Grand designs

Leading manufacturers are hoping their updated equipment will prove indispensable to the fresh produce sector.

RJ Herbert Engineering is well known for its root crop manufacturing equipment and its product range includes packing, grading and washing equipment for potato packhouse installations. According to general sales manager Andy Hubble, ongoing development of Herbert’s electronic grading equipment now provides defect detection solutions for punnet potatoes, standard pre-packs and large baker varieties.

“High volumes of product are difficult and expensive to inspect with manual inspection systems,” Hubble tells FPJ. “We now offer seven models to handle potatoes and carrots from five tonnes per hour to 30t per hour.”

This year saw the launch of the high capacity 2000ML Autosort for electronic grading, which has been installed throughout the UK and Europe. In addition, Herbert has developed a market entry range, mild steel, powder-coated machine that provides a single-grade selection for smaller packers and larger growers.

Herbert’s twin big bag tipper is also causing a stir. The product, which has been in commercial operation for five months, was designed to meet demand from packers that are increasingly handling produce in 1t bags. “Development of the tipper took place over a six-month period, when Herbert’s worked closely with a packing company and a processor,” Hubble says.

Extensive testing was carried out at Herbert’s manufacturing facility in Cambridgeshire and the first tipper was installed in a local processing plant. Following the product launch, four systems are being installed in Spain, and Herbert is enjoying interest in this machinery from around the world.

“The main benefit of this system is that it provides a simple but effective and gentle discharge of big bagged product in total safety,” Hubble says.

The system is protected by a Category 4 light beam safety system and the twin tipping platform option regularly achieves 15 cycles per hour, equivalent to more than 30t per hour.

Herbert has ambitious plans and is looking to increase its global market share through third-party partnerships with agents. This year alone, the company has acquired new agents to represent Herbert’s equipment in Spain, Israel and Canada.

As well as being the UK agent for Dutch engineering company Verbruggen, Herbert’s has represented Wyma, manufacturer of the VegePolisher machine, since 2005.

“Our relationship with Wyma was established as a direct result of Herbert’s recognition of a changing marketplace and wanting to offer customers the latest technology and assuring quality supply for produce cleaning,” Hubble tells FPJ. “This business partnership has resulted in more than 15 machines being installed, enabling customers to maximise their crop output for higher margins.”

Meanwhile, its Dutch-based operation, Herbert BV, which was established in 2005, continues to provide fresh pack systems in a number of European countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.

“As our customer base grows, we continue to make the investment to support our customers in mainland Europe primarily from a sales base in the Netherlands supported by high technology service engineering to back up our core products,” Hubble says.

Given its current activity, Herbert’s unsurprisingly feels there is still growth potential in the root crop machinery sector. “Continuing pressure from retailers on packers to increase efficiency, and their suppliers to become more cost effective, drives an ongoing investment in process technology,” Hubble explains. “As our customers achieve higher throughputs from packaging developments, other parts of the business have to change to keep in step, including cleaning, size grading, washing and all the washed crop delivery systems.

“In addition, transport costs are slowly influencing both the location and distribution of future fresh produce operations.”

Elsewhere, Haith Tickhill Group is enjoying success with its Root Veg Polisher. The new version was introduced in February and, according to Haith’s general manager Nigel Haith, the machine is selling well in the UK and overseas.

“We are fully aware that this type of washing system must not only add value to the product being washed, but also be user-friendly, simple to maintain and give hours of trouble free running,” says Haith. “To this end, the new Root Veg Polisher has a special bearing system which allows quick and easy roller removal from both sides of the machine; brush segments can be removed without dismantling the drive system, and all components are easy to access for maintenance and hygiene.”

The machine is manufactured in stainless steel as standard and comes with a unique air system to raise and lower the drum to optimise the cleaning action of the brush rollers when working with different varieties.

According to Haith, the special patented drive system means there is no need for trunnion wheels to support the drum. Furthermore, the barrel can be run in both directions, which extends the life of the brushes.

“On potatoes, the Root Veg Polisher can make a low-grade sample into something which will be good enough to pre-pack, bringing a higher price,” Haith claims. “This is achieved by polishing the skin of the tubers, and removing stubborn soil from the eyes and surface which are not always removed by standard barrel washing. The Root Veg Polisher will also remove Rhizoctonia, scurf and other defects.”

