Hela Thissen B.V. embraces digitalization, replacing hunches with hard facts

Say hello to Hela Thissen B.V.

Hela Thissen B.V. is a family-owned company that has been producing sauces, dressings, herbs, and spices for well over a century. One of the pivotal moments in the company's history came in 1967, when they introduced their legendary Curry Spice Ketchup to the world. Today, they are a market leader in both the retail and foodservice industries in Benelux.

They've have recently invested heavily in digitalization to grow and meet higher standards for quality, sustainability, and efficiency. That's how we found each other.

We visited their site in Venlo, the Netherlands, and sat down with COO Dominic Thissen to chat about how we are supporting them today.

When gut feeling drives production decisions

While running operations, Dominic noticed that production decisions were still largely based on intuition and gut feeling. There was barely any reliable data from the lines, so it was impossible to see where valuable time was lost, justify any investments, or compare performance across machines and sites. Meanwhile, the Food & Beverage industry as a whole is developing and modernizing, and demands on production performance are increasing as well.

But rather than accepting these limitations, Dominic and the Hela Thissen B.V. team took a step back to rethink how they could create real production insights. As part of their digitalization efforts, they decided to introduce real-time production visibility to replace guesses with facts, and create a more reliable foundation for decision-making.

From fragmented data to clear line-level insights

With some help from us, Hela Thissen B.V. has quickly moved from working with fragmented information to having clear, line-level insights. Operators on the shop floor now register stops directly on the lines, and production data flows into a cloud-based overview that Dominic and his team can access and analyze from anywhere. Within the first three months, the team discovered patterns that had not been visible before.

"We were able to get access to very valuable data within a very short amount of time because [Factbird] was easy to set up." - Dominic Thissen, co-owner and COO of Hela Thissen B.V.

Turning hidden losses into solid business cases

One example Dominic mentioned was a critical machine that “felt” unreliable and was often a source of stress when planning production. After introducing Factbird, the data showed exactly how often and how long the machine stopped every day.

As all those micro-stops inevitably add up, Dominic realized they were losing about 100 minutes of production each day, and that was just one machine.

Now, instead of arguing over who has the strongest hunch, Dominic is able to build solid business cases for which improvements or replacements the company should invest in.

One approach for all sites

The same logic now guides their approach and initiatives at their newly acquired site. Historically, decisions there have also been based on gut feeling, but now that’s changing too. Going forward, Dominic will lean on the Factbird suite to test assumptions, quantify waste, and see where the biggest gains are.

A shared source of truth for production data

As Hela Thissen B.V. continues to focus on digitalization, centralized and consistent data has become just as important as speed. With Factbird, production information from different lines and locations lives in one place, which reduces misunderstandings, supports compliance work, and removes a ton of manual paperwork.

Their teams can now have discussions based on the same facts, instead of debating whose spreadsheet notes or whiteboard scribbles are correct.

What Hela Thissen B.V. has achieved so far:

• Fast access to valuable production insights within a few months
• Clear visibility of stop patterns and their true cost
• Stronger, data-backed investment decisions on critical equipment
• A repeatable approach for new sites based on accurate facts, not assumptions
• Centralized digital records that support audits and reduce paperwork

What this shift means in daily operations

For Dominic, the value of moving from gut feeling to data-driven decisions is obvious.

His teams have an effortless way to capture what actually happens on the lines in real time, giving management the clarity they need to reduce waste, support growth, and keep making better decisions.

Now, Hela Thissen B.V. has a solid foundation to keep improving as they grow and bring new sites onboard.