Foodmate | InsideTrack Jan 2018 - IPPE | Page 4

FOODMATE EXPANSION | UPDATE In July 2017, the construction of the new Foodmate headquarters started in Numansdorp, The Netherlands (20 km/12 miles South of Rotterdam). The new building will consist of office space for all departments, including: factory/assembly area, R&D department, showroom, storage and parts ware- house. The building is being built on 27,000 sq m of land where the build- ing itself will be 150 meters long and 75 meters wide (11,250 square meter/ about 121,000 sf ). With the addition of an entry way and reception area the total floorspace will be over 12,000 square meters (approx.129,000 sf ). “The aim was to construct a very transparent building in terms of having a very open office space, visible connection between production and office and using light colors”, says David Hazenbroek. “Also, we focused on having a building that gives us flexibility in the future to be able to adopt to growth and future needs. The way the building is being shaped, it is like a box with a lot of glass in most areas of the building to allow natural light and an open sense to foster collaboration. We believe in teamwork and it is important to have a connection between the office and the assembly area where assem- bly and productions takes place”, continues David. From an environmental perspective, many features have been implement- ed in the design. For heating the whole building (factory and office), the building is equipped with heated floors and while this type of heating is a higher initial investment, the return is lower power consumption. The design included a lot of glass on the North side of the building to provide natural daylight with any other supplemental lighting provided from efficient LED lighting. Another unique feature is the roof of the factory which is equipped with “Northern light segments”. This type of light provides substantial light, but prevents too much direct sunlight into the building. The outside building panels are made from a special material and very well isolated. Since the offi- cial so called “1st paal” ceremony, the first underground pole has been driven deep into the ground and construction has been moving along quickly. The aim is to be fully operational by May 2018. You can view the progress by checking our website which features a live web-cam of the construction | foodmate.nl. Every week, a new short video compilation is uploaded that shows the latest developments week by week. We look forward to meeting you one day in our new headquarters! PAGE 4 “WE ARE PROUD OF OUR ACCOMPLISHMENTS SUCH AS OUR NEW HEADQUARTERS BOTH IN THE U.S. AND THE NETHERLANDS. BUT WE ARE EVEN MORE PROUD OF THE RELATIONSHIPS WE BUILT WITH OUR CUSTOMERS ALONG THE WAY. NONE OF THIS AMAZING GROWTH WOULD HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF OUR CUSTOMERS AND EMPLOYEES”. SCOTT & DAVID HAZENBROEK PAGE 5