A new onion palletiser at Bedfordshire Growers is giving the firm a 10 per cent efficiency uplift.

The co-operative of local growers has completed evaluation trials of the new automated palletiser, installed by Dutch company Symach, on its onion packing line.

The Symach equipment handles up to 10 tonnes an hour, which speeds up palletising and frees manual operators to focus on other aspects of the packing line. The palletiser also accurately places the nets in the optimum position for maximum stability, and then wraps the entire pallet in heavy-duty film ensuring the integrity of the finished product.

Tim Elcombe, sales director of Bedfordshire Growers said: “The new palletiser has made a huge difference to our packing line. As well as speeding up the whole packing line, the improved accuracy and efficiency in stacking now means each pallet can now safely accommodate an additional 100kg.

'This represents a space saving of over 10 per cent which not only improves the service we offer but will also have a direct benefit on transport costs and help to reduce our carbon footprint even further.”

Previously after grading, quality control inspection and automated weighing and filling, the 10kg onion nets were stacked onto pallets by hand. This was labour intensive and limited the number of nets that could safely be loaded onto each pallet.

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