Nature’s Pride has installed the first avocado packing robot in the world at its Maasdijk packhouse.
The new Speedpacker, which is already operational, can pack 240 avocados per minute via three feed streams. It uses camera technology to detect the avocados for the grippers so that they know exactly how to pick up the avocados and place them in the boxes.
The company said the robot allows it to pack ergonomically and efficiently without making concessions to quality.
“As demand for avocados increases, Nature’s Pride intends to use this to be an even better partner for its growers and customers,” it said.
The Speedpacker was developed in partnership with machinery maker Selo. “Like us, Selo is a true pioneer and is very technically oriented,” said Mo Ayachi, operations manager at Nature’s Pride.
“They also strive for top quality combined with cost efficiency. We found the ideal partner in Selo. For us, ‘together’ means working together, moving forward together, and also developing together.”
The development process took about two years and involved extensive testing.
“The Speedpacker is the result of a unique collaboration between Selo and Nature’s Pride, where Nature’s Pride contributed all its knowledge of avocados and Selo its knowledge of robotics and grippers,” said Selo’s CEO Willibrord Woertman.
“We have succeeded in automatically packing avocados which were previously packed manually.”
Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mnVCrjkwTY
