Pasfrost
As an international player in the frozen vegetable industry, Pasfrost is a prime example of West Flemish entrepreneurship. Freshly harvested vegetables are processed into frozen vegetables within three hours. To register visitors and external companies, Pasfrost opted for the Gatehouse digital system. “Visitor registration must be quick and efficient. Gatehouse is intuitive and user-friendly,” says Anne Lafaut of the third-generation family business from Zonnebeke (Passendale).
Author: Philip Declercq. Photos: PDC & Pasfrost
Pasfrost, founded in 1977, has grown into an international player in the world of frozen vegetables. “Located in the heart of West Flanders’ vegetable-growing region,” the website states. Its customers are found in retail, foodservice, and industry. The company has approximately 240 permanent employees. “Our story begins with the farmers and vegetable growers from the Westhoek region and northern France with whom we have contracts. The various types of vegetables they harvest are delivered to us immediately. We follow the seasons; Mother Nature decides. Freshly harvested vegetables—unlike potatoes—cannot be stored. Within three hours, they are processed into frozen vegetables,” says Anne Lafaut, who runs the company together with her sister Veronique and brother Vincent. Pasfrost invests in sustainability and utilizes various sources of renewable energy. For example, biogas and recovered heat are reused in the production processes. “Together with our suppliers, we seek out the latest technologies. We assess them and incorporate them into our investment plans with an eye toward the future,” says Anne Lafaut.
Intuitive
The number of visitors per day fluctuates between 40 and 60 people. Until a year ago, they had to manually register at the reception desk in a book designated for that purpose. As a visitor to a logistics warehouse, Anne Lafaut became familiar with the flexible Gatehouse system—which has now been operational at Pasfrost for a year. Gatehouse generates a printed badge that also facilitates check-out via a QR code. “Visitor registration must be accurate and fast. Gatehouse is intuitive and user-friendly: the system guides the user effectively,” says Lafaut. The profile of the Pasfrost visitor is quite diverse: “We use a division into two categories: visitors (job applicants, testers, auditors…), on the one hand, and external companies (suppliers, contractors…), on the other. We preferred a combination of a Gatehouse kiosk at the reception desk and wall-mounted modules for check-out at strategic locations within the site. Gatehouse will soon be expanded to include these wall-mounted modules. In the morning, the reception staff check whether everyone checked out correctly the previous day. If this is not the case, they will then check out the person(s) in question. At midnight, visitors are automatically removed from the evacuation list.”
Food Defense, GDPR, safety…
The food industry is subject to a wide variety of regulations and guidelines. Think, for example, of Food Defense, GDPR, safety… Food safety concerns both categories (visitors and external companies), while the other security measures apply only to external companies. Food Defense stipulates, among other things, that the food producer must know who is present on the company premises, and their contact person must be informed... “Every external company is briefed at the start of the collaboration on our instructions regarding food safety, security, GDPR… and must also approve them,” says Lafaut.
