Wilrijk, October 2, 2014 – Arop was able to celebrate the opening of its new location together with its stakeholders. In addition to the Board of Directors, customers, suppliers, representatives of various government services, internal and external employees, Arop could also count on the presence of our Alderman of Education and Legal Affairs, Claude Marinower.

Arop worked from various locations, but saw more advantage in centralizing this to one large location located on the Dynamicalaan in Wilrijk. This is located near several important customers and a stone’s throw from the A12 axis Antwerp-Brussels.

Thanks to the support of the stakeholders, this could be done without hindering our production planning. Arop now has 8,500 m² modernized workshops including the machinery, warehouses and offices + 2,000 m² refrigerated space for storage and packaging / processing of open and closed food.

During this festive occasion, the guests were given an animated tour of the entire company, in full action. In this way it was possible to paint a clear picture of how Arop, as a sheltered workplace, can provide added value to the regular industry, without losing sight of the important social aspect that characterizes a sheltered workplace. This was emphasized again with the message “your noise is our voice”.

As the icing on the cake, at the end of this tour, Arop was proud to present its own brand inatura – a nature-related wellness production including the well-known “cherry stone”. 40 target group employees (as we call them) work on this, thanks to their talents and real and create your own product. This gives them the opportunity to participate in society.

About our company

Sheltered workshop Arop was founded in 1965 and today has 219 employees with an occupational disability, who are supervised by 35 people. Arop had workshops in Borgerhout, Wommelgem and Wilrijk, and recently consolidated them into one large location on Dynamicalaan in Wilrijk. In addition, Arop took over the company inatura at the end of 2012. In addition to the ‘Kersenpitje’, this company has been producing some other inatura brands, which are spread all over Europe and some countries beyond.