The polisher is manufactured in four sizes to suit the throughput required. All are available as a stand-alone system or can be supplied with a base tank and pump for water recycling.

As an extension to the polisher, Haith has also developed a patented peeling system that incorporates carborundum and brush rollers. “Tests reveal that yields of up to 95 per cent can be achieved when using the Root Veg Peeler Polisher on certain vegetables,” Haith says.

Haith has invested much time and energy developing unique brush systems and the group is able to advise customers on the correct brush requirements to achieve the best results for their process. To date, Haith has sold over 180 machines in the UK and Europe and 11 in North America.

Meanwhile, Air Control Industries (ACI) has been working closely with Greenvale AP and has supplied its air knives to Greenvale’s Cambridgeshire site. These knives replaced a traditional sponge roller table and, according to Greenvale, the installation has resulted in significant cost savings.

“In fitting the air knives, we put in a conventional conveying system but did not want the potatoes to be completely dry after washing,” explains Greenvale’s chief engineer Howard Burton. “This required us to get a balance between the feed rate and the airflow, which wasn’t difficult, but more importantly has saved us a great deal of money in downtime and maintenance costs.

“Ten years ago, the noise aspect would have made air knives untenable. Today we are using an 11kw motor and the EP10 blower is in an acoustic enclosure and well within tolerance levels.”

In the packing plant, potatoes are forklifted continuously and are tipped into a feed hopper via a vertical ejector lifter. On the punnet line, the potatoes are moved onto a de-stoner, before entering a tumbling stainless steel drum wash station, which removes all the soil and undesirables. Exiting the wash, a chlorinated rinse kills off any bacteria before potatoes are fed onto a draining table and then partially dried by the ACI 3-stage air knife system.

“We were also conscious of the sponge tables being a source of bacteria and this is another reason why we were keen to replace them with air knives,” explains Burton.

WEIGHING UP THE SOLUTION

AEW Delford Systems is an international manufacturer of weighing and labelling equipment and is part of the Marel Food Systems Group.

With the increasing demand for variable weight packaging, AEW Delford Systems says it can offer efficient, high performance solutions to meet the needs of specific packers.

The firm has recently installed systems at two UK produce specialists: Stubbins and T Wilson & Sons.

Following a successful trial, Stubbins invested in a Delford system for variable weight packaging of peppers and tomatoes. The company chose Delford 8100 machines, which operate at speeds up to 100 packs per minute.

“Compact and robust, the Delford 8100 is ideal for all applications requiring variable weighing and labelling,” says AEW. “It features an operator-friendly full colour screen and keyboard display for clear programming and running information, high resolution 12 dot/mm printing, and accommodates a large variety of label sizes.”

Each Stubbins’ unit has been fitted with two labelling heads, allowing replacement or new reels to be set up in advance. The units can operate on an automatic changeover basis to reduce line down time, and offer the facility to apply promotional flash labels.

The eight Delford units are networked via the Delford Deltalink wireless Ethernet system that provides data for production control purposes to a remote PC. The machines can also be programmed from the PC for rapid changes in variable information. Due to its wireless Ethernet operation, the individual units can be moved around the site without affecting the Delford Deltalink system.

Furthermore, Stubbins uses the Delford 8100 units for check weighing fixed weight packs. They can operate on a minimum or average weight basis, according to customer specification.

As part of an expansion programme at its main Rainford packing house, T Wilson & Sons has invested in two Delford Weigh Price Labelling lines to produce catch weight packs.

An initial Delford 8060 machine was installed on the leeks flow wrap line, where it operates at speeds of up to 35 packs per minute. This was the first system in the fresh produce sector to incorporate one of AEW Delford’s latest labelling developments - the 620 Base Labeller.

The Delford 620 Base Labelling system can incorporate both direct thermal, and thermal transfer printing systems. This allows standard paper labels to be used as well as chemi-thermal labels, making it flexible and cost-effective.

Following the success of the leeks line, TW Wilson has installed a second Delford 8060 Weigh Price Labeller for its shrink-wrapped packs of broccoli florets. Originally designed for labelling whole chickens, a special rotating applicator fitted to the labelling head ensures accurate positioning on the vertical ‘leading face’ of the pack.

