Aldia, a leading Belgian producer of jams and fruit fillings, has now automated and digitalised a range of industrial processes that had gone unchanged for thirty years. The VINCI Energies industrial brand completed this custom-built transformation in the midst of the Covid pandemic.
“This new factory was a first for Aldia,” explains Burt Battel, Business Unit General Manager at Actemium Belgium. “They relied on us for the technical side and also for project management. We had to completely review installations and processes that had been the same for 30 years, lightening the burden on the customer and guiding them through each stage.” This 2020 project in Ronse, Belgium, centred around automation and digitalisation.
The old factory relied strongly on manual processes, which the teams responsible for cooking the various preparations found particularly stressful. With the new installation, personalised control screens allow them to automate complex tasks while leaving the operators free to adjust parameters to achieve the perfect preparation with each of the different fruits used.
“To optimise both productivity and employee well-being”
This flexibility not only ensures the quality of the finished products, but also reduces fatigue and human error, creating a more pleasant working environment for the teams.
The handling of boiling-hot jams and fillings also requires effective safety measures. Actemium implemented an automated (programmable logic controller) safety system and detection systems mounted on rotating panels, which provide a safer working environment for employees. “Our objectives were to optimise both productivity and employee well-being,” says Burt Battel.
Continuous adaptation
Actemium faced a considerable technical challenge due to the project unfolding in a tense industrial climate right in the middle of the Covid‑19 crisis, marked by severe shortages of spare parts. The shortage of components required constant adaptation, forcing the business unit to rethink certain technical choices to ensure delivery to deadlines. With no possibility of halting production, it was essential to keep to the agreed schedule.
Thanks to its own responsiveness and its network of partners, the business unit was able to secure the needed supplies and avoid any major delay. Coordination between the various trades (process pipework, electrical engineering and automation) always requires meticulous planning and management to ensure a snag-free commissioning process.
“Installing a new factory or new production line is a project you see perhaps once a year,” says Burt Battel. “Effectively managing operations by the different specialists is always a challenge, but it’s our bread and butter, so everything went really smoothly.”
Ultimately, the transformation of the Aldia factory was a complex undertaking, in which the manufacturer benefited from Actemium Belgium’s solution-oriented approach in the face of constant modifications and a changeable budget. And their collaboration did not end there. The Ronse factory is now operational, but the VINCI Energies industry brand continues to support Aldia in the optimisation and adaptation of its systems.
12/15/2025
