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Henk Maas, founder of The Chocolate Factory, had a clear vision of what the chocolate factory should look like. And that did not include a sprinkle machine, which would allow you to create your own pack. To make this idea a reality, QING was called in. From the first sketch to a fully working machine: step by step, QING's engineers brought the concept to life.
It was up to Sjoerd Blij and Haico Croijmans, mechanical engineers at QING, to work out the mechanical side of the design. Over a year they worked, in cooperation with Actemium, on the realization of a machine that literally makes the magic of chocolate tangible.
"The biggest challenge for us was to translate atmosphere and experience into a technically working machine," says Haico Croijmans. "Normally we focus mainly on efficiency and capacity. Then it's not about looks, as long as it works optimally. Here it was completely different: experience was number one. Children want to experience magic, and the machine has to radiate that. That took some adjusting, but for that very reason it was a lot of fun. You don't get an opportunity like that very often."
The Chocolate Factory is located in an old factory tower, a piece of industrial heritage. "The unique elements of the building had to be preserved, of course," says Sjoerd Blij. "We gave the old silos a new function by adding dispensers. Now they are back in use and play a role in the sprinkles machine production process."
Since February 2025, The Chocolate Factory has been open to the public, and you can admire the sprinkles machine on the sixth floor of the tower. "Visitors put together their own pack of different flavors of sprinkles via a screen. Using a joystick, they steer the Stäubli robot arm to the silos, where the chosen sprinkles come out," Haico explains. "Is the pack filled? Then the robot shakes the contents thoroughly and places it on the conveyor belt toward the chocolate store at the chocolate factory exit. In this way , visitors are really involved in the production process and technology."
But The Chocolate Factory is more than just a fun outing. Founder Henk Maas wants to make young people enthusiastic about technique. Young technical talent is badly needed and in Veghel they get the chance to experience technique and food production themselves. "In the design we deliberately chose to make the technology visible" says Haico. "Visitors can see exactly how the robot works. That makes it not only fun, but also educational."
The Chocolate Factory works closely with educational institutions and companies to make technology more attractive. MBO and HBO students can come here to learn from the machines and may, for example, perform maintenance on the sprinkles machine. A project is even planned in which students will be allowed to further develop the machine. QING supports this with technical guidance.
The combination of fun and education is the common thread of The Chocolate Factory. In this way, the Chocolate Factory not only surprises children, but also contributes to the future of new technical talent.
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