For many years a key importer and packer of grapes for Tesco, Richard Hochfeld Group (RHG) has used Marco’s Trac-IT Yield Control Module for six years to improve its packhouse profitability. The company’s MD Alan Guindi explains how efficiencies have been made and outlines the value the system could add to packing grapes at source for the UK market.
How does RHG use Marco’s yield control system?
AG: The system monitors and controls every punnet packed through the course of a production run and automatically regulates the amount of fruit packed so that the average across the entire run is as close to the required target as practically possible.
The individual packers stand at a bespoke workstation complete with intelligent weighing equipment, and are controlled by a simple, language-transparent traffic-light system. When the pack is within fractions of a gram of the target, the green lights illuminate to indicate that the punnets are at a satisfactory weight. If the packer removes an out-of-spec punnet they are locked out of the system until a supervisor ‘unlocks’ to allow them to resume. This means the system is an extremely efficient way of monitoring and controlling packer performance and eliminating human error, while virtually eradicating giveaway from the packing process.
Could this system benefit others looking to pack at source?
AG: There could be huge gains for the entire supply chain if we could get suppliers using Marco’s yield control system at source. In the southern hemisphere, packers will, as a matter of course, over pack by as much as 12 per cent. Although it is largely an accepted part of the business, it is very damaging to profitability, especially when this giveaway is spread across hundreds of thousands of punnets.
Minimising pack giveaway is paramount, but how about reducing waste?
AG: Wastage is a significant issue - one packer told us that they are losing the equivalent of two bulk bins of grapes per line per day during the manual packing process and many of those ‘lost’ berries would have been well within acceptable specification. Where Marco’s system would come into its own would be through what they describe as ‘first fill feedback’, which manipulates the pre-fillers to ensure they accurately control levels of waste.
Does the yield control management system have any other knock-on effects?
AG: We have found that there is greater efficiency throughout the packhouse as the Marco system has effectively allowed us to pack at twice the speed using the same lines. That doesn’t mean we pack twice the volume now, but we are able to pack using far fewer packhouse hours than before.
How can UK importers be sure that fruit packed overseas meets customer specifications?
AG: For suppliers packing at source, the Marco Trac-IT module includes software that would provide detailed reports by email to RHG, with the documentation and data required to verify that punnets have been packed to tight customer specifications.
The fruit has to be on-spec and packed in the proper manner, of course, but there should be no reason why weights are not controlled. -
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