LAMMERS & VAN CLEEFF FILL IN THE GAPS

Lammers & van Cleeff (UK) Ltd acknowledges that growers are busy people and that their main concern is their crop, “as it should be”. However, according to sales representative Dean Chilvers, this leaves little time for them to look at how they could be saving money with the use of machinery.

Lammers & van Cleeff feels that this is where it comes in. “We have built up good relationships with many UK and worldwide manufacturers over the years, and can advise on what is the best solution, rather than steering people in the direction of our products,” Chilvers says. “This allows us to be in a good position when our machinery is needed.”

Moreover, the sales agent has begun offering free packing operation evaluations, which allows it to assess production volume and speeds and give feedback on where and how savings and improvements can be made. “At this point the packer can see exactly where the best place to invest is and make a good judgement on what capital expenditure they would need,” Chilvers says.

The company insists it is trying to offer solutions to the packers themselves. Chilvers says his firm can help packers make their operations more efficient and can offer “high quality equipment that needs little maintenance and is easy to set up and run in a day-to-day environment”.

“With our experience, we also try to supply automated solutions to packers who rely on people to do most of their packing,” Chilvers adds. “This reduces costs and allows them to be more competitive in the marketplace.”

The sales agent has taken on a number of clients over the last 18 months and began working on BrimaPack last year.

BrimaPack, which is a trademark of Dutch firm HJ van de Pavert BV, is working on a rig application that aims to reduce costs for wrapping iceberg lettuce in the field. “From a manual process, our Dutch supplier developed an automated process that helps reduce labour costs, packaging used, and speed up the packing process,” explains Lammers & van Cleeff’s Martin Schrooder. “It’s the first of its kind in the UK and has been developed in conjunction with one of the UK’s largest suppliers of iceberg lettuce.”

According to Lammers & van Cleeff, this machinery has aroused great interest in Europe and will be introduced to the UK early next year.

In addition, Lammers & van Cleeff has entered into new agreements with two Spanish suppliers: Rimopack and Weigma.

Rimopack is a flow-wrapping company that has a wide range of flow-wrapping equipment suitable for all manner of applications. Weigma supplies a wide range of weighing machinery, including radial weighers for salads and linear weighing machines for mangetout and sugar snap peas.

Lammers & van Cleeff has also enjoyed success with Affeldt’s Statera weighing machine. “Packing at over 100 packs per minute and accuracies near to one per cent, this machine is gentle on the product and has proved high in quality and reliability,” says Chilvers. “We have proven that the machinery is long lasting and suitable for most vegetable and fruit applications.”

The company believes automated systems represent one major area of opportunity. “Labour costs are increasing and good labour is becoming harder to find,” Chilvers says. “Machinery systems allow the packers to run more efficiently and with greater confidence that the packing can be regulated.”

One major challenge for the industry is trying to keep pace with retailers’ packaging demands, says Chilvers. “This can range from adopting better looking packaging or trying to reduce their packaging,” he says.

WEED OUT INEFFICIENCIES

Garford Farm Machinery’s new Robocrop InRow Weeder combines the Inter-row vision guidance system (known for its sub-centimetre accuracy and post 10kph operating speed), with the newly developed InRow rotor system.

InRow uses a digital camera to monitor the crop just ahead of the weeder. The information gathered is analysed at a rate of 25 frames per second to locate the individual plants and a template matching system helps to differentiate between the crop and weeds.

The system then synchronises the InRow rotors to match the plant spacing. The rotor speeds up when narrow spaces are encountered and slows down for wider spaces. According to Garford, the weeder can offer up to 99 per cent cultivation coverage.

ILAPAK GOES WITH THE FLOW

Ilapak has launched a new electronic flow-wrapper, the Carrera 1000 PCR, to meet the ever-rising demand to reduce packaging. The company says its machine offers a cost-effective packaging solution for fresh produce such as kiwifruit and avocados.

The inverted Carrera 1000 PCR is a result of Ilapak’s ongoing new product development. Capable of production speeds of up to 120 packs a minute, the Carrera 1000 PCR can store up to 64 production programmes. It uses most heat-sealable films and has a two-metre long infeed to provide space for product feeding to further increase efficiency. Furthermore, it is capable of creating pack sizes between 50-550mm in length, 20-230mm in width and up to 120mm in height.