Interview with Willem Koert North Shore Fabrication

What defines your way of working, and how does that reflect the values behind North Shore Fabrication?

We’re a small, yet efficient and purpose driven operation, and that’s entirelyintentional. When someone calls North Shore Fabrication, they get me, not a call center, not a ticketing system. I know our customers, I know their facilities, and I show up. Whether it’s a scheduled maintenance visit or an after-hours emergency, that personal relationship is the foundation of everything. We operate Monday to Friday, but our emergency line runs around the clock, because downtime doesn’t keep business hours. The values are simple: honesty, craftsmanship, and follow-through. We don’t promise things we can’t deliver, andwe don’t walk away once a machine is commissioned. That ongoing commitment is exactly what I think good service looks like, and it’s something I saw reflected in Verbruggen’s own culture when we first connected.

What are the most common challenges you see companies facing when it comes to palletizing and automation?

The biggest challenge is the gap between production speed and end-of-line capacity. A company upgrades their packaging line and suddenly their palletizing team can’t keep up. That becomes a chokepoint, product backs up, quality suffers, people get injured. That’s where things most often go wrong.

In terms of inefficiency, I see a lot of companies significantly underestimating the true cost of manual palletizing. They calculate the hourly labour rate, but they don’t account for turnover, training time, workers’ compensation claims, inconsistent stack quality, or the fact that a tired person at the end of a shift doesn’t stack the same way as one at the beginning. Those hidden costs add up fast, and they compound year over year.

Feedback we often receive after the installation of a Verbruggen palletizer is that there are fewer forklift movements, the packing facility becomes safer and more organized, more product fits on each pallet which can reduce storage and transportation costs, and the machine-stacked pallets look significantly better — helping our customers attract more business.

There’s also a tendency to view automation as an all-or-nothing commitment. Companies think they need to redesign their entire facility to justify a palletizer, and that fear of disruption keeps them from acting. In reality, a well-designed system can be integrated into an existing line with far less upheaval than most people expect. Verbruggen palletizers are built with a modular design and, in most cases, can be easily integrated into existing packing facilities, even where space is limited.

How did your collaboration with Verbruggen start, and what stood out to you from the beginning?

The story behind my partnership with Verbruggen actually begins long before any business conversation took place. My father and Alex Verbruggen first crossed paths on a mission field in Nigeria in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a connection that would, decades later, quietly shape the future of palletizing support in Canada.

Years after that initial meeting, Alex visited my family while traveling Canada on behalf of Verbruggen. I remember him explaining what Verbruggen was all about, and even then, I thought it was a fascinating concept. At the time, it was little more than an impression. Life moved on.

It wasn’t until 2020, when I relocated to Prince Edward Island and founded North Shore Fabrication, that the layers of connections began to “stack”! As my business grew, I naturally encountered Verbruggen equipment in the field, several of my new PEI clients were already running VPS installations and needed reliable local technical support. One of those clients took notice of my work and recommended North Shore Fabrication directly to Verbruggen as a strong candidate for regional service support.

In April 2025, Verbruggen made it official and approached me with an invitation to collaborate directly as a certified Service Partner. I didn’t hesitate. I knew right away that this collaboration wasn’t only a great step for Verbruggen, it could also play a key role in the future growth of North Shore Fabrication.

What confirmed the decision went beyond the machines themselves. These are robust, well-built systems designed for real industrial conditions, the engineering speaks for itself. But what truly sealed it was the company behind the equipment. Verbruggen is a second-generation family business, and that comes through in everything they do: the straightforwardness, the genuine commitment to the customer, the honesty about what will and won’t work, and the fact that they stay engaged long after commissioning. I felt like we were two family-rooted businesses, built on the same values, now working together on the same problem from opposite ends of the line.

What advice would you give to companies in Canada and the Northeastern U.S. that are considering improving or automating their palletizing processes?

Start with an honest assessment of your current situation, not just the labourcost, but the full picture. Look at your injury records, your turnover in those roles, your stack consistency, your throughput ceiling, and the overall operational impact. Once you do that honestly, the business case usually becomes clear on its own. Our customers experience fewer forklift movements, a safer and more organized packing facility, increased pallet capacity that helps reduce storage and transportation costs, and machine-stacked pallets that look significantly better,helping them attract more business.

Then, don’t let the perceived complexity of automation stop you from having the conversation. Modern palletizing systems are far more adaptable than people assume. You don’t need a greenfield facility or a massive capital project. A good partner will come to your site, look at what you actually have, and design something that works within your constraints. Verbruggen palletizers are built with a modular design and, in most cases, can be easily integrated into existing packing facilities, even where space is limited. This makes them highly adaptable to a wide range of packhouse layouts and operational requirements.

And finally, choose your partners carefully. The machine matters, but the relationship matters just as much. When something needs attention at 10 p.m. before a major shipping day, you want to know that someone is going to pick up the phone. That’s what we’re here for at North Shore Fabrication, and it’s what makes this partnership with Verbruggen something I’m genuinely proud to be part of.