fresh food processors.

JTI Brandbeveiliging was founded in 2009 and is trusted by its customers for advice, installations, repairs and maintenance of fire protection systems across the region. The team, led by Luciën van Eldijk was commissioned in 2022 to design and fit the fire safety system that would be integrated into Kervo's new manufacturing plant in Neer.

One of the complexities of this project was that during food production, and particularly during the cleaning processes, significant amounts of steam is generated leading to false alarms. Lucien explains how he and the team navigated this issue:

“In food production sites like this it is essential for the machinery to remain clean throughout the entire process. This means there is a lot of steam and water present, which unfortunately, can trigger false alarms. We needed to install devices that could negate this issue, Hochiki’s weatherproof call points, sounders and sensors were the perfect solution. They worked seamlessly with the Latitude fire safety system from Hochiki.”

Latitude, which is BOSEC approved, a requirement for fire detection devices and systems in The Netherlands, has a powerful network-wide cause and effect capability. The system has capacity to support 5000 entries, with up to 20,000 inputs and 20,000 outputs across the network. The new building at Kervo is a huge facility, at over 40 metres in height it required over 2.5km of cabling and hundreds of fire detection devices to help make the building secure, making the Latitude system the best solution.

“Due to the nature of this project, there have been some technical aspects where we have needed to seek advice, but the team at Hochiki have been very helpful in working with us to create the best solution for our customer. We choose Hochiki products and systems because they are reliable, they are easy to install, and most importantly meet the high standards and regulations required by the laws of The Netherlands – we would recommend Hochiki products for this reason.”

Hochiki’s analogue addressable range (ESP intelligent) together with the Latitude system are EN54 Part 13 certified and with the BOSEC certification also in place, they provide the best complete and compliant fire detection system for businesses across the Belgium region as well as bordering countries such as Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Germany.

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